So I get to Melville late for usual sess. Heard from otheres about 3 guys whose kite went to the houses when I got to the beach. Saw them upwind of kiters (lucky not too many out yesterday) going out again! Two big guys hanging on to a 12m green Kite with 3rd on shore. They had just had their kite in the houses and going out again....couldn't believe no one stopped them!

Anyhow, as I'm pumping I see the drama, almost knowing crap was going to happen again. 20-25 knots, two newbs hangging on and body dragging through the kite zone.....well it happened....a few crashes and the leash breaks with kite off through the other kiters. Anyone could have been hit by the kite, or worse the bar. I was livid (means very angry)!

Why you may ask was I angry and am posting...well, they should not have been launched again after the house incident! Why did not one of the kiters on the beach confront these guys and stop them? Anyhow, I did confront them when they came walking back with the green thing. I said they better not go out again and I thought that their behaviour was so dam selfish and the most stupid thing I've seem at Melville in years.

Sure leashes break and stuff happens....but this kind of behaviour makes me really angry. In certain conditions kites are like guns....that bar or kite could have hit anyone and caused serious injury. We and our families are out there kiting. Maybe some young person who has been taught properly and trusts other kiters are doing the best to safeguard themselves and others can not see guys like this coming and get seriously injured by such selfish jerks.

Anyhow, its early morning, I have work and there is too much wind to be writing on about this....just feel it needs to be said again that the mature seasoned kiters must try and stop dangerous, stupid and selfish crap like what I saw happen yesterday. We al must cooperate to keep our spots safe for us and our loved ones.

PS And to the guys who may be reading this, certainly hope so. If you want to go out for a "thrill," don't FN put other people at risk. There are plenty of places and times where you can get a kite thrill without getting in anyones space. River is empty at night and at the ocean there are kilometers of space where you can flog yourselves....good luck.

Not to mention the guy kiting at Woodies continually WITHOUT a LEASH!!!

If you loose your kite again, we're not going to rescue it.

Buy a leash.

oh, I just remembered as well!

Chatting to one of the other kiters after our session, and he was telling me how one of the newbz out wanted a launch. Not objecting he went over to double check his lines were set up correctly etc....Then proceeded to ask if the newby knew where the safety leash was meant to be attached too. Newby said- and I quote " Yeah that's for my board so I dont lose it" (no joke!) !!!!!! SERIOUSLY wat the

I dont really need to say any more...

hey yer i was there too n saw the whole thing. the guys with the cabrinha did it 3 times. the first one they lost the kite n me n another bloke had to catch it before it hit other kites or ppl. the second time was when they lost it again and it hit the house. the third time they lost it it went flying through a couple of other ppl kiting including me. it was dangerous n downright stupid. the guys had no clue wat they were doing. fair enough though we should hav had a word to them before they went out. other than those few it was a gd session. anyway kite safe

cheers ed

The only jerks there were the ones that did not try to stop these ignorant people from creating havoc!

it sounds like these fellers are only trying to learn and that they are just keen and don't really understand how dangerous it is. The people who know what they are doing are in my books in the wrong. Maybe if the kite shops didn't charge an arm and a leg for a lesson more people may take them. I got charged 70 bucks an hour and my mate also payed 70 bucks and we only had one person teaching us. Thats 140 per hor. Do they think they are plastic surgeons or something???

First of all I can only speak about the incident wednesday with these two guys. I see them coming down to the beach in their 2 cars with family and all joining. 15 mins later I see the guy with the bar over his head (unhooked) flying over the water, without control of the kite. Finally after orders he lets go of the bar and the wrist leesh does the job.

Then the guy with the GK (probably pretty pissed since he ****ed up his kite AGAIN just a few minutes earlier) goes down to have a look at it and help them out. Then they launch again, but let me point out the lines were AT NO POINT INVERTED! The problem was the guy was unhooked and the depower strap not adjusted properly which made the kite behave accordingly. In other words too much sheeting and no steering. That was the problem, that and that they didn't have a clue what they were doing. So they crash the kite again.

I go down to have a look at it to prevent a disaster. I was just about to leave but put on my harness and launch the kite to see if there's anything wrong with the lines or anything but it's fine and dandy. WHEN I AM HOOKED IN. So one of the guys ask me, ohhhh you need to be hooked in to that hook??!? WTF, yeah!!. So they launch this time hooked and it's all ok. He goes out a bit, puts on his board and starts to plane a few meters out but after a few meters falls causing the, ****ING LOUSY CABRINHA chickenloop without the pin preventing unhooking, to unhook and off he went again.

Which brings me to the fact in an earlier thread where instructors were teaching to waterstart AND launch unhooked. Maybe if these guys had taken a lesson with one of those instructors and not been taught how to make the proper adjustments to their eq?!? I can't answer for that but the first time I read it I thought it sounded silly and ridicouls to be teaching kiting unhooked and here's my proof.


Furthermore it's IMPORTANT to point out that we ARE NOT AN AUTHORITY or POLICE and as much as I could have said, don't go out there again, to those guys I CAN'T STOP THEM. Afterall they do what the want.

