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
Your points are well made, but there are some other things to consider...
My kites came with an instruction manual which tells me how to do everything you refer to... 
And I actually read it to familiarise myself with my new kite ! Am I alone ?
I would have thought that anyone with a grain of intelligence and any care for self-preservation might read at least part of that ?
However, you can't account for those people who blindly buy things and try and use them. After all, they could actually buy this stuff on the internet... That's impossible to police. I have seen it in lots of places.
I would actually be more worried about the teaching if these people aren't questioning how it all goes together or how the safety features work... Yes it is exciting to have new toys, and that enthusiasm to try it out can cause some 'bindness' to these things, but they should have some idea how dangerous this sport can be and be seeking to minimise the risk to themselves. That all being said, I am happy if these people at least stop at some point in the whole process and seek help... And we should give it...
Just to throw something else in as an example from real life, no one gave me any demonstration when I brought my new iron !!! And that could seriously burn me ! I read the instruction manual. I realise that I have invited heaps of scorn now, but it was just for illustrative purposes... And no, I am not a girl !!! 
Anyway, just a few thoughts in response... 
BAP
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 think it would help, if all manufactures included a large tag on every piece of equipment especially the kite, emphasizing "DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LEARN BY YOURSELF, SEEK PROPER INSTRUCTION AND LESSONS, IF POSSIBLE". I thought of buying online, when i was first learning, glad I didn't though. I can't imagine a dealer to sell with telling the buyer to get lessons, but hey if they need to make a sale ? But there is definitely a problems with all the gear available online, without proper emphasis on getting lessons, protecting other beach goers and keeping it safe for all other kiters.
I am sure sux er such instructions even come with condoms (have lessons,do not try
by your self)
I'm sure all the shops on the goldy give lessons before selling kites or they did the last time i looked.
We wont sell a kite to some one unless they book in for a lesson plus we do a free theory class out side of the lesson and also hand out a book let on all the basic stuff they are going to need when they do go out by themselves just in case they do forget.
But saying all that people do forget stuff when they finally get out on there own, this is why they go to a area with other help full kiters so if they have forgotten how to put a line on then some one like your self can very nicely help them out,its just part of the sport i recon.
Shops can not make people take Lessons they can just advise them of why lessons are the best and safest way to learn.
Please remember most lessons are only 2 hours long and there is a lot to learn in that time.
If some one buys a full kit from us we are more than happy to put a free lesson in there as well. But please remember running lesson cost a lot of money and there are not a lot of days in the year when they can be done that's why most kite school only only last a year or so then fold up so whinging about the price of the lesson will get you know where and if you can't afford the lesson then maybe kitesurfing is not for you.
Jacko
