That's unbelievable Juddy! It's just not right I tells ya.
The wind is cranking 25 - 30 knots outside and your stuck, sitting down in a beachside cafe for most of the arvo. 
I've said it before...."if I had a dollar for every tosser " .....I'd be a millioanaire twice over again....
I agree, we need to sort our ** out quickly, if not we may be in big trouble
The other day me and my 9 year old son was out swimming in the flags at Brighton (Scabs) when 3 dudes doing a DWer decided to buzz us in the flags. One of them, a old guy lost momentium and stopped in the flags a few meters away from where me and my young fella was swimming.
He was having dramas getting going and It looked like it possibly was going to end in tears. I got between him and shielded my son as the old dude looked like he was struggling. It was potentially quite a heavy situation as the dude was basically trying to water start 2-3 meters up wind of us and it looked liked the wind just dropped out. ( I reckon that situation would potentially scare the ** out of a non kite surfer person).
Anyway I shouted out at the Noddy to not kite in the flags... I think he got the message, I hope he reminded his other Noddy mates.
In the time I was at the beach I also counted at least 2-3 other people kite through the flags....
I hate the idea or regulations etc but I now think it may be the go.
i don't get this 'ride thru swimmers' caper. saw a couple of tools (a blue and a green slingy, one a fuel) at nth scarb on NY, working the waves, leaving less than a metre's leeway as they carved thru swimmers.
there's miles of ocean, uninhabited apart from the odd GW, and stretches of unused beach.
WTF for endanger other beach users? go round them you dicks!
& imho DW's ease the congestion. all it takes is an ounce of courtesy. prob is, our culture is increasingly besotted by FU self-interest.
the authorities' default will be bans, not registration. AKSA should be pushing the registration option to keep kiting legit (just like other powered water craft) otherwise the door will slam in our face.
It may be that the best damage limitation is to try to create a situation where the kiters guide the control legislation. It depends on whether legislation is inevitable.
The simplest solution for non-kiter legislators is a complete ban in certain areas. Its much easier to enforce that than to judge whether a kiter is riding safely or dangerously.
As time goes on, I expect kiters will become even more isolated and basically be without support from any other group, unless that group was being grouped with kiters, and even then (if it was windsurfers) they may well just try to ungroup themselves.
Fortunately there haven't been many accidents where members of the public have been badly injured so far, and that's about the only good thing. If that changes, a lot of things will change.
I agree, something must be done, unfortunately I am not in a position of power...
My humble request to those in power, directing the future of our amazing sport/recreation/hobby/pass time;
Please don't penalize those of us that take responsibility for our own actions by making sure we know the rules,
making sure we assess the conditions and location and equipment,
making sure we keep ourselves and OTHERS safe,
And essentially keeping our commonsense and logic intact whilst ripping it up and having the time of our lives...
(all the stuff you are taught in your lesson..NO.1 being safety)
Instead;
Find a way of penalizing those of us that are the opposite to the above, whom plead ignorance despite being human and from planet earth like the rest of us that make the effort.
easily recognisable Waksa comitte members with a fistful of flyers should do the trick..
You would think....
Or is it that hard?
Where I live there is no kite stores, until very recently no one giving lessons (the guy that does now only does on weekends), and a crew of less than 50 kiters for the state. All this adds up to making kiting quite difficult to get into...
And we don't seem to have any of the problems I read about on these forums.
When people ask me about kiting I say " don't bother its expensive dangerous and you need a pilots license". Maybe if kites had less depower, and no-one taught people how to learn safely??
Flame on
Cottesloe Council has a 200m offshore exclusion zone for ALL WATERCRAFT
Went thru this several yrs ago with "phonebox" issue
There was one particularly miffed ranger out to get kiters banned full stop from cott
some lobbying led to WAKSA tags needed to kite south cott and leeway is given to surfcraft and windsurfers anyway
died quietly off, but just need another zealous "cop" ( this guy would photograph and video) and its all over for kiters in some areas - cant say i care if kiting gets banned in some spots as the public needs some protection
same old same old
only back then we all knew each other and toed the party line - still got my tags on the old harness
From an outsider who doesn't kite, coudos for identifying that there are idiot kiters (there are idtiots in every sport, look at dirtbikes) out there and you all are activly seeking ideas in educating these people the correct ediquete of the water sport.
Well done, I hope any outcome of this thread will turn into reality and minimise the negative impact kiting has had to the shoreline of Australia.
Perhaps this is already in action or has been suggested before...
Would it be beneficial to have the WASKA flyers handed out to local lifesaving clubs so they could then in turn be handed to kiters in the wrong? Obviously this would only reach kiters who are on the beach rigging or packing up but might help with getting them out there and send a consistent message.
In Queensland if you surf between the flags the lifesavers can confiscate your board.
so it really is that **** in wa eh? no point in having all the wind if ya got no place to use it...
