After the last couple of days at Orewa, it's a fair guess that someone out there is teaching new guys by getting them to walk with their inflated kite in hand into the surf, lines dragging in the water, releasing the kite to drift downwind, then water launching to get up and running. It may be a relatively safe way to get the learner into the drink, but it scares the crap out of me having potentially 30metres of line drifting around in the shallows where people are launching, doing transitions, returning to the beach etc.

I vote whoever it is change their modus operandi before some punter - or even worse me - winds up collecting lines at high speed.

Yeah - that was the way I was taught, and apparently the way the IKO gets you to do it. Never looked back once I figured out how to self-launch by weighing down the tip. Reckon its well the wrong way to do it and should definitely be banned!

Simple solution to this lame idear ... any fellow kiters who see this being taught should rock on up to the student, exlpaine the dangers to both the student and all around them, smack the SOB teaching them this method upside the head with the nearest heavy metal object (use their own bar, no point breaking your's eh!), & point the student in the direction of the nearest school that show's the correct way to launch and handle a kite.
Iv'e seen this happen once at Point Chev, the long haired bastard 'instructor' was too far out (only stoped in for a look-see, no getting wet gear to keep too my word) to stop him, as i can bet you would all agree it hard work to invert a 7 odd meter AR5 in even the twenty knots there was that day, then hand the bar to newbee guy while it waived around downwind hardly in control while dipshit instructor man tried to re-vert the kite to it's correct way out before launching it.
All i can say was thank god it didn't get away from him, as there has been at least one too many people put into the trees at poo chev eh Tim.
My point is this, kiting is an extream sport, and we all have a responsibility to ensure it stays as safe as possible from the ground up. Remove the students from the dickheads promoting bad methods, and they either go out of business, or these instructors wise up & learn correct methods to teach & promote. Either way, students learn the correct method and we all end up with safer and more responsible beaches!
C.U.
I think i'll get off my soap box now and get back to work.!

jes where have i been, ive never seen that happen, ever, if i had i would say somthing for sure ,i think its kind of silly realy, is this in the iko programe ?, i hook the kite to myself and walk out with the student, then hand the rag over and stay close, i hold the students arms and control the kite myself untill the student gets to grips with whats going on, oh well diffrent strokes i guess, anyway try to remember to stay away from students if you can ,and anyone doing lessons, for love or money, be aware of other kiteboarders at the location, and go as far down wind as poss ok, sweet b safe all...