In the 11 years that there have been large kites on our beaches and in the water there have been no incidents that involve the public bystanders where they have been hurt (maybe frigtened by the loud boom of a kite crashing hard )
in the last few weeks 4 lives have been saved where the situation was critical and no other help was at hand so there are 4 people who are not dead and 2 small girls were pulled out by a kiter but others were around and the situation was not as critical.

We continue to be told that we are reckless and to stay away from more places .

I sounds like kiters are saving heaps of people but I would have to add that I think there are plenty of people on beaches getting hit by kites... just the other day down Cotton Tree some guy lost control of his kite and it dragged him down the beach straight into a family, luckily it hit the father and he just dropped on it like a rugby tackle til I got a chance to get over there and secure it properly.

Saying that, I have also noticed that the average beach goer has NO idea of the power in kites and I often see whole family's walking toward a kite just being launched to get a better view of it and ask questions or want to touch the kite. Because of this there is no genuine attempt by beach goers to get out the way when something goes wrong!

Yeh, I gotta agree with orb74 here. As much as I do try my best to respect the fact that the beach is for everyone and wait for a lull in the number of people walking by so that I can launch/land etc, I seem to find that there are some people who really have no idea and stroll right up to my kite, lines and worst of all about 1 meter downwind of me, meaning I have to raise the kite all the way up to avoid my lines coming near them... just one more meter... one more!

The most idiotic was a runner deciding he'd just duck and hop under/over my powered up lines when my kite was upside down on the beach coz I was self - launching and about to roll it over to launch, little did he know that he was facing the world's most painful wedgie if a strong gust came along . Obviously as he was a runner and I didnt realise that at first, he got to my launching spot b4 I had estimated he would... but yeh, even when I didn't kitesurf I would have been far more cautious than that, he also had an ipod stuck in his ears, so he couldn't even here me shouting "NOT THROUGH THE LINES!".

Kites don't kill people, kiters kill people.

I have saved a few pole surfers with broken bits and pieces in large waves.
They are people too.

Good point. Bad news sells.

I have seen heaps of kiters helping out other kiters, windsurfers and in 1 case a canoe. However i have also seen lots of nuftys causing destruction with there kites. Particulary those who think they can figure out how to do the sport on there first day in 25 knots. grrr.

At present some dedicated kiter's have been,for some time now,on the Sunnycoast been developing a strategy to address the similar problems that all Kiteing locations appear to be experiencing around Oz.We MUST as a collective body exercise a responsible attitude (in the true text of the word 'response')to all that is happening,more negative than positive it seems,ie the cranky lifeguard that implies kiteing should be bannished from the waterway's,the family that had there own kitemare experience cause they didn't know any better,the enviromentalist who say kiter's are frightening the sea birds,doesn't do any good for kiteing at all.This is why some very concerned members of the kiteing world are doing there best to develop a 'code of practice' to maintain a heathy relationship with all that are observing this new and 'extreme' sport,Noosa Hds has been under the spotlight for some time and the outcome of the 'monitoring' by the power's that be will influence Council and Maritime by laws in the near future for all of us.We can only do our best,just hope its enough to maintain our freedom of movement in this contemporary sport that is growing in popularity at a rapid rate...Roo