KIT33R said..
Those of us who have been kiting 10 years or more learnt on kites that had poor depower, dubious safety systems and would punish you if you did something wrong. You developed a healthy respect for the kite and did not treat it with casual disregard, for fear of your life. You needed a background in ocean sports and a degree of fitness.

Todays kites are much, much safer. This is good, but I don't think many newer kiters have enough respect or understanding of a kite than can potentially kill you if things go wrong.

above is spot on!
and a lot of the first generation of kiters had years of windsurfing experience behind them, (can see the BS comments coming now , but its FACT) so they understood the wind/waves etc, not a long weekend or two and away you go, there was respect, especially when faced with the massive power difference of a kite!

Call me old school, but if you haven't had some decent wipe outs when learning, had to recover yourself out of bad situations, lost some skin etc etc, had a scary experience, your not going to really respect the potential down side...or someone trying to explain it, it's like your parents saying don't drink and do drugs!

It takes a lot of water time to get the 'sense' of the wind and waves, the gear maybe safer and better then before, but I'm not sure all the new participants are really that clued up on water/weather, or simply had enough time on the water before being let go