As one the original crew from pinnas, i feel i should say my piece.
Darren and i butted heads a long time ago when he rode in on his horse and tried
to save us all from ourselves. But he backed off a bit and i, along with most,accepted
the fact that the school was going to operate there.
These days i dont think any of the experienced guys actually have an issue with
the learners or any of the schools practices. We go to the beach, set up, kite for a
while (always looking out for other kiters, whether they are learners or not), come in and pack up. Its not that difficult. If you cant keep clear of kiters in a crowded area,
p... off somewhere else. Its your responsibility to keep clear of people who aren't as good as you.
On the subject of the accident...
Most of the time the instructors do the right thing and move up to the point with the
students to set up and teach. However there are times (if the beach is a bit quieter) that they will set up a bit too close to other kiters. I think that every student should
be taken up to the start of the dog beach to commence their lessons, which keeps them well away from the normal set up, pack down area.
Cheers, Chris.
In the end of the day the noobs always have that potential to begin death looping at any given moment. I agree with most of what Kitehard has said, maybe was a bit harsh early on 
.
If you choose to ride at pinnas or set up within a lines length of the school leaners and you are not compitant enough to avoid them you are asking for injury/problems.
That being said the biggest problem arises when people insist on riding and jumping right up too the waters edge around the same area the leaners rig up, enter the water and proceed to body drag through. There is plenty of room on either side of this area or even out in the huge expanse of water for you to do ur stuff and avoid leaners that may or may not have control of there kites.
also there are much better places to ride, including waveslaves local wave down in mandurah.
a map can be supplied if need be
or if not up for the treck to Slaves crib, maybe try somewhere closer to home.....
dusta i hope you remember that when you kite or surf somewhere else and get dropped in on or told to **** off because you're not a local.
nice attitude mate.
when/if i rocked up to another spot that wasn't my local , I would be talking to as many people as i can . I would sit there and survery the area and then find a spot i can enjoy myself without getting in the way of the locals .
I don't care who kitesurfs at a particular spot, as long as they don't act like prats , or get on their highhorse like the people from NSW and VIC are doing when they are not locals and know nothing about the spot . That is my issue
Kitehard
I have nothing but respect for you and your school and have always found you helpfull on the beach. I have been at using pinnaroo for 2 seasons now and personally consider it a training area.
In regards to setting up on the beach though there have been many times when I have been in the process of setting up ie unravelling lines when a instructor and student has either launched or walked back up the beach and positioned their window over me or my kite when there has been plenty of room if they walked 15m further up the beach where there is no one. I understand from the instructors point of view that if they moved all day for people they would always be moving, but I sometimes think how long does an extra 15 m take to walk? something to consider??
On the other side of the coin I have definatly set up closer than I would have liked(considering its probably me or my gear that will get damaged in a mishap) to an established student/instructor. I never like doing this but sometimes it is the only option as there is no room anywhere else.
I think your idea about keeping kites close to the dunes with lines wrapped up unless setting up/ launching/ landing is a great idea as surely most of the problem for everyone is not having enough room.
At pinnarro I have seen many close calls and to be honest am surprised there has not been an accident earlier. Almost all the incidents I have seen have been guys that cant control their kite, have nothing to do with the school and are by themselves way to close to other people. You are never going to gid rid of that problem though, morons they are a dime a dozen.
My two cents
crispy
Hey Pat....first of all, Happy 2010 to you bud.
I don't know if it really is the "kite community" as you say..........forum click-jerks maybe.
In general I find the kiters nice helpful people with interesting lives.
This thread makes me sad when I read it.........but I do know that it is just cyber space. Once you know the people face to face it is all so kn different.
Perhaps this is just a game show as Slave would have us believe.....but hey it is communication and a lot of good has come of it.
It is a bummer that we have wind, sun and waves every day and people are so agro..........it is because many locals are back a work I'm afraid 
I'll surely run in to you again soon.
