Ok so I am one of them going out to buy a helmet
-- I have radarscope on my iphone and check incoming weather carefully before going out
-- I've sailed competitively for past 15 years and studied weather both as it relates to danger and as a way to gain a competitive advantage. I have a VERY good understanding of our local weather patterns.
-- I've been kiteboarding for about 18mo and am still just approaching intermediate skills.
-- I've gotten myself pretty out of control a few times when launching, even thought I've tried to be as careful as I can be. Even got lofted once in really light winds - still no idea to this day what happened but a few seconds after launching I found myself 5 ft in the air and pulled my QR and landed on the sand just fine.
So I understand all about the weather and I AGREE that with the way kiteboarding is taught today, most newcomers to the sport have no idea how important it is to understand and watch the weather carefully. When learning we get completely overwhelmed with info and in trying to learn to control the kite and ride the board, the weather lessons are naturally going to be relegated to secondary status.
Having resources like kiteforum, organizing local kiteboarders into clubs and holding weather briefings before / after events like downwinders, demo days, etc. are really important ways to educate the newcomers to the sport that don't have a background in weather.
So I will get myself a helmet AND I will continue to watch the weather carefully when kiteboarding
of course the above is all IMHO