I pledge to wear a helmet from now on!
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sid5150
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Re: I pledge to wear a helmet from now on!
You're promoting a false sense of security. Kiters have died while wearing their helmet.kiteantigua.com wrote:Every time i hear of someone gettng killed or badly hurt I have to tell you i feel terrible. This latest one from the UK makes me sick. I feel so sorry for his family and friends.
In memory of him and others who have passed, I pledge as a fellow kitesurfer (who has never worn a helmet) to wear one from now on.
Anyone else who doesn't wear helmets and thinks they may make the same pledge....write your name here.[/b]
MYTH: If you wear a helmet you will live forever. And not die.
FACT: No one using a foil has died while kiteboarding.
If you are truly interested in safety, you may want to look into Peter Lynn, Flysurfer, Flexifoil, etc. North and Slingshot are also climbing on the safety bandwagoin with foils of their own.
Sid sends
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ckramer
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Beginner's packages
I posted this in another topic but I think it's appropriate even here:
About helmet use I would like to point out that till now I never saw any kitesurfing package which included a helmet... i'ts a shame, especially for beginner's packages.
In the most spectacular pics and videos one finds on the internet no one is seen wearing a helmet not even in commercials involving kitesurfers....no wonder no one wears a helmet.
In other sports like rafting, cycling, mountain biking, roller blades, bmx, skateboard,snowboards etc. everyone is wearing a helmet, especially douring competitions and events.
As long as in competitions, riders are not wearig helmets, no one is going to start wearing them...and aniway poeple will never wear an ugly helmet, so designers should try to come up with nice shapes. Till now the only decent looking helmets i saw are the protec ace water and ace wake, which are suitable for kitesurfing since they have holes to minimise drag, and are quite cheap...I am getting one for myself as soon as I try it I will let you know about it.
One should also stress the point that statistically it's the expert/intermediate riders who have the major number of accidents, so I do not see why douring events and competitions no one wears helmets.
About helmet use I would like to point out that till now I never saw any kitesurfing package which included a helmet... i'ts a shame, especially for beginner's packages.
In the most spectacular pics and videos one finds on the internet no one is seen wearing a helmet not even in commercials involving kitesurfers....no wonder no one wears a helmet.
In other sports like rafting, cycling, mountain biking, roller blades, bmx, skateboard,snowboards etc. everyone is wearing a helmet, especially douring competitions and events.
As long as in competitions, riders are not wearig helmets, no one is going to start wearing them...and aniway poeple will never wear an ugly helmet, so designers should try to come up with nice shapes. Till now the only decent looking helmets i saw are the protec ace water and ace wake, which are suitable for kitesurfing since they have holes to minimise drag, and are quite cheap...I am getting one for myself as soon as I try it I will let you know about it.
One should also stress the point that statistically it's the expert/intermediate riders who have the major number of accidents, so I do not see why douring events and competitions no one wears helmets.
It's a fact that we all want to look cool. But your perception of how cool you look isn't shared by everyone else. In fact when you're on the beach no-one else there cares what you look like. You see they're all too busy trying to look cool themselves. So you get a whole lot of people paying attention only to themselves rather than each other which is the total opposite of what they're trying to achieve.
People are shallow. Are you going to be less respected by your peers because you wear a helmet? Are you going to have less chance of pulling a hot chick 'cuz you've got an impact vest on? If you think that's so then you're a loser. Period. Kiting may never get to the stage where the law enforces helmets. Shame really. 'Hey f*** off frez' you say. What gives you the right to tell me that I don't have a choice. What choice do those guys in comas have right now? What choice do the dead have? If wearing a helmet means I reduce my chance of life threatening injury from 10% to 9% then I'm all for it. How gut wrenching is it for families to know that their loved one might not be dead or a vegetable if they'd been better protected. Trouble is people don't understand that if the shit hits the fan their helmet is going to make a whole lot more difference than 1%.
At the beach were I kite in Dubai I am the only non-beginner who wears a helmet. The only fucking one. No-one gives a shit or disses me because I do have a lid on. But they're kidding themselves if they think their head is harder than the rows of 4x4's parked on the beach or the sea wall that sits 50m back from the water's edge at kite beach here. Yet accidents happen all the time. A month ago a girl being taught by an IKO instructor went through the back window of an experienced kiters Landcruiser. Same experienced kiter fell out of the sky last week in shallow water because his bar broke. Lucky he didn't break his back. I watched my mates nose explode when he face planted fully lit in front of me yesterday. Two kites tangled dragging riders up the beach yesterday as well. Same last week. But the safety releases all worked. Another mate of mine just converted to wearing an impact vest because he broke a rib after jumping too close the beach 8 weeks ago. He wears it under his rash guard in deference to coolness of course. Another mate of mine recently got rolled up in his lines and nearly drowned. No knife (and I still ain't got mine so hands up to hypocrisy here), no IV and no helmet. He was dragged up the beach puking salt water out of his lungs.
