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Thanks for sharing that. It's an awful story but has a happy ending because you're here to tell about it!

Man, those beautiful remote launches....its a good reminder that when shit hits the fan, you are a long way from help. It's not just a simple phone call and have a helicopter come pick you up.

Just an update. Ok some might have guessed that the location was in the San Blas islands of Panama.

Fully recovered now, and still a noop, although I have landed a few Backroll Kiteloop Transitions now, woohoo...and to top it all my wife is now kiting too. We were given a Ozone Edge 9m and its the same power as our old Advace Kaiman 5 12m.

Kiting kiting kiting...!!!

Glad to hear you are doing well and the stoke is alive!

Gory!!! What a nightmare! Know your safe positions and never swerve from them. The wind is always bigger, better and faster than you! Keep your head on all the time!!! I'd recommend laying off the beer before you turn your kite gear into halloween costumes At least don't drink anything beyond a digestive 24 hours before kiting!

Happy that you are ok and kiting. #3 you mentioned is absolutely correct shit happens and sometimes very quickly and unexpectedly in this sport even with all the improvements and safety features. Hard objects will always pose a danger regardless of your experience and conditions so whenever possible avoid that or minimize that. I kite a good bit 200 days plus a year and this is my 16th year kiting my worst accidents both happened in in the past 4 years both in around 15 knots not really doing anything in one case just riding strapless (broken ribs) 2nd case just walking into beach still in the the water tt board not even on feet (blown ACL and meniscus). My lessons learned is that sometimes nice "easy" conditions lull you into a state of less awareness. When it's blowing hard or big surf I feel much more aware of conditions and dangers. Bottom line the more you do this sport the higher your chances that something might happen when you least expect it so have fun out there and be safe.

I witnessed a similar incident...... A kiter was using a twenty five ft tow rope attached to his car. He hooked into his harness but didn't unhook from the car. The kite stalled in a lull causing the pilot to panic. The kite went into a loop slamming him into a hard clay road...... Then the kite looped again, causing him to rise twenty feet up and slingshoting his ass into the road again. After that impact, he went limp and continued two more twenty foot loops. The dude looked like a rag doll when I finally got to him. His wrists were double compounded with 90 degree breaks and he was seizing... it was fucking horrible. Smaller rope please!!

Do-it wrote:A kiter was using a twenty five ft tow rope attached to his car. He hooked into his harness but didn't unhook from the car.

...to be fair anyone that ridiculously stupid has done well to get this far through life!

slim_charles wrote:

Do-it wrote:A kiter was using a twenty five ft tow rope attached to his car. He hooked into his harness but didn't unhook from the car.

...to be fair anyone that ridiculously stupid has done well to get this far through life!

Makes you wonder if people are trying to win the darwin awards. (a kiter using a tow rope attached to a car...geez!)

Darwin Awards: In the spirit of Charles Darwin, the Darwin Awards commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Darwin Award winners eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species' chances of long-term survival.

www.darwinawards.com/rules/

Can I ask why people still do these anchored/carabiner launches when most kites selflaunch (if no rocks etc on the beach) and selfland much safer then messing around with an anchor? Moreover a lot of the newer models can just be flagged for landing anyways.