Agreed with most of what you say DaveSpruce, except the last bit in a way.

Sure, we are not the "police"...thank goodness. However, I know the guys were an intimidating buntch, and it is a free country and all that jazz but I'm ready to be as crazy as them if it means someone is else is not going to get hurt. You got to know when you are doing the right thing, deep down.........too me, kitespots are dam important, but most important is the saftey of my fellow kiters.

And to the guys: you should "harden the f-------ck up" and get some lessons. Spend some money boys, because you know a good education doesn't come cheap. Otherwise, go learn in isolation.

Now I think it is time to delete the thread.

I did give them friendly advice. I checked their kite so everything was in order, I tried it out and it worked fine AND I told them it might not be such a bad idea to NOT go out cause the winds were very strong and gusty for that kite. Now, that's all I can do. If they then choose to go out, sorry, but I am not gonna act lawenforcement and stop them. I have done my share. What was I gonna do? Say, you can't go out! Like as if you had cared? Like I said we are not the authority...

Hahahahahahaha good reading! And sooo true!

Hidey ho,

Floreat - Scarbs kiters please be on the lookout for 3 dudes that have bought a 2006 Flow 12m (red C kite) and a Switch 142 between them.

I had a word to these guys as they were obviously noobs and looked to be a little outa depth (even though the winds were only around 18-20 kts) last week.

Same old story "Orrr mate have you got any tips for us hey?" me:YEP- GET LESSONS

"Oor yeh we got one with the gear (can't blame seller)but the guy was a bit of a kook and we thought it was too expensive for more" me: Mate get lessons it will save you heaps of stress, money and probably your or someone's life.

"We bought this gear but think we got ripped off cause it's **". me: There's nothing wrong with the gear mate I wish i had learnt on gear that good. Just take it easy and stay 50m away from everything and practice your safety releases etc. Blank looks "So you haven't got any tips for us?"

Sigh - wasting my breath here... good luck guys take it easy.

15 mins later kite in question is crashed face down on the shore right in the middle of Flozzers mummsies and squids section (Floreat is one of perths fav little kiddies spots). Poor form as there was soooo much free space either side. I think the guys then hot launch from this possie before crashing again in the busy section minutes later!!

Don't be surprised if the council is hearing from mumsies and dads big time about banning kites.

At least these guys had harnesses and knew to hook in but the apathy and stinginess to not even share lessons other than the complimentary one is just selfish and p*ss poor!!

Ahh forbsy, funny you should mention that...

It's ok though, I see you only joined the forum this month and from your posts are still pretty new to the sport. You're doing the right thing though, asking for and taking advice, and getting lessons. As do most of the peeps. It's just the boneheads, but there are still enough of them.

But back to your question, it has been raised many times before. At the moment there are two systems of standards in place for kiting in Australia that are pretty well used. One is the IKO certification systems schools around the world use to give students levels, the other is a standard enforced by some local councils that says that if you're not a member of AKSA (with the associated public liability insurance) then you can't kite on their beaches.

Now if we combined the two, and your AKSA membership showed what IKO level you could kite at, or you need some IKO level to join AKSA, then we could come a bit closer to having a safety standard that works for everyone without having to set up any new organisations.

Of course it won't stop the noobs with the ebay kites coming to cause mayhem, but if we made it part of our culture it may slowly filter through to all buyers and sellers of kiting gear...

Just a thought anyway. Probably stupid. When I'm king though, of the Peoples Democratic Monarchy of Pat, there will be some big scary soldiers with machine guns making sure people get kite lessons if they intend to kite near civilians...

You mean the Peoples Republic of Tim?

Guys,

All this training acreditation /registration / licencing /compulsory insurance business WILL DEFINATELY HAPPEN. Years ago the hangliders were forced to clean up the safety aspect of their sport in a similar way and it worked. As kiters we probably outnumber hangliders by 100 to 1 and mingle with the public every day as opposed to jumping off a cliff at some remote location. As a group we are a million times more likely to piss people off. The other thing to remember is that the hangliders themselves were getting smashed, not smashing the public and their houses etc. Their sport was not growing at the rate ours is and didn't attract $500 ebay punters like ours.

It's going to come whether we like it or not and it's going to cost money to administer and be a major pain in the arse to police. It may just be a small price we pay for our beach access. As my kiting instructor said 6 years ago..."unregulated kiting is living on borrowed time".

Every kite disaster, plain stupid to honest bad luck, from noobs(and most of us have made mistakes at some point..hell I have) to KBM heroes (yep..seen it) brings this reality a little closer so we might as well get used to the idea in advance. If there was a viable way to police riding now I'm sure councils all over Aus would be on the bandwagon already.It's semi-happening already at Fort Lauderdale Florida and that's the "tip of the iceberg".

Of course the counter argument to all this is that a few licenced and insured dickheads still managed to have jetskis banned from Sydney Harbour, but jetski-ing is gay so it serves them right.

Winds up gotta go snowkiting to relieve my depression..cheers.