Not all helmet related but just the average happenings that you get at a kite beach anywhere in the world. WE ALL HAVE STORIES LIKE THESE. This sport is risky enough. Why the hell are people taking more chances than they have to?
And no...a helmet doesn't restrict your vision one bit for anyone who's tried that as a lame excuse.
People are shallow. Are you going to be less respected by your peers because you wear a helmet? Are you going to have less chance of pulling a hot chick 'cuz you've got an impact vest on? If you think that's so then you're a loser. Period. Kiting may never get to the stage where the law enforces helmets. Shame really. 'Hey f*** off frez' you say. What gives you the right to tell me that I don't have a choice. What choice do those guys in comas have right now? What choice do the dead have? If wearing a helmet means I reduce my chance of life threatening injury from 10% to 9% then I'm all for it. How gut wrenching is it for families to know that their loved one might not be dead or a vegetable if they'd been better protected. Trouble is people don't understand that if the shit hits the fan their helmet is going to make a whole lot more difference than 1%.
At the beach were I kite in Dubai I am the only non-beginner who wears a helmet. The only fucking one. No-one gives a shit or disses me because I do have a lid on. But they're kidding themselves if they think their head is harder than the rows of 4x4's parked on the beach or the sea wall that sits 50m back from the water's edge at kite beach here. Yet accidents happen all the time. A month ago a girl being taught by an IKO instructor went through the back window of an experienced kiters Landcruiser. Same experienced kiter fell out of the sky last week in shallow water because his bar broke. Lucky he didn't break his back. I watched my mates nose explode when he face planted fully lit in front of me yesterday. Two kites tangled dragging riders up the beach yesterday as well. Same last week. But the safety releases all worked. Another mate of mine just converted to wearing an impact vest because he broke a rib after jumping too close the beach 8 weeks ago. He wears it under his rash guard in deference to coolness of course. Another mate of mine recently got rolled up in his lines and nearly drowned. No knife (and I still ain't got mine so hands up to hypocrisy here), no IV and no helmet. He was dragged up the beach puking salt water out of his lungs.
Not all helmet related but just the average happenings that you get at a kite beach anywhere in the world. WE ALL HAVE STORIES LIKE THESE. This sport is risky enough. Why the hell are people taking more chances than they have to?
And no...a helmet doesn't restrict your vision one bit for anyone who's tried that as a lame excuse.
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Flyboy II
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I always wear my whitewater kayaking helmet sailing, and it paid off last week by my NOT appearing on this forum under one of Rick's postings!
Safety leash wrapped while waterstarting too close to the beach; when I saw the wrap, I thought 'that probably won't work if I need it, then the gust hit. Had one chance to set an edge hard in about 6" of water, pulled forward off balance, dropped the bar, sure enough, it hung up and bang.
I can remember the texture and sound of the rocks grinding on the helmet near my forehead, then all these people were helping me sit up. Don't remember much else, and the events leading up to the accident only came back over the last couple of days. Fortunately the kite hung up on a beachside tree just after impact and didn't drag me halfway up the trunk into the air!
Too many hits playing hockey, I get concussed easily now, wear a helmet; they call them accidents because you didn't mean for it to happen or you would have stopped it.
Like an aviation accident, this one was a series of mistakes, and breaking the chain at any point previously would have prevented a painful bangup;
Too gusty percentage-wise of the base wind speed - don't go out
Too close to shore when kite finally relaunched - should have stopped trying
Saw fouled lines and should have dropped back into the water butt-first to fix the problem THEN
About the only thing I did right in those 5 minutes was strap my trusty bucket on my melon, ehh
Scott
Safety leash wrapped while waterstarting too close to the beach; when I saw the wrap, I thought 'that probably won't work if I need it, then the gust hit. Had one chance to set an edge hard in about 6" of water, pulled forward off balance, dropped the bar, sure enough, it hung up and bang.
I can remember the texture and sound of the rocks grinding on the helmet near my forehead, then all these people were helping me sit up. Don't remember much else, and the events leading up to the accident only came back over the last couple of days. Fortunately the kite hung up on a beachside tree just after impact and didn't drag me halfway up the trunk into the air!
Too many hits playing hockey, I get concussed easily now, wear a helmet; they call them accidents because you didn't mean for it to happen or you would have stopped it.
Like an aviation accident, this one was a series of mistakes, and breaking the chain at any point previously would have prevented a painful bangup;
Too gusty percentage-wise of the base wind speed - don't go out
Too close to shore when kite finally relaunched - should have stopped trying
Saw fouled lines and should have dropped back into the water butt-first to fix the problem THEN
About the only thing I did right in those 5 minutes was strap my trusty bucket on my melon, ehh
Scott
I wore my helmet for the first time in over a year today. Nobody laughed at me. My vision was great, my forehead didn't get sunburned, and I forgot I had it on--Pro-Tec wake helmet.
