yearly kit cost

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mattyj said..

anyway by washing your kite with freshwater each time you are damaging your canopy and your kite!

Rubbish.

It's perfectly safe. Rinsing the kite removes sand & debris (the real killer of kites). Of course it depends how you do it and how you allow it to dry.

I am fortunate to have an underground carpark with plenty of light and fresh air.

I just hang my kite on the ceiling by the bridles, wash the canopy down with fresh water from a nozzle gun and allow to dry overnight. The next day the kite is dry as a bone, crisp and ready for another day. I admit, I don't do this every time. About once a week.

I challenge you to put your kite bag through the sand with seawater, and leave it over 3 days. The material will be rotten and the zippers frozen. And if you pack a kite fully wet with sea water and some sand on it, I guarantee the canopy will have pin holes in a few days. Don't tell me salt is perfectly safe for kites.

It seems "safe" to most because the kite was allowed to dry mostly before being packed. And most of us that look after kites shake off excess sand from the LE/bridles/connectors.

Put it this way. Why do you think kiters prefer to pack and unpack on grass? It's because grass has fresh water over it (if at all), not sea water.

I've never had mould on a kite.

I've been kiting since 2003.
I typically get in around 60 sessions a year - the first couple of years probably more - so I reckon I've clocked over 600 sessions. And I can't wait for the next one !
As of April 2013 I've spent approx. $6300 over the preceeding 10 years - approx. $630 per year, or $10 per session.
Damn good run rate compared to my previous addiction (snowboarding).

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Kitepower Australia said...

tarzan said..

I've been kiting since 2003.
I typically get in around 60 sessions a year - the first couple of years probably more - so I reckon I've clocked over 600 sessions. And I can't wait for the next one !
As of April 2013 I've spent approx. $6300 over the preceeding 10 years - approx. $630 per year, or $10 per session.
Damn good run rate compared to my previous addiction (snowboarding).

Thats a great post Tarzan! Hope you don't mid if I use it to argue a point about not supporting your local Australian based kite retailer?
Firstly, if you don't like one retailer in oz, find another, but keep your money and the profit (which then gets spent again here, and so on)

So over 10 years you spent $6300.
If you had paid lets say 20% more you would have paid $7560
Or about $12.60 per session, which any reasonable person would agree is still peanuts to be able to enjoy one of the best sports ever.

So before spending money overseas, think about the real cost, both to you and our economy and society? We really need to put a halt to this self absorbed and really false idea that somehow we are doing a good thing buying overseas.

Sometimes I shudder at your input kite power. . .
You have just called anyone who has purchased something on the Internet self absorbed. By your own admission you buy non kite related goods from overseas.... what is the difference to the economy? Are you calling yourself self absorbed?

That's not the way to win back the business lost to overseas companies.

Everyone's situation is different and many struggle to fund their passion for a variety of reasons. Searching for a deal is sometimes the only method available to get the equipment desired.

That deal could be buying from overseas , second hand, ex demo or run out specials, building a relationship with a shop to get a discount.

Whose is to blame for the sale lost to an overseas company? Is it the customer as you proclaim? Or is the importer setting the price point too high? Is it the retail outlet missing the buying signals of the customer?

I am 100% sure that all people that have purchased products from overseas have first tried to purchase them locally before looking for an overseas option.

So local companies have been given the opportunity to sell but they have lost that opportunity. They have not shown added value to offset the price difference. That is a failing of the seller/and importer setting the price point . Not the buyer.


For the record I don't buy my kite gear from overseas.

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Plummet said..
Sometimes I shudder at your input kite power. . .
You have just called anyone who has purchased something on the Internet self absorbed. By your own admission you buy non kite related goods from overseas.... what is the difference to the economy? Are you calling yourself self absorbed?

My name is Steve McCormack, I'm a real person, trying to make a living doing what I love to do, kite and help other people kite. I did not make that statement you smugly and arrogantly accuse me of. I referred to the IDEA, that buying overseas is a not a good practice. I clearly showed using Tarzan's example that it makes very little difference to the actual cost per session. However, it makes a huge difference to our economy and society to have the funds lost completely to an overseas sale.

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Plummet said..
That's not the way to win back the business lost to overseas companies.

Pompous statement, no practical solution offered, and no doubt made by an armchair expert, with no real life experience building and running a small retail business.

