I have been kiting since 2004 and have always used a Protec Ace Wake helmet. I have only had minor injuries so far and none that a helmet made any difference.

Why do i wear it

1. Keeps my head warm in the winter
2. Stops sunburn in the summer
3. Other kiters think i am a beginner and stay out my way
4. Will provide a handy mount for my soon to be purchased camera

And maybe some time in the future it might help if i am unlucky enough to wipe out or crash onto the beach.

Its so comfortable i dont even know i am wearing it so why wouldnt i - my first helmet lasted 7 years and i am now using the new ace wake

I wear one now. My kids are getting out on the water, and I am making them wear one. Wouldn't want to be a hypocrite. Nobody plans on having an accident, and they really are not any incumberance or uncomfortable.

The numbers in Norwegian resorts are 90%+ skiers and snowboarders wear helmets. Every freeskier I know wears one. It is just as natural part of the safety equipment as avalanche gear. I believe helmets are mandatory in about all ski/snowboard competitions.

Wouldn't changing the attitudes towards helmet use be as simple as PKRA or whoever responsible for competitions make helmet use mandatory for the competitors, including the ubercool pros?

I think water people are getting at, is that water is not snow, ice or concrete and will affect the head differently on impact - relative to motion of the rest of the body...

Pasting a comment which belongs here more than where originally posted (KSA pre roll out):

Richard's use of "should" and "can" frees him from the requirement to provide any evidence, because he remains in a hypothetical world.
Regulations are against the spirit of the sport. We are already living in an over-regulated world. The European regulations - most of them idiotic - are 100 000 pages; kiters don't want more of the same.
Idiots will always manage to smash themselves into bits even when wearing a helmet.

Long time ago, there was an effective campaign in Switzerland urging motorcyclists to wear a helmet, that went something like this:
"Intelligent heads protect themselves."
This sound advice could be improved thus:
"Intelligent heads protect themselves when deemed necessary."

Let's think for ourselves and not wear the helmet systematically, and resist lawmakers and do-gooders invade our world.
The use of the helmet should not be mandatory. Guys who do nothing more than lawn-mowing would rightly perceive the forceful use of unnecessary safety gear as nothing more than a humiliation.
If Richard's assumption is correct, the mandatory wearing of helmets will have the dreadful effect to keep idiots in the gene pool. Who wants that?

Fo's reaction, my bolding his text:

Shows that the helmet is mostly useful in all the areas it was not intended to be.
Like all accidental (no pun intended) discoveries are.

wear a helmet or don't, who gives a rip what someone else decides is right for them.

whether you wear one or not and get hurt, you can be upset, angry, depressed, grateful or whatever you want EXCEPT surprised. i don't know if you've noticed but kiting is a dangerous activity.
get over it or get off the water; at some point regardless of your skill level or equipment or luck you will be damaged. deal with it or deny it, whatever works for you.

as for mandatory helmet laws, that's just crazy. why you are trying to protect a brain that is so damaged it does not want to protect itself.

..At what wind speed and/or location and/or type of kiting
...are helmets totally UNNECESSARY ?

..At what wind speed and/or location and/or type of kiting
...are helmets probably NECESSARY ?

Protecting your head from impact or avoiding possible impact...that is the question
Earthquakes don't kill people......buildings falling on people do

Same goes true for protecting your eyes from cumulative UV radiation (sunglasses)
Same goes true for protecting your skin during peak hours of UV radiation (about 10 to 3pm)
Some will do sunscreen......some will just avoid kiting at peak UV hours

As someone stated earlier, paragliders generally wear helmets... but you can't bump your head on air!

The highest risk comes, as with all activities involving flight, at take-off and landing. If there was a helmet that I could take off and stow once I was 2 or 3 line lengths from the beach, I'd buy one. As it is, I keep my helmet stowed on my head (where it stops me getting sunburnt, too), so it's there for the part of the session when it's most likely to be needed - when I'm going out or coming in.

(Also, like The Captain, I have kids who don't get to bike or skateboard without a helmet... so I'd be an ass not to wear one when playing with my toys).

An aside on the neck injury thing - has anyone considered the additional risk due to helmet mounted cameras? Sure, the area's not massive, but they do stick out much further than a helmet, which increases the moment that they'd apply to your neck during a faceplant.

I used this mount:



The crash is by no means the hardest i've had. But I think the momentum of the camera made the rotation of my scull worse. I was passed out for 30 sec, and got a concussion. Was dizzy for days.