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Kite rescue - kite vs chopper

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RickI
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Kite rescue - kite vs chopper

Postby RickI » Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:35 pm

I just saw this in the main forum and it seemed like a good topic to keep around for reference.
deniska wrote:
Tue Mar 08, 2022 11:02 pm
Here is some Sunday action from NYC..
A fellow kiter dropped his 10m Soul and could not relaunch.
I saw him swimming, grepped a door from a friend and came to the rescue, flying 15m Soul..
We were 100m from the shore when the NYPD chopper arrived (someone from the beach must have called 911)
The pilot circled a couple of times, probably misinterpreted our "we are OK" signs and went ahead with the "rescue" mission.
That's when it got really scary.. :-)
I bailed..
The divers had to manually pedal the guy to the shore as he refused to let go of his board and get a ride on the chopper..
The firemen on shore "helped" to pull out the kite.. almost giving a guy a heart attack (see the photo)

I am pretty sure the city was billed 100K for the mission and all rescue guys felt good about themselves..
Sad part is that we just needed 10 more minutes :roll:


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The original post is at:
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RickI
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Re: Kite rescue - kite vs chopper

Postby RickI » Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:37 pm

The rest of the comments in the thread are worth reading, along with the photos which didn't transfer in the original quote at: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2412555

This is my response:

That was unfortunate, what seems to have been unnecessary rescue. Although the water was likely quite cold and the rescuers may not have understood or appreciated the self-rescue you were performing. Close to shore but not close enough to avoid this mess from happening.

It is important to use the right signals, assuming all parties know what they are and mean. I put these ideas for hand signals together 20 years ago and have presented them many times over the years to both kiters and rescue services.
1 kiteboarding hand signals 2002.jpg
1 kiteboarding hand signals 2002.jpg (119.34 KiB) Viewed 5249 times
The take away is the flat hand stationary on your head means "I'm OK" while trying to make eye contact with the rescuer. Or, you can make an arch over your head as shown, arms not moving while staring at the rescuer.

Waving arms usually means come get me fast and is to avoided at all costs unless that is what you want to have happen.

If there is a school and/or instructor up that way you might want to contact the emergency services to provide an orientation to kiteboarding. Conditions are different up that way than down here so content would need to be adjusted from the ideas presented at: http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=4119

The rest of the 2002 hand signals largely for kiters appears below:


Good luck,

FKA, Inc.

transcribed by:
Rick Iossi
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