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Hit a dolphin

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Laughingman
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Re: Hit a dolphin

Postby Laughingman » Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:09 pm

Heck I've hit small rays and they are enough to stop me dead.... it does not take much... even a plastic bag has sent me flying

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RagingGrandpa
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Re: Hit a dolphin

Postby RagingGrandpa » Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:56 pm

Macster wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:22 am
We get jelly fish the size of basket balls in Melbourne that will knock you off your foil board
Woah, like in Port Philip Bay / Brighton? Or ocean-only?
(I travel there occasionally, good to know what to watch for, thx)

Regis-de-giens
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Re: Hit a dolphin

Postby Regis-de-giens » Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:43 pm

Last year on my hydrofoil i saw my first stingray ever, of this kind:
Image.
Wonderful.
Second day i saw it again. Lovestory starts...
Third day i saw a similar shape just before i hit with my hydrofoil, without falling into the water, then pray for not being my loved stingray, and on the way back i found two half of a stingray floating...
Shocked... i wanted to give away the HF...

Then I learned there was a lot of them that exceptional year (too much gor tourists...), and other kiters later hit other rays... but still... cut in half ... :cry:

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Re: Hit a dolphin

Postby grigorib » Thu Oct 24, 2019 1:02 am

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Last edited by grigorib on Fri Oct 25, 2019 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Macster
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Re: Hit a dolphin

Postby Macster » Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:17 am

RagingGrandpa wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:56 pm
Macster wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:22 am
We get jelly fish the size of basket balls in Melbourne that will knock you off your foil board
Woah, like in Port Philip Bay / Brighton? Or ocean-only?
(I travel there occasionally, good to know what to watch for, thx)
Yeah port Phillip bay. West side Altona, couple of KMs offshore.
http://portphillipmarinelife.net.au/Spe ... ecies/7757
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SENDIT!
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Re: Hit a dolphin

Postby SENDIT! » Thu Oct 24, 2019 8:15 pm

mbs wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:04 am
I saw a few dolphins rolling and thought I was passing well behind them. Either one came back to attack the foil thinking it was a fish, or there was another underwater trailing behind that I couldn’t see. I’m not sure if it was the wing or the mast that hit it, but the board crashed down hard taking a nosedive and tossed me off and I flew far forwards.

It was a hard collision and I felt terrible that maybe it hurt the dolphin. I never saw what I hit, the crash was under water and the water isn’t clear. I just assume it was a dolphin because I was passing behind a pod of them that I could see.

Where I live (Pensacola, NW FL gulf coast) there is a lot of baitfish that show up inshore this time of year as the weather starts to cool in early fall, and the dolphins get very active feasting in the sound. I wonder if the dolphin went after the foil thinking it was a fish or if I just blindsided one that didn’t see me coming. It was surprising to me to hit a dolphin because I’ve always thought they are so fast and so aware of their surroundings. With a boat you could never hit one, they always stay clear of the prop even though they love to play in the wake. But the boat is noisy and the foil is very quiet.

It was my first experience having the foil hit something underwater, and it spooked me a little. For the rest of the session I kept hallucinating underwater dolphins.

Anyone else has experienced anything similar?
mbs, I was out foiling this morning on Okaloosa Island at kite beach. While I was out near the channel, I saw a dolphin swimming pretty slow along the surface like they often do. Having just read your post, I was immediately scanning to make sure that weren't any other ones around me that I hadn't seen yet. While I was watching, it suddenly took off underwater swimming quickly away from me (I was still at least 20 yards away and it was pointed up wind). I hadn't touched down, so that leads me to believe it was aware of me well before I could hit it. I think your conscience should be clean. ;)

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Re: Hit a dolphin

Postby slowboat » Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:51 pm

So all those foilers out there everyday....has anyone ever actually hit a dolphin? The answer seems no.

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Re: Hit a dolphin

Postby Benicia Wind » Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:19 pm

I hit a sturgeon. I saw him just before the hit. He swam right in front of me. Nice crash but didn't hurt me or him.

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Re: Hit a dolphin

Postby RadDrDuke » Fri Oct 25, 2019 12:59 am

I almost hit a manatee the other day with my foil, at least it's better than a boat prop!

3InletsWindsports
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Re: Hit a dolphin

Postby 3InletsWindsports » Sun Oct 27, 2019 7:13 am

Maybe you didn’t hit a dolphin, but for fun it tackled you.
I’ve had dolphins with their nose in between the props of our twin rig RIB (400mm gap) at over 15kts.
They are in more control than we think


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