Unfortunately last week I was witness to a kiting accident at my local beach.
Just arriving at the beach I watched an experienced kiter self launching his kite on the sand close to the park edge.
Kids who were playing on the beach ran over to where the kiter had rigged to self launch. The kiter waited for the kids to leave the area.
The Father of the kids who recognized the potential danger and quickly acted to move the kids away from the kite. While walking down wind of the kite near the edge of the beach the kite was uncontrollably launched into the air, swang directly down wind of the kiter and then came crashing down fast slamming the Father and a small child into the ground. The kiter claimed a gust launched his kite. The child was relatively unscathed with some small scratches to his head and was understandably frightened. The Father copped a hard impact to the back of his neck and was very disoriented and shook up. An ambulance was called and he was treated for possible neck injuries.
Yes accidents do happen but it is our responsibility as kiters to not involve the unsuspecting public in our mistakes. We take the risk to kite, not them. Agree?
In this case I believe with a little common sense and planning this incident could have easily been avoided.
For starters there were others kiters on the beach so why not get an assisted launch when this option is available ?
Secondly if your going to self launch place your kite as close to the waters edge as possible increasing you margin for error down wind and distance to other beach goers..
Any signs of kids on the beach should immediately set off alarm bells in your head.
Also as soon as your launch plan is compromised abort and secure your kite.
Now I'm just waiting for the council to place a no kiting sign on the beach and start handing out fines.
Here here.
Even with an assisted launch, things can go wrong, gusts/lulls. Don't ever launch, or setup where the kite can launch itself, where the public is within the impact zone, simple.
yes even if its a rouge gust its the dudes fault. but shiit does happen and could possibly happen to anyone of us even with the best precautions.
in our overprotected world , we all need to be careful of potential legal actions taken against each other . 
ksa membership\insurance sounds appealing if kiting at populated areas.
As a partial solution - I would like to ask for someone who is a into graphic design to make up a sign indicating what the public should do if they want to watch a kite surfer when they are on the beach....
The sign would be down loadable for individual clubs / shops / groups to present to council for a sign to be made up.
The contents a graphic from above indicating safe and not safe zones - safe zone = feeling the wind on your back when looking at the kite / walking past..
Danger & Caution zone = feel the wind on your face when looking at the kite / walking past...
The graphic would qualify distance...
This is not alarmist it is an education awareness = pro-active..
W/Out witnessing / sighting the area U R referring to It is counterproductive to be judge mental.. What good can come out of this....??
What to assess when you are getting ready to setup....
Risk assessment 101.... best practice...
Would anyone like to start the ball rolling (please) 
Thanks
Rick
generally a kite will sit waiting for you to launch during the tethered method, however during strong or gusty winds the likelyhood of the kite hot launching is multiplied, when the winds like this i load up the wingtip with sand or use my sand bag supplied in my ozone bag of goodies, reduces the likelyhood of kite self launching,
We should ban all non kiting activity at all beaches. This would fix all problems. This kind of saga cannot be allowed to repeat itself...
Not sure if signs are going to help much. The biggests risks on beaches are kids and the entitled crowd. A kid won't read a sign and will pretty much just put itself in the most dangerous position available. The entitled crowd think the should be able to walk wherever the frak they like and that you should get out of their way. As I was holding my kite for a self launch on the beach one day, some bejeweled self entitled lass was so indignant that she had to walk around my kite that she instead chose to push it out of the way. Lots of wtf you idiot too and fro ensued but you get the point.
Have insurance and do your best to keep things safe is as much as you can control. The rest are mitigating circumstances.
I am not artistic but 3+ red thumbs and U R on - I will generate a sign - I may or may not consult the ordinary people who kitesurf -
'+'ve / generous ones R good - & I will go to the council and I will promote getting the sign put up. I will approach AKSA and ask for sub-money to sponsor this.
I will not tolerate ordinary putting other dominantly well meaning beach goers at risk.
Red thumb is my red bull - bring it on - loose the site(s) - U ordinary mirror gazers.
I had a frustrated kiter launch my kite the other day - I was miss positioned by 1 to 2 metres - when I gave the thumbs up - instead of giving me the benefit of his experience - he chucked the kite and I had to correct for my mistake - but without the experience - the frustration expressed for helping out for 30 seconds (at most) = a miss launched kite could take out someone walking a dog or checking out the waters edge in that danger zone - that is not on -- period...
Most read a sign most would appreciate knowing - the knowledge from zero grows - UR frightened of knowledge being passed on - UR ordinary - there r sooo many ordinary people in the world.
Adopt a motto "Be hedonistic but not at other people's expense"
Up the smart self-aware- generous - knowledgable - promoters - those who want to keep sites & harmonise - so locals and visitors can get a go - imagine going to Ur favorite site and getting locked out - not just here but abroad too.. boring..
U ordinary clods - go to the US and wear a gun target T-shirt - removal rate is high... -- 200+ since the last appalling massacre...
U R welcome 4 my effort.. and lets get something '+'ve out of that 'self-launch' in a gust fiasco.....
Ordinary - take a -------- - Yukkk - U make Gecko dung look good[}:)]
BION - this Rant - has been toned down - errrrr....
The + crowd - lets not get smothered by ordinary.. & top of the NYear 2 U..
Cheers
AP b
BTW - I will make the sign public so if any more artistic members can improve on it please do...
