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Dead due to sudden strong winds, shallow waters and inability to release from attachment point:
http://g1.globo.com/pb/paraiba/jpb-2edi ... a/2342719/

Please post if anybody has details of this tragic accident,RIP ,TONY

It says he was sailing under cloudy/light rain situation when a strong gust launched him from water to the beach. He tried to get free (let go) of the equipment, but could not due to a second wind blow which launched him, head on the sand beach.
He was 55, Félix Humberto Pessoa Belmont, a militar (Coronel) doctor (anesthesiologist). Family said he was experienced, sailing for about 5 years. Rescue came and tried to save his life, but it seems an inner bleeding lead him to heart failure.
There is no more detail about his kitesurf equipment.

sorry to hear this. My condolences to family and friends.

Yesterday we also had a rain front coming thru in Cumbuco. Some people got into trouble in the lagoons, but all worked out.
Still, it is nature and you should be aware of it...a dark cloud arrives, it means there can be strong gusts, enough to kill you.
Be aware of the sky!

RIP

I'd be interested to know what control bar / release method he was using? Any idea why it failed? Should work even in sketchy/unexpected/sudden situation.


(knowledge is power...)

sarc wrote:I'd be interested to know what control bar / release method he was using? Any idea why it failed? Should work even in sketchy/unexpected/sudden situation.


(knowledge is power...)

Exactly any dodgy qr evebody should know , and there still some out there,TONY

God gives his family patience...

tony montana wrote:Please post if anybody has details of this tragic accident,RIP ,TONY

The report doesn't say that it was the strong wind that killed him. it says that what got him is when he landed on his head from a 2nd yank while he was probably distracted trying to release himself from the 1st time he landed on the beach (kid says he was jumping and landed on the low tide/beach and that's where he tried to release himself).

Laymen/bystanders saying it was a 'strong wind', that doesn't tell you much..

A helmet would've avoided this situation. Sad to hear, condolences to the family.

My condolences go to his family and friends on his accident. It would be good to try to learn from his loss if we can.

There is a lot in the Brazilian media about this accident in Portuguese. http://bit.ly/RY7nGt Looking at translated accounts they seem to largely repeat the same information most of which has already been posted here. My lack of understanding of Portuguese isn't helping in this review in picking up more subtle points.

Is there any additional information in the local Brazilian kiting forums? What local weather information I could find was not particularly remarkable but it was for an inland airport and in another case Recife well to the south. There was a large high offshore to the ESE but I didn't recongize a frontal boundary or squall line in the synoptic map. Does anyone have any insight on actual weather (wind, gusts, squalls if any) at Cabedelo at the time of the accident? I could really use some help from Portuguese speakers with local insight on this. Thank you.

Over all the years kiting has been around, many have reacted too slowly, if at all or things otherwise didn't go well in high wind emergencies. Today's kites work far better in this regard but there are still human reaction and adequate timely response to be considered. Best solution, stay out of excessively gusty wind. Still not sure what winds and weather were present during this accident however.

I think its easy for people to say "why not depower the safety". But situations like this can move very quickly. imagine a lofting. followed by a slam into the ground. you wait to deploy the safety apon landing but it gets smashed out of your hand... the next lofting your upside down and backwards and dissorientated...

I'm not saying that is what happened. just saying events out side your control can stop you from deploying a safety.

I recall the lofting i got 7 years ago landboarding. I held composure. glided though the air. came in to land and deploy the safety. But i smashed into a fence just before landing.I was still flying the kite. then distracted by getting tired up in the fence the kite lines wound around a fence post and snapped the post like a carrot driving the post into my head. Luckly the kite was also driven into the ground and didn't relaunch. Wearing a helmet saved my life that day. I will not go kiting with out one on.