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Plummet said..
Everyone's situation is different and many struggle to fund their passion for a variety of reasons. Searching for a deal is sometimes the only method available to get the equipment desired.

That deal could be buying from overseas , second hand, ex demo or run out specials, building a relationship with a shop to get a discount.

Totally understand that, while I cannot always find a deal to suit everyone's budget, I'm certain that everyone's budget and needs can be easily met within the Australian market, by retailers and the seabreeze classifiends, etc. We will always do a deal and seek out the best deals from suppliers to suit all budgets.
Everything I've acquired in my life I got by working, grew up in a family of 8 kids, mum had polio could not work or walk properly, one income, everything was a hand me down or used. Started work when I was 12 doing paper rounds and selling hot dogs and pies at the footy, so I really do understand what it means to be poor! (my partner also came from a family of 8 kids, small farm raising sheep)

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Plummet said..
Whose is to blame for the sale lost to an overseas company? Is it the customer as you proclaim? Or is the importer setting the price point too high? Is it the retail outlet missing the buying signals of the customer?

The biggest loser here is our economy, New Zealand faces the same issue. The issue is about people supporting their countrys economy, understanding that the profit on a deal stays here and is spent here with a supplier of something else, or is paid as wages to an employee, here, get it? Competing on a global scale (and just competing economically in general) is a lose/lose game perpetuated upon us by the mega wealthy families that really control the global economy, but I digress.

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Plummet said..
I am 100% sure that all people that have purchased products from overseas have first tried to purchase them locally before looking for an overseas option.

You are a self absorbed idiot if you believe your own BS. 100% sure PFFTTT!

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Plummet said..
So local companies have been given the opportunity to sell but they have lost that opportunity. They have not shown added value to offset the price difference. That is a failing of the seller/and importer setting the price point . Not the buyer.

For the record I don't buy my kite gear from overseas.

Strangely again, you argue its all about the price point, when the price point by your own admission is arbitrary and negotiable. You've read all this in books or something haven't you?
I'm arguing about educating buyers, asking them to look beyond the price they see on their computer screen, pleading with them to go and talk to a local dealer. You clearly just have a knock down that tall poppy mindset.

Sometimes we have to buy off the internet, products are just not available locally. Sometimes it is about price and economies of scale, there are thousands of examples where a product is sold overseas at retail via the internet at prices below what an importer here pays, so its a no brainer to source that sort of thing from the internet.

The only photographic gear I've purchased overseas was when I was travelling, or when I was unable to source the item locally. Even as recent as last month after waiting more than 4 months trying to get a particular item I found a good used one on a US website and purchased it. When it arrived it was not in the condition described, was actually faulty and had to be returned. I was refunded all of the cost including shipping, but am still trying to get the GST back. Of course finally, the local supplier called and said he had one, we had a good laugh about my experience, but he gave me a good deal, apologised for the delay, gave me a free high quality filter, and I'll continue to shop with Georges in Sydney. The difference is not worth the hassle, and at least I know that the profit that Georges do make stays here in Australia and oils the gears of the economy of the country I live in!

Red thumb away!

I dont upgrade my gear unless it is falling apart.

I always buy a bargain from Seabreeze or local kiters. The resale is quite reasonable. Try and sell old bikes or snowboards then you will see the difference.

I guess its every 2 - 3 years - kites don't really change that much. I still have a 2010 10 metre rebel and it an unreal kite that I have had repaired.

Boards on the other hand. Surfboards get damaged quite easily and twin tips loose their pop. Only replace them when I really need to.

I would love to have 10 grand to spend on kites.

Jeez $900 every couple of years is all I really need. I get into some pretty scary surf breaks, I don't spend money on new kites they just get smashed.

I have to say Moti Levy have fixed my gear a few times.

Boards I fix myself I am an ex Boat Builder, now I teach High School (Low wage plenty of time to kite).

>>> Just do what eppo does and totally bum kites and boards off every kiteshop in WA.

Seems to work a treat!!

Just the same as the euro's demoing with no intention of ever buying anything. How many shop owners enjoy that feeling I wonder....

(except eppo does occasionally let his pet moths out of his wallet for some expercise now and again)

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Kamikuza said...
My turn to say: leave it be, Uncle Plums... nobody needs the venom and next thing you know, he'll be calling you a liberal

bigtone667 said..

