Video: Police guide distressed kiteboarder back to shore

[beachbum32]

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Port Aransas Police made sure a distressed windsurfer was safe on shore and it was all caught on video.

The incident happened out on the beach in Port Aransas near mile marker 19.

According to Officer Seth Rosebrook from the Port Aransas Police Department, the windsurfer was out too far when his kite fell into the water. Luckily, some good Samaritans loaned the officers some jet-skis and the officers were able to guide the man and his kite back to shore safely.

The windsurfer was fine and suffered no injuries.

Officer Rosebrook reminds beach goers to be careful when surf conditions are choppy.

Special thanks to Jacob Mills and his wife, who witnessed the events unfold and were able to capture some of it using their drone.

https://www.kristv.com/news/local-news/ ... k-to-shore

[Toby]

Dudes got no clue how to handle it.

Put board on side of ski, driver hold kite, rider gets on ski, takes kite, the smooth ride back to shore.

[TheJoe]

I'm going to go with the kiter did not know what he was doing. I would have hopped on the ski and deflated the kite.

[Herman]

If you are on a rescue vessel the method you should choose to rescue is often dictated by wind direction/speed in relation to the direction of the rescue root. For example if you can just head up wind or start into wind and arc round to create sufficient apparent head wind there is no need to packdown. If it is a slow chug downwind that is a different matter, as you don't want to be wearing the kite, sail, or whatever. (Also if you are confident that the rider is ok and it is a safe drift just reassure him and watch him drift in as there is no point in adding the risk of a pick up.)

If you are the kiter and are confident in what you are doing remain in charge of your own destiny and negotiate a plan of action and if necessary tell the rescue boat what it needs to do, even if that is go away and watch for my signal or stand off and watch me get in. Just my opinion of course! It was only a less than 15 minute drift in assuming the rider was not injured or in real distress!

[Herman]

What happens when the rescue boat is adjacent to the kite is influenced by helmsman's skill and relative drift rates. A few years back I did some experimentation for boat launching and was surprised at how much slower the kite drifted than the small rib I was using. I have not used jetski for rescue but I suspect their drift rate would be considerably faster than the kite which means you would have to hold it off with power. Even a kite held in smiley position by a rider may well drift slower than a jetski.

Any jetski experts have a comment on that?

[Coloradokiter]

It says the ski operators were the police and even if they were just the local shore patrol it is most likely they have no clue about lines and bridals. If one of those got sucked into the ski then the situation would have turned ugly real fast. The kiter should of just let the kite go once the ski's got there and let it drift in then got up on the ski for a ride in. The darn kite may have got to shore before him. The quick decision should of been the kite is not as important as the kiter and the 2 rescuers. The kite would of just washed up fine onto the shore. It is just a big sandy beach. But if the ski sucked up a line in that break then all hell would of broke out.

[edt]

You have to practice this to do it. Either side could have learned it. Nobody died and maybe they learned something so no harm here.

[Flyfish]

That was painful.

[jakemoore]

Onshore wind that day and our breaks are sandbars near shore. It looks like a 5 minute drift to shore max. Also it looks like the kiter had the bar wrapped up so not to drag lines through beach goers. Slow news day if this is the most exciting thing to happen. I like how the news carefully framed the beach out of the shot to make it look like the kiter was far out.