Me - count 1 - here is my effort
Graphic --
Looking from above
Make a circle of kite line size - say 30m as red in all but 45 degrees off directly upwind
Make a 2nd circle of yellow mimicing the first in all but 45 degrees off directly upwind with an added diameter of 30m.
Safety Message...
Please be aware - kites can be hard to control so for your safety
To watch a kitesurfer who is on the beach...
SAFE = with the wind behind you looking down wind to the kite = GREEN ZONE
NOT SAFE = with the wind in your face looking upwind to the kite = RED ZONE
BE ALERT = with the wind in your face looking upwind to the kite = YELLOW ZONE
Good ONYA AP
Rick
Why not just never launch when people are approaching or people are directly downwind from you...
Not hard to wait a minute for people to walk out of danger.
Dogs on the other hand have no concern for their safety...
lol.
Got to say that when you self launch and it goes pear ,you dont have time to pull your safety system.Ive watched the same thing happen at my local.the bloke copped a flogging .it happens in a split second.lucky nobody was around.you think about it, a fully powered up kite out of control.the first thing you would do after getting yanked forward after the the kite would be to brace for the impact.not reach down to pull your safety system. you would only hope that when the kite crashes it doesnt power up again.
I self launch/land all the time.
Every now and then I make an error. In those situations I am always reassured that I checked/waited/moved so my downwind area was clear.
As a result I am left with slight embarrassment, but at least other beach users are free from injury.
Just have to add...
This man is not experienced! He is known to be overly reckless. I do not like slandering anyone in public but it had to be said. Although he has a few years experience he is still prone to making stupid decisions (known for writing off two kites in the same set of trees a few days apart...).
We as kiters take a calculated risk every time we go out. It is not up to us whether we involve the public in our affairs. We just stay out of their way as much as we can. This could and should have been avoided. Obviously this poor man is paying for this accident and hopefully his injuries are not too serious. Worse though is the attention he will bring to our already over-policed sport, especially to our local spots which are signed 'no-go zones' for kiting.
Experience you say... Seems not and now some poor Dad and his kid paid the price...
If he was experienced he would have waited, then thought about his actions prior..
Seen a few of these peanuts this season.. Their skills are poor but they think they are pro's
you galah you should of added
Launching unhooked was the way IKO taught back in the old days for that reason (safety didn't work too well under load back then and you couldn't just let the bar go to kill the power). Even back then it didn't work. Half the time crew would get launched when trying to hook in after launching the kite, the other half were dragged with full power until they let go of the bar.
Safest option is to have someone else hold your kite for you as u launch :) if no is around don't launch if people are in the wind window area plus another 25 meters if it goes pear shaped let your bar go or pull the safety! It does happen very fast when it goes bad!
Having someone launch your kite with the person only letting go when you have checked lines are not twisted and you have given the thumbs up and they return this signal than they person can let go of the kite!
Likewise for landing the signal is to pat your head and the person catching your kite should do the same...
This is what iko taught as the universal launching and landing...definitely use other people when ever possible to help launch or land and be sure no one is directly down wind of the kite or in the window 50m is the safest distance to be sure :)
unless your a euro or over 60 and a 'know it all'.. Then a hot launch is the norm.
Risk management and practical emergency scenarios should be an integral part of all lessons. Sadly too many students are leaving their lessons without having activated the safety system while getting pulled by the kite even once. Of course many precautions can be taken to avoid problems in the first place (mostly by using common sense), but we all know things can still sometimes go wrong one way or another. If no one has showed you how to perform an emergency self-land and kite recovery in your lesson we shouldn't expect anyone to be able to do it especially in a panic scenario. Students should be asked to activate their safety systems by recreating emergency scenarios as many time as necessary until it becomes second nature to activate the safety system and recover the kite without assistance in the water and on the beach as well. Even the IKO doesn't teach emergency self-land as part of their progression, and only teaches self-rescue in the water AFTER a first few body drags...which instructors often choose to skip anyways...
with regards to the sign, it's a bad idea not because its intent is just and makes sense but because by creating a sign you create an awareness of danger to the unsuspecting public...
This is a catch 22 situation in terms of health and safety: You announce a danger and clearly enunciate a risk without stopping and making the process safer. The zero tolerance vision of risk management leads to the view that any potential risk should be removed: even if you make people aware of the danger, the danger remains and accidents may still occur.
Such document, sign could be used to enforce bans on popular spots as there would be reliable evidence that zero risk cannot be guaranteed and that therefore kiting is a dangerous sport tat should not be allowed on public beaches. Now I know this may sound far stretched as of now, but this has already happened everywhere in the world, I have seen many spots in Europe where bans were enforced on those grounds... albeit there was no signs that i was aware of.
It is better to keep in mind the fact that accidents are prone to happen and that we are all responsible for the common good, in turn ours in the long term. I've seen my fair amount of these, I keep an eye out on the beach, I see someone who needs a launch, I go out and help, if they seem incompetent I try to find out what the problem is. If they are hopeless, I notify them of the danger and that i am unwilling to help until they have received professional instruction. All in all I look out for other kiters and bystanders.
Last week I politely refused to help launch someone that assured me they knew how to kite after they went flying 50M down at Pinaroo in north Perth because they didn't know that the donkey dick went into the chicken loop, I outlined the fact that he may also be liable to lawsuits to injuries inflicted on bystanders. Might not have been my risk but the bystanders that were crowding the area less than 10M away made it my business because I like the spot and I want to keep kiting from there and make sure no innocent bystander gets hurts by some ****wit... My 2 pennies worth...