Hi Glendog,

What do you do to your gear?

Yeah, ditto! Or is your weather just that good?

Lol I reckon there should be a prize on offer for anyone who can start a thread where plummet doesn't have a go at the shop owners or ozone!

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NoBS said..

>>> Just do what eppo does and totally bum kites and boards off every kiteshop in WA.

Seems to work a treat!!

Just the same as the euro's demoing with no intention of ever buying anything. How many shop owners enjoy that feeling I wonder....

(except eppo does occasionally let his pet moths out of his wallet for some expercise now and again)

When I let the moths out ...about two grand a year give or take 500..., but I generally run 3-4 kites, 3 TT's and a kite-SB, so not bad considering.

What brand of harness? Year by year, each new Dakine I buy is falling apart sooner in the year...

LMAO

Mattyj has been suspended.

Not surprised at all. I had a nice matter of fact PM for him about salt water vs fresh water. Ahhhh such is life. Blissss.

Well I will still buy new if the kite and Board is worth it after a demo or three or four ..and local of course.

Life's short, can't take ya money to the grave nor is it any good to you when you are sh1tting in a bag.

I'm in the water nearly every day doing some kind of water sport (with my son a lot lately) it's what I do, so I don't mind spending money on it.

When not on the water....he's in training!!!!

My kites get a fresh water wash..... When it rains when I am flying.

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Glug said..

Kazan said..

LMAO

I had a nice matter of fact PM for him about salt water vs fresh water. Ahhhh such is life. Blissss.

Cough it up. Im interested in this. In my experience, having spent 25 years in competitive sailing, only wash your gear when you want to get any build up of salt off cos its heavy, causing spinnakers to droop on light days. Washing your sails creates mould on the stitching. A common example is guys who wash their gear at the end of the season, dry it and pack it away only to have mould on the stitching next sumer.

Then they have not allowed it to dry up enough, if that happens.

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Kitepower Australia said..

My name is Steve McCormack, I'm a real person, trying to make a living doing what I love to do, kite and help other people kite. I did not make that statement you smugly and arrogantly accuse me of. I referred to the IDEA, that buying overseas is a not a good practice. I clearly showed using Tarzan's example that it makes very little difference to the actual cost per session. However, it makes a huge difference to our economy and society to have the funds lost completely to an overseas sale.

Steve, I appreciate what you're saying here, but I think you're coming at this from the wrong angle and dare I say it sounding a tad bit whingey. You won't convince anyone to shop locally by preaching to them that it's "good for the economy, and good for the country". No matter how true the statement, you gotta accept that almost all people, myself included, are first and foremost looking out for what's best for their bank balance. People are tightwads with their money and will always look whereever they can for a bargain. If that means bypassing a local bricks and mortar store and shopping online at O/S sites when there's significant savings to be had, they will. It's a fact of life now in 2014 and it aint going away.

My other hobbies include homebrewing (all grain beer) and cycling, and I see this debate raging on those related forums all the time. I'm all for supporting local retailers, because frankly I would be stuffed without them.
So I spread my wallet poontang around and balance O/S shopping with shopping @ locally.

Just as there will always be a need local {insert hobby here} shops, there will always be a place for local kite shops; there's in store expert advice, peace of mind shopping, those times of emergency needs, repairs, being able to buy XYZ and use it 10 mins later etc etc. Where am I going with this? I dunno, and I don't mean to tell you how to run your business either, I reckon you're doing a great job. Keep it up.

And for the record, I've bought all of my kites in OZ, two from your shop.

Cheers

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Kamikuza said..

Kazan said...

Kamikuza said..

Wash kites, boards and harnesses just to get sand or blood off. More careful washing of bar n' lines - usually involves a good dipping for a few seconds.

Finding the soft comfy material on the harnesses are shredding sooner now, and the straps are getting trashed at buckle points...

But that's just general wear n tear. I am getting some fraying around the corners as well. No big deal. Replaceable

Short bloody time for that much wear n' tear, IMO - pretty much after the first use :o which is a bugger as not many companies make an XXL harness

Must admit I had my flying objects harness for five years, got a new one, split in a couple of months, got one on warranty around..cant remember really maybe december...buckle strapping on one side goneski! Lucky I carry a spare and i saw it just before it went pang (as I was landing and quickly). You may have a point here big K. Not certain though...but maybe.