Saunton Beach death

[Toby]

Knowing how it happened and speculating about possibilities can help to save someone else’s life.

Reading about Ben I am convinced he would want others to not do the same mistake like he did.

At least that’s what I wanted if it was me.

[MattyM]

I was buggying on the Friday at Camber which is a fair bit further east but essentially the same weather system, a south-westerly that made its way eastward. 7m weather, it was gusting but nothing too exciting.
Saturday if I remember was to be a little less wild with a more westerly wind direction. WSW I think, so I did not bother going out.

I was at Camber on the Saturday. I launched my 6m and had to put it back down as I was waterskiing down the beach with the kite at 12 o'clock on full depower. In short - it was hoooning!!

[or6]

Matty, a tip: next time it's hooning, don''t put your kite at 12. Keep it low, as low as nine or three, or even lower. Far safer.

Regards, Or6

[james]

Camber and it’s wind is utterly irrelevant

I was kiting at Portland on a 9 and 12 as were approximately 20 others in 18-35 kts

Portland is a damn sight closer than camber to north Devon

Commenting on established facts is one thing, speculation is one step from gossip.

People being killed shouldn’t be subject to gossip.

[deniska]

From my experience, observing local cases, at least 50% of them are result of some underlying medical condition and not reckless behavior.
We had a lady who had stroke on the water (she survived); a beginner who presumably had heart attack and , recently, a wind surfer (very experienced) who was in pretty poor health but decided to go anyway.. I am pretty sure he knew the possible outcome just did not care to die on a hospital bed.
These things happen to occur on high wind days but not for reasons that others stated.. It's just people don't want to miss good wind even if they don't feel 100% well and you get more Adrenalin pumping during those sessions so more chance to burn some fuses inside
no clue what happened in this particular case..
very sad story, indeed.

[barrybarryr]

Camber and it’s wind is utterly irrelevant

I was kiting at Portland on a 9 and 12 as were approximately 20 others in 18-35 kts

Portland is a damn sight closer than camber to north Devon

Commenting on established facts is one thing, speculation is one step from gossip.

People being killed shouldn’t be subject to gossip.

I know someone who was in the water at Saunton between 9am and 10:30am that day. He spoke to the guy and his girlfriend as he came off the beach and they were heading onto it, but he'd left before the accident took place at 11am.

He was on a 7m with a surfboard but said very big squalls were coming through.

[RedSky]

Camber and it’s wind is utterly irrelevant

I was kiting at Portland on a 9 and 12 as were approximately 20 others in 18-35 kts

Portland is a damn sight closer than camber to north Devon

Commenting on established facts is one thing, speculation is one step from gossip.

People being killed shouldn’t be subject to gossip.

Well I wasn't speculating, but simply responding to a request for weather information, and in the absence of any forthcoming submitted my own. I thought it relevant enough to give people a more general idea as to the kinda weather experienced by the south of the country over that weekend. An Atlantic front moved eastward over the country bringing with it high winds and strong gusts and it looks like Devon was also affected, albeit to a lesser degree.
The poor guy could have died from natural causes for all I know. I'm sure nobody here is assuming anything.

[nothing2seehere]

Matty, a tip: next time it's hooning, don''t put your kite at 12. Keep it low, as low as nine or three, or even lower. Far safer.

Regards, Or6

+1. Had to help land a guy who was out on a small kite but was being lofted as he walked backwards up the beach. He was coming in anyway because his board leash (on a twin tip) had fallen off but I still couldn't really understand why he wasn't keeping his kite low. Fortunately no big gusts came through so it didn't end with a problem but I was surprised that he didn't change behaviour after the first time his feet were pulled into the air (by pulling QR if he didn't know what else to do)

[Beardytello]

Matty, a tip: next time it's hooning, don''t put your kite at 12. Keep it low, as low as nine or three, or even lower. Far safer.

Regards, Or6

+1. Had to help land a guy who was out on a small kite but was being lofted as he walked backwards up the beach. He was coming in anyway because his board leash (on a twin tip) had fallen off but I still couldn't really understand why he wasn't keeping his kite low. Fortunately no big gusts came through so it didn't end with a problem but I was surprised that he didn't change behaviour after the first time his feet were pulled into the air (by pulling QR if he didn't know what else to do)

Because they don’t know and no one told them.

Who to blame? IKO? Or people being ignorant towards safety?
Very sure people on kiteforum know more about safety than people who just read magazines.
Why? Because we talk about things that happen and how to learn from it!

[or6]

I don't know if you can blame IKO. I am self-taught, no idea what the IKO method teaches.

My son has had two lessons now, third one still to come...that will be 10 hours on the water.
So even if he's taught not too keep his kite at 12...is he going to remember? In a ten hour course, there's a lot to take in. You can't remember everything. So, a lot of our best practices come from (bad) experience, from teaching each other on the beach. I always gladly dispense some advice, if somebody asks for it, or if somebody is doing something rather dangerous.

Regards, or6