Full story here:
kitesurfing.com.au/
Pic: Martin Lang, Manly Daily
Thanks to they brilliant folks at Westpac Helicopter rescue, the blokes at Ambulance services, Greg at South Head Coast Guard, the Warringah Lifeguards jetski guys for recovering the gear and the Dee Why Police for turning up to help out.
Glad he is OK and probably is a honest mistake...... but this should never have happened. People who do wind related sports should know and understand the wind and weather patterns.
Winter in Sydney never gives consistent breezes..... unless it is a southerly...and even then the tail end of a southerly usually goes weak and turns to the west.
People have a dig a newbies.....but would this not be a experienced kiter committing a rookie error????
By the way fishermen have reported a great white hanging out off long reef. Just a heads up for next time anyone wants to go trawling with their kite
Lucky everyone is OK.
Honestly are you guys for real. People take advice from your mob and you guys go do these types of things?
From your actions I can tell you're far from advanced kiters, but certainly becoming experienced.....on your amazing 2012 bridal kites and lay down shape boards....
wow, it sounds like this could have been a lot worse.
If I am reading this correctly you guys kited to the north side of long reef, creating the double danger of putting a headland between you and the wind, whilst also putting yourselves in an offshore wind situation. I realize you guys are experienced, but this really doesn't sound too smart. Maybe long reef bombie would have been a better option? At least there is land downwind there.
On a side note, any news on the 2012 argo?
Don't be afraid to ditch all of your gear if things go pear shaped. Gear is cheap compared to a life.
One day the Wespac chopper might be out saving someone else...
If that's the case, then chris is a legend IMO. That also makes Johns decision even more questionable, in that he went around the headland by himself.
I'm at a wedding on the iPhone bashing out a message in-between speeches so will keep it short. Thats me on the right with the board.
1) Wind was south to se ONSHORE the whole time we were out. The wind did not change direction to off shore! Jhonny decided to kite by himself to a remote offshore location away from the group. After he was not spotted for 40 minuts i went around to check on him and the wind died.
2) jhony droped his kite 20m 30m max from shore in a flat sheltered area inside of the reef but some how got out to sea and said he was sea sick and got heli rescued. How he did not manage to self rescue himself from droping the kite so close to shore I do not know.
3) I downed my kite 700 meters from shore a few minutes after Jhonny when the wind died. Did a self rescue deepwater pack down and swam in. Arrived at the beach before the chopper turned up.
4) Wind was sketchy and locals and crew know not to do the remote headland in sketchy winds. We all set up and stayed close to shore on Longreef beach. Jhonny setup his kite and disappeared without letting anyone know his plans around the head land where it is off shore wind 1.5 K's away and was not seen for 40 minutes. So I went around to check on him. then wind dies. Great!
5) Commonsence: If you borrow a mates kite and disappear a kilometer and a half around a headland that is off shore winds in that location for 40 minutes without letting people know your plans in a fickle southerly, you should know how to self rescue or be in top health or not do it in the first place. The crew where concerned so I went around to check if he was ok.
6) learn to do a deepwater packdown and don't go to crazy places unless you know how to get out of trouble and can swim a few k. Stick with a crew of kiters and don't kite by yourself in a remote offshore location. This should be commonsense.
7) Don't knock spelling in forum posts when typed with a iPhone.
7.5) Johnny should not have done what he did. He put himself and others in danger. The wind was bad and he went off away from the group/crew by himself out of sight 1.5k to a offshore location without telling people his plans and without the ability to self rescue so close to shore.
8) Glad to hear your ok Johnny the rescue guy said he has 2 kids that also kite surf and that it's the best job in the world.
Longy is a breeding ground for sharks. Got to go. Wife is saying I should chat to the bride...
As a matter of interest do they charge $$ for the rescue, or is it all part of the std services delivered as part of the council rates and taxes?
Chris, thanks for helping out a fellow kiter. BTW what do you do in a deep water packdown?
Thanks - Matthew.
Rescue should be free if your Australian.
Are you born in Australia Griffinkites?
Well actually guys - While the rescue helicopter may have WESTPAC written all over it the majority of funding actually comes from the CFMEU union - the blue collar workers. So ol mate that got plucked out can thank them.......
