A helmet should be your number one friend as you just dont know what will happen next. Any body protection is your own choice and always will be, flying in responsible way is a different matter, ie flying down wind of joe public and slowing down to pass them or fellow kiters, keeping your pit areas clear of unused kites, bags, lines ect. Wind meteres should be as important as the rests of your saftey kit. Big gusts are one of the main dangers to all flyers and anybody downwind of the flyer at the time of the gust, i've seen 3 air lifts to AE in the last two years all down to flying in big gusty wind, and all 3 of them failed to put a wind meter up to see the wind speeds and gust ranges before flying. There are a lot of kiter out there that havnt had the correct trainning yes thay can fly a kite (buggy and board) but are thay doing it safley.
FLY SAFE.