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Don't kite at sunset if the wind is low unless your own mates are there and close by!!

Wind died, so my kite dropped. After a good 5 mins of trying to relaunch as I could feel a slight breeze I gave up. Wasn't too far out initially, but by the time I'd given up and wrapped up my lines I was about 100m out to sea, the wind became cross-offshore (was crosshore) and I could already see 3 stars. It was a big beach (Jericoacoara, Brazil) and I was quite far away from everyone. I'd helped a few people that day and all similar stories ended in people paying a small fee for a boat rescue.

No such luck for me, a couple of buggies drove past but didn't see me. I ended up swimming and sort of sailing back to the shore, took about an hour by which time I was really shittin my pants as it was pitch dark and I couldn't even see how far I was, for all I knew I was getting further from the shore! really scary.

lost the rental board too, and equipment is pricey there... but didn't give a goddamn about money at the time.

Notes from 1st season rider - " Improvements to a Fantastic Sport"

1.Too many different QR configurations .Create an industry standard. When a kite boarder is new and taking lessons, each person he takes lessons or learns from has a different setup. Wanna guess how confusing this is to a newbie when you are worrying about everything else ( but on the other hand, the open configuration also lets designers develop better systems - cannot argue with the " Know your QR " ) -
2. Create a recognized "f***- Help me " signal . Or carry a whistle
3. Every area I have gone kite boarding has had different launch / land / wind / ride conditions. I usually ask a local on what to do, but maybe a sign will help (like the post on "KELP"- there is no way I would know that )
4. I have done the "stay out to late - no wind left" condition- "NO ONE TELLS A NEWBIE ABOUT THIS"- put it in your IKO lesson
5. Ban board leashes. This is the first thing I bought. Leash snag on something underwater onetime. Guess where you go after that . DOWN
6. Maybe a set of recognized hand signals ( there are a few already)
-Lost my board
-I'm hurt
-Ditch your kite
-Whats for dinner

I love this sport and hate reading the post where boarders get hurt or die.We are all part of a family that really watches out for each other. Safe riding

A stupid one !

Last week I was in hatteras and had my morning session ends, getting out the water and didnt see a small rock wall whit shell on it (below the water), cut badly my knee ans tree fingers

Watch where you walk !

just reposted my accident on the safety session, which I thought is more appropriate..

I feel very happy that you survived and very grateful that you shared this experience here. I will certainly follow your advice!
I am mainly posting this reply though to bring the thread to the top so that more people can read it...

Ned Divine wrote:I feel very happy that you survived and very grateful that you shared this experience here. I will certainly follow your advice!
I am mainly posting this reply though to bring the thread to the top so that more people can read it...

Many thanks for that

Ever have to self-rescue onto some rocks?

wow that looked super fun ....

now add scrambling up a blackberry and poison oak covered cliff for another 30+ meters, a long walk down some sketchy railroad tracks, another small hill climb, and a hitch-hike down the highway and possibly across a bridge, and you've got a typical Gorge self rescue.

good effort tho.

A video sent to me by a friend, maybe worthy of a safety discussion.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... sMkIQ88CBg

Video post: "Kitesurfing session in the UK on the east coast. The conditions looked perfect (all be it a little cold, below 5c) for a good day at the beach. The first time of the 2012 season that winter wear was needed. Wind was blowing on average around 25mph in the sun and flat water conditions. After a short fun time a hail storm was to pass through where wind speeds picked up to around 50mph in an instant. As you can see in the video I was lofted from the water and struggled to keep control of my kite as the kite was not designed to be used in such strong wind, Luckily I managed to engage my safety system and was (eventually) helped by another kiter stood on the beach . Nobody else out was injured as everyone engaged the kites safety systems too and all was fine. About 10mins after we all made it back to the beach another storm cloud came though and the wind speeds were reported to be even higher than before as kiters had to lay on their kites to stop them from from blowing away."

Thoughts....

Pretty clearly should have been watching for the squall and come in before...big black cloud approaching.

Those tied in boots look sketchy while getting dragged helplessly....could see that leading to broken leg or worse.

Interesting to see he reattaches leash from "suicide" (on chicken loop) to the leading edge flagging line, when he got overpowered. I have flown Ocean Rodeo kites, and like the leading edge flagging line system for maximum depower, kite can't fly at all on 1 line. But I've also flown Cab SB and now BWS kties, with the mini 5th....where if you quick release, the kite still retains some power on the 2 leading edge lines. In this situation, I wonder if he would have been able to hold the kite on a mini 5th system or would he have had to release his leash too? Hmm.

juandesooka wrote:A video sent to me by a friend, maybe worthy of a safety discussion.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... sMkIQ88CBg

Video post: "Kitesurfing session in the UK on the east coast. The conditions looked perfect (all be it a little cold, below 5c) for a good day at the beach. The first time of the 2012 season that winter wear was needed. Wind was blowing on average around 25mph in the sun and flat water conditions. After a short fun time a hail storm was to pass through where wind speeds picked up to around 50mph in an instant. As you can see in the video I was lofted from the water and struggled to keep control of my kite as the kite was not designed to be used in such strong wind, Luckily I managed to engage my safety system and was (eventually) helped by another kiter stood on the beach . Nobody else out was injured as everyone engaged the kites safety systems too and all was fine. About 10mins after we all made it back to the beach another storm cloud came though and the wind speeds were reported to be even higher than before as kiters had to lay on their kites to stop them from from blowing away."

Thoughts....

Pretty clearly should have been watching for the squall and come in before...big black cloud approaching.

Those tied in boots look sketchy while getting dragged helplessly....could see that leading to broken leg or worse.

Interesting to see he reattaches leash from "suicide" (on chicken loop) to the leading edge flagging line, when he got overpowered. I have flown Ocean Rodeo kites, and like the leading edge flagging line system for maximum depower, kite can't fly at all on 1 line. But I've also flown Cab SB and now BWS kties, with the mini 5th....where if you quick release, the kite still retains some power on the 2 leading edge lines. In this situation, I wonder if he would have been able to hold the kite on a mini 5th system or would he have had to release his leash too? Hmm.

Looks like he had no QR lucky to be alive,TONY