Most coal miners and builders have pay deductions each week to fund the westpac helicopter
http://www.helirescue.com.au/funding/
For nearly 30 years, the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter has been saving lives. However saving lives comes with a cost (although the service is free of charge).
Our budgeted running costs this year are $6.5 million.
The average cost to perform one mission is $8,500,
it costs $30,000 to train a new crew member,
$3,500 for a crew helmet,
$550 for a chopper tyre,
$194,500 for a new winch and
$2,200 to replace the winch cable
A winch overhaul costs $140,000 and a new gear box is $1,122,000.
Funding comes from three main areas.the NSW Department of Health, our corporate sponsors and more than half of our annual budget of $6.5 million is raised from the community!
Fortunately, the community in our area has been very generous. Residents and visitors regularly contribute donations, payroll deductions, bequests, our Op Shops and proceeds from special events. Fundraising is an ongoing process year in, year out, year in, year out, year in.
Without this support your rescue helicopter service would not exist.
There are many ways that individuals, groups, sporting and service clubs, organisations, businesses, schools and towns can support the rescue helicopter. Please consider.
Always make sure the strut clips are closed off aswell. A soggy kite with no air in it might aswell be a boat anchor.
Lucky guy,
Stuff like this can happen to anyone. I snuck into my flatmates car to join their girls kiting at Lancelin weekend once. Everyone was enjoying a smooth 20knots cross onshore breeze when it suddenly died and instantly swung to 12 knots dead offshore. I swam out to help my friend swim her kite and board in from about 1km out to sea. by the time we got in we were stuffed and glad something didn't eat us.
There were 3 guys who were taking so long to get in that a boat saw them and rescued them, they all would have made it anyway, but would have been so nice to get rescued! especially avoiding swimming through 50metres of putrid brown weed stink water at the end!!!
In an offshore wind situation,it is an interesting call of whether you should stay with your kite.
In this case it sounds like his body was rooted so good call to hang on the the nice floaty kite, especially in sydney where there are heaps of lifeguards and boats to save your arse.
If you know someone is going to rescue you then you would never leave your kite because it makes it so easy to find you. However if I was 2km out to sea and thought my chances of getting rescued were buckleys, I would surely ditch my kite, board and harness and swim. (old fit blokes swim 17km to rottnest every year so if you can't swim 5km to save your life you are a massive pussy...provided your body is not already rooted)
It is such hard work swimming with a kite and board and harness, you can be completely exhausted in under an hour. Add to that how scared you are because you know something is going to eat you and the energy gets zapped right out of you.
Rob C, you are a d!ck, Sydney winter wind is awesome, and can be consistent for hours on end, it is just bad luck that this happened, eat a nutsack bro, also, there are great white sharks off every beach in Australia, they are nomadic. What's your point, once again eat a nutsack bro.
I wouldn't flag the harness, I blew a line at Brighton a fair way out a couple of years ago, someone dragged my kite back to the beach and came back for the tweenie (haven't been on one of those for a long time
, need to try it again soon but surfboard are just plain awesome).
I did the long swim in and thought that the combination of the wettie and Harness (I think it is flying object brand but not real sure) was pretty awesome for floating purpose.
The harness definately helped and although I had a few thoughts for our grey friends I covered the longest swim in my life with relative ease.
Good experience overall
, need to try it again soon but surfboard are just plain awesome).
Moral of the storey is to go out with other people and keep an eye on each other, even if they are a windsurfer
Dodgy bloody Southerlies. Glad you guys are all OK, I've had a few scary encounters around the reef area over there with downed kites myself.
Looks like being soft and not kiting today was the right decision to make after all 
Yeah, Longy is one of those spots that just seems 'sharky'... not a nice place to have to swim for 2km. Being that far out to sea in rough sea conditions can make you feel very very small without your kite in the air.
The fact that he had acute hypothermia really ilustrates how lucky he was... you can only swim for so long when that's the case.
keep swimming it will keep your body temp up its when you stop and just tread water is when your body temp comes down .
What a waste of resources.
Problem solved all to easy.
check the weather.
if its iffy, stay in close.
