First fatal accident in our local beginner Bay Area beach

[madworld]

https://www.gofundme.com/brett-powell-fund

[knotwindy]

Again, respectfully disagree. If you can not fly a kite one handed you can not bodydrag back to your board or walk on the beach to get home. It is a basic skill to have to be able to kite. If you can not fly a kite one handed you had a bad/lazy/confused teacher and should learn, NOW. Learning to bodydrag and fly one handed should be a skill you have before you get a board or how are you going to get the board to the water. Until then, you are a danger to yourself and others,imo.
But do what you want, it is up to you to decide what is best & safest for you and the others around you.

[Windstoked]

I agree, knotwindy, that complete one-handed kite control is a mandatory, but too often high-level kiters with these skills will downplay or even overlook glaring life-threatening risks at a launch because they have mastered these skills, but that isn't reality for beginning kiters.
For example, this is a Google streetview of Alameda Beach where Brett was killed. This launch is promoted as the easiest and best in the Bay Area for beginners. The wind is side/onshore, with the photo looking into the prevailing direction.
That antenna is a deathloop waiting to happen; all it needs is to snag one steering line and that kite will loop and launch the rider so fast you'd need slow-mo to even understand what happened.
I 'm proposing a standard setup at kite launches that is fail-proof for beginners. Most of us would never use it, but it could save lives.

[Toby]

Launching a kite one handed with the bar in the middle is imo the safest way to launch hooked in.
With one hand in the center you can only steer slow, not fast. With two hands people tend to pull one end when shit happens...I know myself when I crash and I am twisted sometimes you pull the wrong side. No problem with a big kite, but a small kite will be a bigger Problem for sure.
Won't happen with one hand.
And again, the other is st the release and ready to shoot if something isn't right.

Try yourself and see how much better it works. Start first standind in water and once you are confident enough, you can do it on land too.

I agree, one hand kite flying is basic skill...should be learned at body drag and walking upwind stage.

[BillyKP]

I see a bad habit among many kiteboarders in my area. After giving thumbs up...Why are we so quick to send the kite up? Yes it is cool to see a kite lift off and we are anxious to get to the water....but with this little habit of wanting to bring the kite up to 11 or 12oclock too quickly there is no time to respond if lines or bar is messed up. Better to keep the kite at 3 or 9 oclock for 10 or 15 secs...for example 2-3ft above your launchers head. If there is something wrong you will see it or feel it, and then you will have time to activate QR. It does look a little silly when you dont send it up...the guys are standing around "like WTF are you doing?"

In short: my point is don't send your kite up so quickly on launching, you will have NO TIME to activate QR.

[jeromeL]

I agree with most people that one hand is safer than 2 hands on bar, beginner are more likely to sheet in fully with 2 hands, with one hand you can keep kite to the side of window, no need to bring it up to 12 unless you launched away from water. Apparently there are pro and cons to launch kite aiming toward water in side on, but if you do so then you can keep kite low until you are in the water and never need to bring kite to 12 or use second hand...

Though for experienced rider in strong gusty wind 2 hands is better, kite can fall back deep in window and you need low hand input to keep it on the side of window.

[hshim007]

Right from the beginning I teach beginners to control the kite from 12 to 3 with the left hand only; 12 to 9 with right hand only. If they lose it let go! Teach them from the start to use one hand. Putting two hands on the bar confuses them and likely ends up in disaster.

[hshim007]

...added to my post...Beginners should be taught that if the kite goes in the power zone they must let go. Trying to recover as a beginner ends up in a looping kite which ends up in trouble. Beginners should only learn to move the kite along the clock face, NOT in the power zone!

[PullStrings]

I once launched someone in 20 knots with a 10m
Launch was perfect but suddenly the kiter started getting dragged quickly on beach holding bar tight
I shouted let go bar and he did...he got a good scare..the kite fell fine on beach with his leash attached to it

What had happened is that the chicken loop came totally out of the hook even though the donkey stick was engaged at set-up
At launch the loop got a bit loose in the hook and was only held partially at a 45 degree angle...and then came totally out of hook giving kiter full juice
So watch out for that when you get launched...make sure that the loop is fully engaged in hook...otherwise donkey stick can't work properly...and you will have a surprise

[Randahl]

I agree, knotwindy, that complete one-handed kite control is a mandatory, but too often high-level kiters with these skills will downplay or even overlook glaring life-threatening risks at a launch because they have mastered these skills, but that isn't reality for beginning kiters.
For example, this is a Google streetview of Alameda Beach where Brett was killed. This launch is promoted as the easiest and best in the Bay Area for beginners. The wind is side/onshore, with the photo looking into the prevailing direction.
That antenna is a deathloop waiting to happen; all it needs is to snag one steering line and that kite will loop and launch the rider so fast you'd need slow-mo to even understand what happened.
I 'm proposing a standard setup at kite launches that is fail-proof for beginners. Most of us would never use it, but it could save lives.


Alameda Beach.JPG

I was there. I pulled up about 30 min before the incident. Friday afternoon, sunny, the wind had been blowing and building all afternoon. I drove by the main grass area and it was mobbed, so I went down the road to the miles of less crowded sandy beach. By the time I was out on my first tacks I heard the sirens and saw the lights. I am sad to hear it became a fatality. I had a very similar experience at the same spot last year where I was lofted on a spring conditions day and hit the shack, and very fortunately landed in the sand and my kite decided to forego another loop. The crowd there was great and quick to action to secure the kite and check on me. But hearing this I think how that could have been me except for luck and fate.
I feel guilty that I asked another kiter to launch my 8m when he was setting up a brand new 9m was was asking questions about the spot because he had never been there before. I left him on the beach and advised him to at least get someone up the beach to launch him, but perhaps should have been a little less content to leave him to his own devices. Fortunately the majority of us take our licks, learn from our kitemares and walk away wiser, but for some they aren't that lucky.

As for the spot, I have stopped launching at the shack. It seems like everyone has the mentality that they have to rig, launch, land right there. It gets really hectic. The vibe is really friendly there and I hope this incident doesn't change that, but I feel like it will get more serious because of fear of losing the spot, and maybe that's a good thing. And I don't know, maybe I was launching on a part of the beach that was closed down, but there is a lot of beach to be used. That place is not a beginner spot on a 20+ mph day or a crowded day. Unfortunately I can't think of any real good beginner spots in the Bay Area that I have found. They all have some sketch aspect to them, generally involving downwind hazards.

Bummer overall.