Now I dont have a beef with kitesurfers as I have found them to be pretty friendly and conciderate where I sail but while reading through other threads on this forum I came across this: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44649
I am no wowser or part of the fun police and have been known to go pretty hard at the things I do, but to me this is just pure stupidity. Surely common sense should prevail in this situation?????
Thats ridiculous. Enough people get in stupid accidents with kites without adding this other element.
Kiters get trapped in their own lines? Dragging is a risk, just as much as the mast smacking the kid in the head in that pic of the windsurfer that was posted.
Did you ask the guy whether he had quick release or anything for the pack before you jumped down his neck? He has control of the kid, more so than a kid that is riding on a board, what if kid goes over the front of the board and gets run over? What if, what if... the world is full of them, this guy took a calculated risk not stupidity.
I will agree with one thing, that is I would not jump with kid on my back.
As for anything else i will put money on greater risk of neck injury for those kids that they strap into race cars yet no one seems to complain about things like that cause they are done in the name of charity.
Sorry but alot of windsurfers actually need to stop and look at some kiters and understand they have just as much control as they do.
Funny that I have seen similar setups with people water skiiing, but no one complained about that... guess they don't get dragged 
Well no one said they would windsurf with their kid on hte front of their board either
no one except the head honcho of one of the world largest windsurfing board manufacturers.
I think there are far worse things than this happening to children today that you should spend your time fighting for. You have no idea the number of kids who have been intervened with at a young age and who say nothing until later primary school; it is just disguising, now THAT is bad parenting doing that to your kids; abuse or such, or allowing it to happen or not being aware of the relatives around you.
YES, I admit that it could be a risk, but considering that she is on his back, and unless you are doing a trick or jump, you always crash or get too powered and fall on your stomach. I am certain that he wouldn’t be doing this if he wasn’t confident that he wasn’t putting his daughter at risk.
I'm asking, as a parent, isn't it YOUR own opinion and judgement that is used when deciding what is safe or unsafe for your children? How many parents allow their kids to ride their bikes without helmets or at 12 let them stay at home to look after younger siblings when ANY problem could occur!? It doesn't mean they are bad parents, if they made their own educated decision!? Or does it?
Oceanblue….
I think you should all lock your children under the stairs untill they are 21. Just in case anything bad happens to them.
I cannot believe anyone could condone this: The most minor injury to the father could result in an injury whereby he cannot swim with his daughter on his back. Further, he can't see her head so after a crash how can he see if she has her head underwater? Whilst treading water without the lift of the kite her head would continually have chop washing over it making it hard to breathe.
A kid only needs to inhale ONE lungful of water and they can't breathe. If he has a 5 min swim back to land with no kite or board (not exactly a rare occurrence) and she had a lungful of water that 5min delay before CPR etc can start will kill her.
If she were wearing a PFD 1 and weren't firmly attached to him (ie if bad stuff happens to him she gets left floating safely well away from said bad stuff), I'd be fine with it. It's the lack of this basic water safety measure for a young child that gets me.
I guess it all boils down to how a parent raises their kids and how much risk you let them take on. I would'nt take my kids on a windsurfer in planing conditions, but I have had my daughter hang on the back strap when she was little. My neighbor had his 4 year old kid riding a quad bike up and down the street, seemed insane to me, but he thought it was cool.
Quads and peewees are all the go here in Kalgoorlie. One day at Hannans lake , we were on the way home from work near dusk on a cold winters day, and found a 10 year old pushing a quad , He was 10 km from town . when we dropped him at home , after dark , his parents didnt even know he was gone. and didnt appear to care.
And what about kids trikes? Who invented them and why do we keep giving them to kids. Completely unstable, a guaranteed head conking. The average IQ would be up 10 points if we banned them.
If an expert kiter decides to sail conservatively in stable weather what can go wrong?
Yes you can't wrap them in cotton wool all their lives, but the bike analogy is utterly ridiculous. It in no way compares to strapping a kid on your back and going kitesurfing
A parent's job is to protect and nurture, not take unneccessary risks with their kids.
