Hi All,

Reading the Sydney Morning Herald today I noticed an article on a man who has successfully sued and received compensation when a hang glider hit him whilst walking at Long Reef beach in Sydney's northern Beaches. Although this happened ten years ago. Story here
www.smh.com.au/national/big-payout-for-glider-crash-victim-20060301-gdn29y.html

This story leads me to wonder what would happen if a kite surfer anywhere were to hit an innocent person passing by?

The result would be the same would it not? Can you afford to be sued ?

I kite at Brighton / Sans Souci in Sydney and Dolls point mostly and wonder at the many many many competent yet fool hardy kiters that Jump and SPIN so so so close to shore. I have witnessed just last weekend a kite collision because of this.

Yet the (PRO) kiters seem to continue to do it ? There is no gallery. There are no judges, There are no prizes if you land a fantastic jump.

There are though huge consequences if you inadvertently CRASH & INJURE someone.
Yes if you have AKSA membership you are covered I believe BUT it does NOT give you free reign to still injure someone.

I don't know why the kiters I know (and respect their abilities) still do it?

Take a moment and think about the consequence and then jump at least 1.5 line lengths from shore if you still want to pose.

I was at jervis bay at the weekend and one local kiter was particularly dangerous, not taking other kiters, swimmers or beach users into consideration by doing huge jumps and tricks close to shore and crashing. It's not cool, I see it all the time at Dolls and if you're one of those people consider yourself foolish, stupid and completely irresponsible. There are basic no-go zone rules for crafts on water & kiters come under that category....read up on it and follow or discover the hard way when we start getting banned from beaches when incidents happen.

Whether you're a show pony or not, everyone who kites should be a member of AKSA.

quote:

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Originally posted by GalahOnTheBay
As for consequences - that's something kids folks these days seem to know very little about. Just like going out with too big a kite, in surf that's too big - if you are not prepared to deal with the consequences of your actions then DON'T DO IT. On the flipside, if I AM prepared to deal with the consequences - don't lecture me - that's my call not yours. Feel free to "Educate" me on the consequences, but then quit it already.

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No problem with that - if you are prepared to risk YOUR life-n-limb go for it.
But if the possible consequences involve another person then that argument is total BS.
Do you think the parents of the kid you kill are prepared to 'deal with the consequences' or that the person you put in a wheelchair for life would be prepared to wear the consequences.
There are more people in the world than yourself in the equation.