What are the odds ?
The odds of the walker (and his dog) checking out this very site ?
Checking out this very thread ?
Checking out all the BS.
lol.
When all is said and done.......the instructor should not have been teaching a 60kg student on a 10m kite in the conditions on Wednesday.
The instructor obviously had no regard for the safety of their student; other kiters and most importantly other beach users who are not aware of the risks of being around kites that are not in total control.
The instructor is at fault 100%. IMHO
WAKSA & the local kite users group have done their best to police and advertise safe kiting practices for this area. Permanent signage is as far as i know awaiting approval by council?
Common sense and responsibility for your own actions should prevail. The local users practice self regulation but you can only go so far.
To the instructors operating at Leighton; take notice!!!!
In a way, we're lucky to live in a country where suing people and businesses is not the national sport. I can't help to think about the consequences of the legal precedent that would be set should any injured person win a lawsuit against an unlawful kiteboarding school operation and the council as well. Let's face it, it's only a matter of time before worst accidents happen, say for example a child or toddler get seriously injured from a kite crash…
The councils are either 1) completely unaware of the fact that a number of kite schools are operating without permits and/or insurance or 2) they are somewhat aware of the problem but have decided not to take any actions. I'd go for number 2.
Like other sports of that nature, kiteboarding is dangerous and accidents do happen from time to time. The problem is most kite schools don't have what it takes to protect themselves against lawsuits and don't have the resources to meet some of the most basic safety requirements (like the ones recommended by the IKO for example). As for wdric's suggestion, such “cautions signs” would be great but they have to be allowed by the council, and since most schools operate without a council's permits…well…
It's easy to point the blame at that instructor and talk about the many ways such an accident could've been avoided. The fact is in any school (legitimate or not) with any instructor, accidents are always a risk factor and unfortunately accidents as much as they can always be avoided, they also can always happen regardless of the wind conditions, kite sizes, safety precautions, etc. The perfect teaching/learning spot and the perfect teaching conditions simply don't exist, that's the nature of the sport itself.
Until the councils gets more complaints to decide to take action or until every school can earn the privilege to operate with an exclusive permit in their own allocated area, we can only hope that every school out there takes this incident (and others as well) as an opportunity to revise and improve their approach in safety to help minimize the risk…until then, the show goes on.
Thanks Wave for bringing the real beef of the thread to peoples attention again, A member of the public , carelessly walking their dog got hit by a kite and suffered physical damage as a result. "Man up and take it" will not float in any law court and is completely the wrong attitude to take to a problem that is slowly, due to the mainstream advertising of kite boarding, going to become a much more prevalent issue.
Blah blah blah.. half the sensible comments here have been redthumbed?? Personal big-upping at the expense of problem solving as usual.
Leighton shoreline - as others have testified - is full of holes and no place for teaching noobs IMO.
So why didn't some of the rusted on locals suggest this to the 'instructor' or better still to the student?
From what i have seen an experienced, kite schools don't teach you enough about safety, the wind, the kite and how the kite flys in different conditions. When i did my lessons (not going to name the school) just before we were going to do our first body drag in the water she said "oh wait. i forgot to teach you about the safety system." Out of the 3 hours that day on the beach, the saftey part went for 5 mins TOPS! Luckily for my dad and i, we were changing from windsurfing and knew a lot about the wind and what not. But the guy that was with us in our lesson looked very confused and you could see the difference between our control and his just by knowing more. But in this case, Why the hell was a 60kg rider on a ten in the first place?? At leighton... with a 3 foot shore break. Surly if you were a good instructer you would look at the situation and say that this is a no go for today and move the lesson to another day. I think that half of these schools are in it for the money $$$ and thats it. When the three hours is up, quickly pack up and go...
Luckily for my dad and i, we were changing from windsurfing and knew a lot about the wind and what not. But the guy that was with us in our lesson looked very confused and you could see the difference between our control and his just by knowing more. But in this case, Why the hell was a 60kg rider on a ten in the first place?? At leighton... with a 3 foot shore break. Surly if you were a good instructer you would look at the situation and say that this is a no go for today and move the lesson to another day. I think that half of these schools are in it for the money $$$ and thats it. When the three hours is up, quickly pack up and go...
Oops wrong quote! This was in relation to Walks comments.
Ocean reef graph showed av of 25, still windy for a 9 I think. Yes you have experience teaching but that is just offsetting skill/ risk. Charl taught me about three years ago and I had a similar day and I was on a six with short lines.
I am often suprised to see kites larger than the one I'm putting up being used by students, surely unless your actually trying to ride, kite size is irrelevant, probably even teaches better kite control!
GMD you are really showing your lack of knowledge within the kiting community...
Mullaloo = KBP run by Rob Gannon
Do some research and you will find your answer to your own stupid questions..
Permit yes
Insurance yes
Council approval yes
Previously was cancelled but through hard lobbying by Rob and WAKSA was granted permit to operate.. If you have questions regarding his business.. CALL HIM AND DON"T BE A DOUCHER HERE ON SEABREEZE!