I am a pretty decent kiter. It's kind of fun to hit the water with a lid on, but do most of the tricks that the lidless are doing. I guess it's called "doin' your talkin' on the water."
I'm back in on the helmet deal.
I am a pretty decent kiter. It's kind of fun to hit the water with a lid on, but do most of the tricks that the lidless are doing. I guess it's called "doin' your talkin' on the water."
I'm back in on the helmet deal.
Freedom rocks
It's a matter of personal choice and freedom.....if you want one, fine, if you don't, that's also fine...the worst thing though is for people to try and shove their personal values down others' throats,....especially the polticially correct(safety) oriented people.....
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Shamikaze
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Count me in
Currently I don't wear my helmet when goiing out in very light winds (.12knts).
I am the only kiter on our break that always wears the lid. I started to wear it again in november for protection of the cold (around 80 of you body heat is dissipated through your head), so I could stay out longer. No I keep it on since I am training for a few moves and a few guys around here busted their eardrum's while learning kiteloops. I just don't want to spend at least a week at the beach just sitting there and watching others kite. I'm not just gonna tape my ear up and go in anyway. IMHO to much chance for water getting in and your co-ordination/balance isn't good anyway due to this injurie, increasing you chances on even worse accidents.
No-one (or not that I can remember) has made comments about it, and if they want to do so : Suck me sideways
Disorientation : Should not be an issue at all if you can regulate the openings on the ears (ie. Gath helmets). Not as much the vision, but the restricted space around the ears can cause this. Therefore, open the holes enough to get "free air" but not enough so you could bust your eardrums anyway.
I've been lucky on a number of occasions :
1. Catched the board a few times on the back of the head coming back in and a wave catching the board.
2. Surely I would have @ least busted my eardrums a few times during my first high backloops and kiteloops.
3. Have not yet had the experience doing a face-plant to see how protective the lid would be and do not intent to do so.
After all, we lost a 60yr old soul-surfers in a kite-accident 1.5 yrs ago who had picked up kitesurfing only since a few months. He was wearing felmet, vest, flares, knife,etc (The only one at the time). It is assumed that the board got dug in under water with a leash and catapulted back into the back of his head, straight under the helmet line knocking him out. He was in the water face-down for 30min. They could revive him but he deceased after 5 days in coma. Unfortunately, he was not at our break where we all know him, but at another beach because he felt that we were making fun of him (which I can vouch for was not the case). If this would have happened at our break, we would not have waited 30 min. to go to him because we would have seen his kite in the water.
Frank : This one is for you. You may be gone, but definitely not forgotten.
GReetz,
S.
Currently I don't wear my helmet when goiing out in very light winds (.12knts).
I am the only kiter on our break that always wears the lid. I started to wear it again in november for protection of the cold (around 80 of you body heat is dissipated through your head), so I could stay out longer. No I keep it on since I am training for a few moves and a few guys around here busted their eardrum's while learning kiteloops. I just don't want to spend at least a week at the beach just sitting there and watching others kite. I'm not just gonna tape my ear up and go in anyway. IMHO to much chance for water getting in and your co-ordination/balance isn't good anyway due to this injurie, increasing you chances on even worse accidents.
No-one (or not that I can remember) has made comments about it, and if they want to do so : Suck me sideways
Disorientation : Should not be an issue at all if you can regulate the openings on the ears (ie. Gath helmets). Not as much the vision, but the restricted space around the ears can cause this. Therefore, open the holes enough to get "free air" but not enough so you could bust your eardrums anyway.
I've been lucky on a number of occasions :
1. Catched the board a few times on the back of the head coming back in and a wave catching the board.
2. Surely I would have @ least busted my eardrums a few times during my first high backloops and kiteloops.
3. Have not yet had the experience doing a face-plant to see how protective the lid would be and do not intent to do so.
After all, we lost a 60yr old soul-surfers in a kite-accident 1.5 yrs ago who had picked up kitesurfing only since a few months. He was wearing felmet, vest, flares, knife,etc (The only one at the time). It is assumed that the board got dug in under water with a leash and catapulted back into the back of his head, straight under the helmet line knocking him out. He was in the water face-down for 30min. They could revive him but he deceased after 5 days in coma. Unfortunately, he was not at our break where we all know him, but at another beach because he felt that we were making fun of him (which I can vouch for was not the case). If this would have happened at our break, we would not have waited 30 min. to go to him because we would have seen his kite in the water.
Frank : This one is for you. You may be gone, but definitely not forgotten.
GReetz,
S.