As a foreigner, sorry if I am out of line by posting this but I was out at the beach yesterday and there were a large number of beginners ballooning (sitting with kite in zenith) all over the place.

This seems odd as one would expect in a place like auckland which is renowned for being gusty, the first thing they would learn is not putting their kites in the zenith. I can understand people recovering from a fall or while they are putting their boards on, but these people were walking out with their kites above them. It makes it almost impossible to get past them particularly where you have 5 in a row and you don't have the space to get upwind of them. You also saw a couple of near misses with tangles because some people didn't have anywhere to go. After chatting to one or two it seemed that they didn't know any better which means people aren't telling them what they are doing wrong or the instructors aren't telling them.

Yeah, alot of this around...

Most people over here in N.Z. are self-taught or get bugger all lessons before they go off by themselves to commit mayhem.

Welcome to N.Z. culture...
Bit of No8 wire & she'll be right mate!

The only thing to do is go & advise them they're a hazard to themselves & to be aware of how hard it is to ride with them wasting airspace...

To be fair though there's been a fair few tourists around with no idea of how to ride with others - Following: Leeward kite high when passing: Boosting into oncoming etc.

I reckon it's up to experienced riders to tune those guilty of such offences, remember that if you don't say something to them they'll eventually create some sort of chaotic disruption further down the line.

keep your blimps low!

These sort of antics arent limited to tourists and newbies, while waiting for a gap to launch a RaGs, someone who should have known better tried to kite loop through my lines. The resulting boost i got from the rapid steering of my own kite to avoid the collision could have been worse considering my board was in one hand and i had one foot in the straps. I just put it down to the fact they were from auckland and that the supreme conditons had caused an adrenaline induced tunnel vision

Remeber guys to keep claer of the launch area if someone is trying to get out.