Nick
At the end of the day it dosnt matter what ya doing, if your learning something new then your going to make mistakes. Weather it be kiteing or riding a bike or whatever.. Chances are your going to do something wrong! Sounds like maybe the instructor should of set up a bit more up wind of the other guy. But so what! We all fck up sometimes, dont matter how experienced you are at something. We all have our stupid moments. Though sounds like this was a good one =)... If this is the first accident they've had there in how ever many years, then thats pretty good i reckon. You see people launching themselves all over the place at most beaches from time to time.. Things like this are bound to happen sooner or later. Especially at a place like pinn because theres so many learners. One accident n everyones running around screeming!! Its just part of learning something new. My wrists are raw from kung-fu on monday, its no big deal, dosnt mean the school has to re-evaluate there teaching policy or whatever.. I'm learning something new n you gotta accept ****'s gonna happen..
Though its good the guys are trying to think of ways to stop it happening again in the future. Evan inviting pople down there to have a "meeting" sounds like he doing whatever he can. Good on him i reckon. But i think most people need to chill out a bit.... Some one learning to kite got launched down the beach!! Its nothing new! Its hardly surprising! I know i did it! Pity some one got hurt, but its gonna happen..
Just make sure everyones got plenty of room, seems pretty simple to me....
pfr go neck a cock with ur fairy attitude... darren and aks was at that beach way before other kiters were and the school shows more than adequate respect to the public.. it is by far the most credible school in aus. people insist on rigging up to the south and where they teach instead of to the north where they are not.
Hi Guys,
An update on the situation:
This evening we had our meeting with the local kiters who could be bothered to turn up and discussed ways to improve everyone's experience at Pinnaroo Point.
Meeting numbers were low (excluding staff there were 5 people) so I assume not too many people were interested or were concerned with the way things are or have been to date.
Despite the low turnout, we did come up with two great ideas.
1/ A sign be placed at the entrance to the beach with the rules/guidelines applicable to Pinnaroo Point. The locals felt this was a great idea as it gave them some back up or some form of official reference to guide behaviour of newcomers and locals alike. A code of conduct is probably a better name for it.
I will contact council to gain permission to install a proper sign in an appropriately conspicuous location. I will also draft up the guidelines and offer them up for consultation/discussion with the locals and edit/improve them til we are all happy. I will either pay for it myself or ask WAKSA to contribute to the cost of the sign. A wooden sandwich board wont do it.
2/ We all agreed a launching and landing corridor was a smart idea where people could move about safely without stepping around or over kites. This area is to be set aside directly in front of the driveway/accessway down to the water and 25m up and down wind of the center of the drive. You will not be permitted to leave kites on the beach in this area unless in the act of launching or landing your kite. Once landed, lines are to be rolled up, and the kite itself moved off to another place for storage, preferably closer to the dunes to keep the remaining beach as "clean" of kites as possible also.
This is a great initiative and is exactly how it is in Kailua in Oahu. It works VERY well and enhances the experience for all beach users from Fisho's, catamaran sailors, boaties launching and retrieving boats and also the general public. If we have a focused area where most launching and landing takes place, then it is more easily supervised and more likely for someone experienced to assist in launching and landing your kite which makes it safer for all.
For those that came and had a few beers/wines and contributed, many thanks! We're on the right track to a safer and better kiting experience in the future.
On a side note, I had a visit from the student injured in the incident and his father this evening. We had a good chat and he looks a lot better than the last time I saw him. One hell of a shiner though 
. He is hoping to visit the beach soon and return to finish off his lessons. We had a good chat and shared a few laughs and I thank them for being so cool about it all.
So much good has come from this accident, change that otherwise wouldn't have happened. A few people thought that everyone was being more careful with launching and landing than previously. Perhaps the beach/school needed this accident???
So long as good comes from this accident, then it has not been a waste or a negative. Thanks to all the people who contributed decent replies and posts on this thread, and for the many supporting PM's, phone calls and kind words from the Pinnacrew.
Cheers!
KH
Proposed clear area for launching and landing
Damn ..... I was just getting comfortable
anyway ......Sounds like a good result with a meeting of minds taking place. So not a bad thing that this happened ( except for the bloke with the sore head ) seems like lessons have been learnt ( no pun intended ) issues and dangers have been highlighted and are being addressed by the main beach users the place will no doubt benefit from the proposed changes and be all the better for it.
lock her up Laurie
ps: any chance of a photo of the knocked noggin, by all accounts it sounds photo worthy