The student had 4 hrs of lessons under his belt and, according to him, another 3 hrs of bodydragging unsupervised. Once again it was my decision to go ahead with the lesson. Useing headzone helmets i could of ended the lesson at ANY time. This was not the first time he had been in the water, if it had of been he would be on the school 6 but not on short lines, every student has different abilities and that is what seperates the money grabbing schools from Kite Boarding Perth, I have worked in my spare time alongside Rob since 2008 and my safety record is 2nd to none and as you can tell i'm quite proud of it.
Now, rather than judgeing me, why don't you get back to the real issue,
fly by night instructors with no permits or insurance and a injured member of the public.
Rant over 
here's a non-kiters perspective
is it possible to place some type of protective coating on the lines that can be used for those learning?
surf schools use softboards so perhaps kite schools need to consider this but it'll be up to the council to make a call on this I guess. It is a bit of worry reading that some operators are doing so without cover of any kind. I understand that the sport has dangerous equipment and when things go wrong in this way it must cause you guys a fair bit of concern as I think in terms of the law it would be tough to get any compensation from someone just kiting and causing bodily harm to another but if a business transaction has occurred that's another matter.... btw down my way the kiting crew cause no problems(as far as I know) and show respect/common sense to those around them, jet ski bogans on the other hand
soft lines ...........hmmm maybe licorice straps
Nice try Bakesy but not really an option me thinks.
Great to hear good feedback from a non kiter though. If ALL kiters worked at maintaining great relations with the beach user public we wouldnt have problems keeping our beaches open to all.
I noticed a few ppl suggested to let the instructor and student know about the dangers at Leighton!
From past exp they tell you to go away!!
Just this week at Peli pt two guys were teaching themselves and they both reckon they knew all about kiting as they are ex windsurfers and surfers, last guy said it isn't that hard!!
BOTH ended up at the end of the point and both kites in the water heading towards the LADY STATUE, SUCK SH#T I say!!!
S
I gave up on the ppl instructing at PELI PT!! EVERYONE who teaches at PELI PT DO NOT have insurance, except one which uses a boat!! Any given day when there is wind in, there are 3 separate ppl teaching others!!
thinking more like a plastic covering that can be removed, bit like the stuff you use on electrical wiring when you have multiple wires all over the place.
hmm unfortunatley i think there would be an issue with weight & drag and the kite would probally end up being more unstable, heavier, harder to fly thus more dangerous in the long term. I think just a healthy respect of the inherent and potential dangers and constanetly changing weather and surrounds and assessing the situation is what is required. We need to know what is downwind of our kites and lines all the time and make adjustments where required. I know when im riding reasonably close to shore (dare i say within the magic 200m mark doing 5kts of course) i always have to adjust what im doing, want to do, can do, think i can do and what the consequences could and more likey would be before i do it.
This is especially important when the old couples are walking their doggies and love to stop exactly downwind of you to watch you. Most people do find the sport visual entertaining, i know i would get a good laugh at watching me ride and stack it, but we must understand that these people have no idea nor why would they really? of the potentially lethal consequences of a kite/kiter out of control. Its called foresight, the ability to reasonably forsee the consequences of our actions and or inactions (hmm you may even find this to be very similar to the legal "means test" for the word RECKLESS) again its really about being responsible. Cars are very lethal in the wrong hands, just as guns, knives, koala's basically everything can be lethal if used the wrong way or handled poorly even the poor use and presentation of the English language seems to offend some or draw critisism!!! .......
On the whole Mullaz instructor thing..
I did my lessons many years ago with Rob Gannon and he DEFINITELY taught the safety system well and made sure everything regarding the 4 line system (as it was on the C kites then) was fully understood before entering the water.
Had done a lesson previously with (now defunct) Mr Choice at Woodies and was left in no doubt I wanted a better standard of lessons. Complete cowboy with bad teaching skillz and attitude IMO.
In contrast I was completely happy with safety, lessons, follow up and professionalism with RG.
Haven't been instructed by Rob's staff but often the standards are set by the boss, so would be surprised if there was any drop in attention to safety.
Can understand kiter and member of public having an un-foreseen incident. This can happen in all walks of life.
Can not understand why people being taught by licensed instructor at licensed venue can come into the same category. Firstly the license should oblige the instruction to be within a clearly marked area large enough to allow for kites hitting the ground. The signs should be explicit and carry the council permit number. If there is not enough area for this to occur and members of the public to walk past on the beach/ area, it is not a suitable training area.
Regardless of what you feel your rights are to utilise public space for business activities you should be committed to meeting your obligations and basic risk assessment is one of these.
I think I heard that there is a 3 strikes and you are in jail policy with juvenile offenders in WA - where the same can be shown for a licensed franchise operating on public property replace jail with loss of license - not withstanding any possible criminal charges.
Allowing for inflation since I was born - my 2Cents
PS I hope the cyclone brings some rain down south..
Cheers
AP
