Yeah, some. But, a lot of average joes (at least around here) are pretty laid back about it, as well.


------ About 3 months ago, I was strongly considering a new digital camera.
I wanted something that was very good, but less than 1,500 bux.
I swear I read about stuff for 20 hours over the course of 3 weeks.
Forums, reviews -- you name it. Bottom line, I ended up knowing NO more about what I wanted than before I read. So many opinions, but more importantly SO many disguised pimps all over the place every where I read. Finding real info (online) is a joke these days, imo.
I ended up just starting to go up to people I saw with nice cameras and talking to them. That's how I got info (pretty ironic... the 'net the info highway... yeah, right )

The nice thing about kites is you don't have to depend on just reading either. You can demo. Also, you can ask guys face to face at the beach that are just average joes and have no monetary bias toward your choice (ask a pimp, get a pimp answer, no brainer)
Ask the average joe, they are your best resource. It's literally what I did for info on cameras.

It's my view that relaunch isn't that big of an issue. Most newer kites do it pretty well. A few are ridiculously easy. I can't think of many that are all that hard (not 07 or 08 kites). Ask guys at the beach what they think, cuz I might be way off on that. I use to relaunch some pretty lame pigs.

I don't know about the east coast, but guys around here are easy to approach at the launch sites.
It hasn't gotten a b.s. elite club feel to it (yet), so don't be shy about just walking up to guys.