[toby wilson]

Tom, I am just describing what I saw. Let me ask you a question...Does your Wife kite? I already know the answer is no. Well I had Amber on the water (well upwind) at the same time. She is almost ready to be set loose on her own. Now imagine your Wife attached to a kite that another newbie tangles with and all of the sudden they start to get drug. Would it be such a laid back mistake then? Probably not.

Make low blows all you want, I am the first to admit my faults and have even done so in this thread, jokingly downplayed by Bryan but a rider error nonetheless. If I remember correctly, I also posted a thread MYSELF about my looping experience on the beach at the backside into the tree. I posted them criticizing MYSELF Tom, no you didn't post it nor anyone else. Just like I post ALL of my dumb moves out here in hopes that someone might learn from my mistakes before making the same ones themselves. How do you know we all lost our boards in the Gulf? Because I manned up and posted it. Plus you don't seem to have all of the information because I didn't lose my board in the Gulf. I had 2 QR malfunctions and lost my KITE in the Gulf and the 2 riders I was with lost their boards trying to help me retrieve the kite. One was retrieved and I am helping the other guy to get a new one (financially) because it was seen being "stolen" from the water. I am pretty sure that most other kiters would just say "that sucks" and be done with it.

You weren't there so I see no reason for you to throw low blows at those who were and are just describing what happened. I have plenty of newbie perspective, I was one just last year and Amber is one this year. If the 2 guys who were helping to retrieve the kites say the situation was dangerous, it was. Scott was watching from the beach.

If I remember correctly Tom, you are the one who was questioning a local instructor's abilities and mocking his qualifications. Take a hard look in the mirror before criticizing a thread of this nature my friend.

Both kiters in question were anonymous to all until Scott named one of them...I didn't call anyone out but rather described a bad situation that easily could have been worse. The intent was not to discourage anyone. Just ask Dale Alexander, a newbie who is coming out with his Wife to learn...I am all about newcomers...SAFE newcomers. If Scotts friend was safe other than this, that is great. Fact is, a mistake was made and I hope both kiters learn a lesson from it.