WA
1119 posts
There are a few threads at the moment about various WAKSA stuff which got me thinking about some of the "bad" things people are doing.
Tiki raised some points about kiting responsibly and WAKSA members hiding behind a "I'm in WAKSA and am insured/covered/can get away with it" mentality.
Now I'm no legal expert, and I'd love to hear some opinions from the WAKSA guys, but....
Public Indemnity insurance suggests to me that if I am doing The Right Thing (tm) and I have some bad luck or equipment failure or the like that results in causing property damage or personal injury to a third party, that my insurer will step up to bat to help defend my position and settle any damages claims.
However, if I do things that a Reasonable Person (tm) would not do and cause the same damage/injury, the insurer isn't going to touch me and I will be personally liable.
For example, a Reasonably Person (tm) would never:
- Kite without a kite leash.
- Allow people to pass downwind within a safe distance (this means YOU move when someone ELSE walks in your danger area regardless of who was "right" or "wrong")
- Launch anywhere near a person you might injure or property you might damage
- Fly their kite over someones head, ever, anywhere, for whatever reason, no matter how safe it probably is
- Fail to see a swimmer or other person/object in the water
- Forget to check their blindspots
- all the well known do nots we are all reasonably aware of
I guess I'm just wondering how many out there have WAKSA membership/insurance and forget that your NOT covered if something goes wrong and it can be shown that the situation could have been avoided by acting in more responsible manner.
I actually thought of this after walking past a man and his son at Point Walter the other day. I saw them approaching and pointedly walked to the other side of the spit to give myself distance and raised the kite up well out of their way. They appreciated my effort and nodded and smiled etc but as I walked past I realized that if a gust had of hit me and I had of dragged into them I was TOTALLY at fault, I should, and could, have done the same thing to leeward.
sorry for the essay.
WA
422 posts
You are right,
Don't follow the AKSA guidelines when you kite and something goes wrong resulting in you being in a court room...you are on your own.
A fundamental problem is that people are saying "relax! this is a bit of overkill...common sense will prevail".
Unfortunately there are a lot of kiters out there who do not exercise common sense when they are in the vicinity of other beach users, Subsequenty they need to be TOLD because if they are not told what they are doing is potentially dangerous then how will they ever learn?. The same way everyone learns most of lifes lessons BY MISTAKES.
Two ways of doing this: Telling them on the beach, which can lead to agro with ego's being pushed out of joint.
OR
Have information sessions/workshops/demonstrations. All of which need to be coordinated. Do I see anyone out there putting their hand up to volunteer down there to do such things?.
Hmmm Didn't think so....
Join WAKSA for the future of your kiting spots.
WA
649 posts
Please see my response "public liability cover" on the WAKSA forum
Cheers,
Ian Young
www.flysurf.com.au
0414 716 812
