I know, I may have come across as harsh, but all of the Australian Kiteboarding associations, from the national body AKSA (now Kiteboarding Australia) to the state based associations which operate with AKSA like SAKSA, NSWKBA, and KBV (at one stage, I've been kiting 10 years, and definitely read it on their website in the early days) discourage the use of board leashes due to their inherent danger of injury.
Check out their Codes of Conduct, as follows:
NSWKBA - Safe Kiteboarding Guidelines – A Code Of Conduct: Launching and Getting Underway, Point 5: Board leashes are dangerous. All kiteboarders are encouraged to master body dragging for board recovery. Use of a board leash is dangerous and is generally discouraged due to the hazards of board rebound or wave driven impact.
http://nswkba.memberlodge.org/cocSAKSA - Code of Conduct - Safe Kiteboarding Guidelines: Launching and Getting Underway, Point 5: Board leashes are dangerous.
www.saksa.com.au/?page_id=363
hy·poc·ri·sy. noun \hi-'pä-kr?-se also hi-\. : the behaviour of people who do things that they tell other people not to do.Not trying to be an prick, but more a practice what you preach situation, especially at such a prominent location such as St Kilda, the hub of beginners in Victoria. They see the KBV President with a board leash, they may assume that's the done thing.
I've seen countless kook-outs this summer, with bus-loads of beginners rocking up to local spots on both Melbourne and Mornington Peninsula beaches for "ride days", kites dropping like flies, kooks unhooking and handing kites to even bigger kooks who proceed to loop the kite and crash it down onto unsuspecting young parents with a baby... I've seen it all this summer, and the kook-outs have to stop, or this sport will be outlawed.
Board leashes are dangerous, and not only lead to kook-outs, but make minor kook-outs all the more dangerous. End rant.
