Good point Dave, accidents are almost always the result of a series of choices and related events. In this case however, the most overwhelming factors exceeding all others included the state of the weather and where the rider was located, how and when he responded to those changes.
The weather issue cannot be emphasized enough as I sense a good percentage of kiteboarders out there don't see all that much wrong with exposing themselves to squalls. There has been too many accidents and losses involving guys going out in violent weather to support such a practice. Consider the global attention and potential negative sentiment bonded to our sport in public perception from this one accident. Whether kiteboarders want to go out in unsafe conditions or not, public perception and perhaps policy will be influenced by how things go.
Folks looking to consider some of the factors involved in having a good session, with lower chance of incidents, accidents and threats to access might read over the following draft document. It is in revision to try to encompass all the changes brought on by flat kites vs. traditional C kites. Still, there is a lot of relevant content there. Some of those other issues you were referring to might be found there as well Dave.
http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=2781
These guidelines were derived from the evaluation of hundreds of incidents, accidents and losses and have been revised numerous times over many years. They seem detailed but in reality this is just a portion of what is good to know. As I said, it is still being updated and is provided for informational purposes only.
You can examine quite a few other cases which have been pulled together along with some general articles with the goal of reducing accident/incident repetition and building the safety of the sport at:
http://fksa.org/forumdisplay.php?f=29
and
http://fksa.org/forumdisplay.php?f=12
All kiters need to know almost without thought how to Emergency Depower whatever kite they happen to be using at the time. They also need to be familiar with what it takes to release their kite entirely in a true crisis when Emergency Depowering fails to work. New kite? Then you need to work on this early. Quite a few guys have been in incidents involving new and not real familiar gear.
For years we used to say not rely upon quick releases in a crisis as they might not work as intended. Today, releases may be more reliable but our reactions may not have changed all that much. Often we have only seconds to act but fail to do so for a variety of reasons. The goal needs to be to avoid the emergency/crisis in the first place. Have your kite well secured and on the beach before there is any change in wind speed, direction or temperature related to the squall. If conditions are too stormy (as in a good portion of TS Fay), the holes too small or honestly exceeding your current experience and skill, blow off the session, live to kite another day.