Hey all you sellers of kites out there(especially a certain one on the Goldy), Recently there has been a noticeable rise in the numbers of kiters on the broadwater, great news for the sport and im definately not moaning about it, come one come all to enjoy the sport! What gets me is I keep coming across Newbies that have been given no instruction on how to rig or fly or most distressingly how to operate their safety systems on their new toys. Just the other day for example, 2 guys approached me after spending $6000 between themselves on all the latest gear, asking which line goes to which knot and what the red ball and black ball are for etc etc... I think there should be some professional responsibility on the stores selling our beloved kites to sit down with our newcomers and give them at least a basic safety how to, what and what not to do discussion or even a demonstration video with the ins and outs of the rigs theyve just purchased. Kites nowadays are safer than ever but if you dont know whats what then we may as well be back in the days of two liners with no depower and a bungy cord on the wrist for safety. Im sure the retailers out there can appreciate that the more incidents we start having due to uninformed starters will lead to beach closures, less kiters and a general drop in your business will surely follow as a result. So all im suggesting is a 20-30 minute familiarisation session with the greenies, or a free lesson or two with one of the local instructors,(I know some of you offer this already) after all, its not exactly chump change theyre parting with to get involved. Thanks for hearing my rant, Im sure everyone will agree that a safe/low incident kiting community will continue to flourish but on the flipside all we face is bad press, shut downs and ultimately the tearing frustration you feel when you cant go kiting.
Rip it up, BennyB

When I first investigated getting into the sport, every shop I visited included free lessons. Unfortunately an injury caused a delay in my purchase. When I resumed my search of the right gear at the right price, I found almost no shops offered instruction with the purchase. Further the instruction cost had increased around 5 fold. Because of this increase in the cost of lessons and the lack of free introductory lessons, I am not at all supprised a lot of people try the self teach method. I totally agree with Benny, a responsible shop should offer lessons free or heavily discounted, for those of you who do, well done and thank you!

Yeah mate i did but in the interest of fair play im not going to name the store here. The whole purpose of my rant was to start a solution, not to cause problems. Cheers, BennyB. P.s Its 7 am and already windy!!!

where is the wind, hasn't hit sunny coast yet, misssed out for 3 weekends in a row now, bring it on

I am sure sux er such instructions even come with condoms (have lessons,do not try
by your self)