A guy got hit by a kite at Leighton beach yesterday. This guy was passing by with his dog when a school kite knocked him down. When he realized what happened he went straight to the student and was close to punch her before the instructor stood in the way.
Blood all over the face, the guy got burnt mark by the loaded line from the mouth to the ear and apparently needed a few stitches below the ear....
I've seen this school (ran by a local) operating at the river and Leighton many times.
This guy was close to her student but she got pushed forward by the shorebreak, her lines went slacked, the kite dropped, she yanked on the bar and so you can imagine the rest.
The instructor didn't even have a safety leash himself. How come he could secure the kite in a proper manner then? He didn't have a first aid kit either.....
I talked with the injured fella, a cool guy, but he couldn't see the damage yet... I reckon he's pissed off by now...
**** can happen to anyone but I reckon this one could have been avoided. As a school why would you send a 60kg student in an unstable wind (15-25) with a 10m kite when there is a 3 foot shorebreak and people passing by????
Schooling needs to stop at any public beach with swimmers or beach goers - simple.
I have to see one responsible instructor yet at Mullalloo, Pinnaroo or Leighton not sending their students body dragging across the path of other kite surfers or close to beach walkers .. If they don't find a spot with NOBODY around but the students they should change their profession .. There are spots in Perth where you can do that and maybe not in 28knots of wind like yesterday in Mullalloo.
I would recommend to that beach goer to sue the cr@p out of that instructor and lodge a complaint with the council.
A driving school does not take a student onto the road until they can find the brake or do they here ??
And all that for $300 a lesson ??
There is only one schooling spot in Perth right now which I would consider reasonably safe and good for students. There are other spots but obviously too inconvenient for the schools and students.
regards
gmd
This certainly has an ominous feel to it...
Part of me wants to say that schools should stick to beaches like woodies but this could have been much worse if there wasn't an instructor present.
Hope the poor guy's okay.
I'd sue the feckers. I need a new quiver.... [}:)]
Poor guy- must be sore/ livid!
Poor girl- probably her last foray into kiting 
Obviously bad news to hear that a civilian got injured by a kiter. We can only hope the injuries weren't too serious & that there's a speedy recovery.
Speaking as a die hard regular @ Leighton, this ****s me to tears. One or two 'instructors' have been operating @ Leighton this summer with minimal regard for other kiters and other beach users.
Whilst the beach is wide, the explosion in numbers @ Leighton over the past season makes any instruction at Leighton less than ideal IMO. The 'minimal regard' the instructors have shown over the season includes, for example instructing in the midst of crew launching & landing when there's been heaps of upwind room for instruction; having students body drag through the established take off area, frequently all the way down through the dog beach area.
Based on my dealings with City of Fremantle in my other role, I'd be remarkably surprised if CoF had issued anything like a permit to trade/conduct a business on Leighton beach. It's hard enough dealing with them for event permits on that beach, let alone one to 'operate a business'.....
The problem that this reported incident creates will most likely be a knee jerk reaction from CoF about kiting @ the beach. It will be interesting to see what if any outcome there is. Just freakin' wonderful....
Catch 22.. Put it on this forum and it arms the anti kiting lobby everywhere. Complain to council and it just ticks the box of another kiting complaint and reason to ban kites.....rather than a fellow kiter trying to be pro-active on safety. That said accidents and injuries can and will happen in every sport; I see the local surf schools take people to hospital on a regular basis. Maybe the state association could handle complaints; rather than them being posted on public forums. It may help identify problem areas and individuals leading to better usage and safety for all beach users. I know examples of surfers in the past who have done the wrong thing and their sponsors have dropped them after being made aware. Maybe the state association could contact a schools kite supplier if it is really is a dangerous shonky operation.
Sounds like a nasty ACCIDENT, sh1t like this happens all the time in every sport and life in general. Every day someone runs someone over with their surfboard, bike, car, motrbike, tractor, blah, blah. blah, yet you never see it dramatised on a public forum. The more you publicise this sh1t, the more damage you are doing to the sport. The person that hurt the guy should console him and compensate him in the way he would like, then that should be it, end of story.
This is very unfortunate! With the conditions being gusty with big holes in the wind near the shoreline this accident could have happened to many of the kiters who were out at the time. In fact, there were numerous crashed kites near the water's edge with kites falling right left and centre albeit they were further out and hadn't quite made the shoreline. In retrospect the instructor should have realised the potential dangers of the situation and called a halt to proceedings earlier. Leighton around dusk is not a good location for a learner to control a skittish kite. In this instance there would have been normally been no issues with the crashed kite as the instructor was with the student in the water. But..., most unfortunately someone happened to be exactly at the wrong place as the kite crashed. Who's not had a kite crash at some point in their kiting experience and been lucky there was no-one underneath it? For those of us who have learnt it is easy to pass judgement on schools and their instructors but the big question is, where is safe to learn? Luckily in this instance kiters assisted the injured party with first aid kit and reassurance.
Oh dear...
All you newbs and kooks...if you actually look at the direction where the wind is coming from then you will understand why there is holes in it....
It travels dead south and even SSE..... Which passes over Woodies, Coogee and eventually that inconspicuous stack of shipping containers (and the rockwall at Freo port/Port beach)
Wind hits objects and creates turbulance and bounces around like a yoyo.. Leightons is renowned for it unless your 500 mtrs offshore.
Most of the expeiernced guys head offshore quite a ways.. The others just mow the lawn and then complain about the holes and ask 'why does my kite fall out of the sky'...
Leighton often has gusty conditions with holes, eddies etc and times when kites can just drop. This is mainly due to the Coriolis effect pulling the seabreeze into a southerly direction so the wind comes over the port. Not ideal for teaching when this happens.
I'm not one to advocate a society that sues one another, but in this case, should the victim choose too, it shouldn't matter to the kite school as who in their right mind would operate a business such as this without public liability. Sure the premium may jump but at least he'd be covered. ????
Just a general question im not taking sides but think of the amount of people on surfboards that hit swimmers and you dont hear all of those complaints how come surfers dont have the same reputation that kiters have ??
^^^ +1
If we coun't teach on a beach with other people we could not teach at any metro (and further!) beach
LOL The sport growing is the biggest problem
and suing someone just because you get a little graze is pathetic, grow up. its people like you which makes the world such a hard place to live in. ive been hit by kites, surfboards and even bodies being thrown by kites countless times and i havent sued anyone? never sued anyone for crashing into my car either..
no gmd did, i just had the message typed up and didnt hit reply for a while. wasnt aimed at you Lotofwind
