Pre-emptive good public relations are so important. If kiters are despised as a community (even if unwarranted), councils will not need much convincing to ban us. If instead we are seen as well behaved sports-men who enjoy the good clean air and beaches etc, and are respected by the community, we are much less likely to be banned. We should not wait until coucnils are deliberating banning us before we take steps to improve our image.

A recuring theme in the postings on this forum is concerns about losing beach access. People are continually refering to the need for good behaviour so we don't get banned etc.

Unfortunately, Joe Public doesn't recognise good behaviour when he sees it. The main mentions of kiting in mainstream media are
1. dangerous situations/near misses
3. bad behaviour by kiters (think several articles in the post over the past 18 months, in particfular in relation to Cottesloe
2. competition, usually profiling kiting as an extreme sport etc.

The overall opinion the Joe Public gets from this is that kiting is a dangerous sport carried out by hot heads who can't control their behaviour. This is not true of the majority of kiters.

Several of Perth's trouble spots have taken active steps to solve their own problems lately - either voluntarily (think Lucky Bay), or because of external pressure (Cottesloe). While not absolutely eliminating problem behaviours, things are much better in both sites. Not having been to Pinaroo Point, I don't know what things are like there, but, current slanging match aside, the behaviours there don't sound too bad, and a positive light could be put on the fact there is so much controversy about this sort of thing - kiters are concerned and want to make sure they do the best thing etc.

This seems a perfect opportunity for a feel-good news piece about how kiters are interested in fixing our own behaviour, and behaving well in the eyes of the public. There are probably other positives that could be included in such an article - didn't someone rescue a swimmer that was washed out to sea a month or two ago? Similarly, the current safety survey by AKSA is another example of this sort of thing. These sorts of facts are really important.

In any event, should someone from WAKSA approach papers etc with this story idea? If there are any kiters with media experience, a pre-prepared media release could be set up etc?

I don't actually have any media experience or contacts myself, but would be happy to put effort into this project if WAKSA thought it were a good idea (although the fact that I'm currently off the water with a broken ankle sustained while kiting doesn't really bode well for my prospects as an interviewee about how kiting is not actually dangerous etc).

Anyway, what do you all think? Any other suggestions?

Cheers

Brady

G'day Deano

yeah, I will email you - have tried that address and it's not going through. Looks like you meant waksa@waksa, not waska, so I've tried that instead.

Even though I'm happy to get involved, I still think having that posting as a discussion topic is important, although there hasn't exactly been an overwhelming response to it. Glad to see everyone is so proactive about keeping beach access

Brady