Kayaker comes to rescue
A kayaker has come to the rescue of a kite surfer who got into difficulty off Woodman Point today.
Anyone shed light on this
SEARCH: A kite surfer has been rescued after getting into difficulty of Woodman Point.Picture: File
A KAYAK rider has come to the rescue of a kite surfer who got into difficulty off Woodman Point today.
Police and sea rescue groups launched a major search shortly after 8am in response to reports that a kite surfer was in trouble about half-way between the shore and Garden Island.
The kayaker arrived to help the kite rider until the pair was spotted from the police helicopter and a rescue boat sent to their aid.
Police spokesman Samuel Dinnison said the surfer had been in the water for about an hour before he was rescued.
"Without the assistance of the kayaker and the sea rescue boat it is unlikely that he would have survived for much longer," he said.
Read on Sci's facebook last night that he called sea rescue for a kiter that later got rescued like this by a kayak. So this happened yesterday, pretty sure.
Let him tell you the rest...
Helicopters, Police Boat,Volunteer Sea and rescue, Easterly winds 10 knots. Make him pay for his absolute stupidity.
So let me guess...the guy was kiting alone at sun set and being too far from shore.............sounds like an idiot.......wahoooo, now if this is what happened I recon we've got the bigger idiot than the one at Bondi.
was yesterday on a dying seabreeze! wouldn't be pleasant floating around deep water in the dark!!!
I cant think of many things scarier than drifting out to sea on a failing sea breeze at woodies... Waiting for the men in grey suits to turn up...
Apologies - I read it that the rescue happened this morning and assumed he started his session this morning as well.
My apologies to the guy if he got caught out in the varying conditions of the seabreeze on Wed. evening. There were huge nos. out everywhere trying to make the most of what little was available.
Not knowing the details - have to give the guy benefit of doubt till we know better. Could happen to anyone.
Would have been a scary time waiting for rescue till 8:00pm.
All you Fockers who do this Dumbarss crap need to be bent over and have it Rammed home with some 'ManTraining' Since kite training didnt work 
unfreakn believable No Sugar coating from me !
A kitesurfer is "lucky to be alive", according to police, after he was rescued in Coogee last night.
The 24-year-old German tourist had been noticed heading out of sight off Woodman Point, prompting a rescue operation at about 8.30pm
Water Police, a police helicopter, Cockburn Volunteer Sea Search and Rescue and two boats from Fremantle Sea Rescue were involved in the search for the man.
He was spotted by helicopter and a man who was kayaking in the area stayed with the man before he was rescued by boat.
It is believed the man had been in the water for about an hour before he was found and a police statement said infra-red cameras showed the man had little or no body heat when rescued.
"It is not known how long the man would have lasted in the water if it had not been for the
efforts of the man in the kayak and the rescue personnel involved," the statement said.
no doubt there will be no donation or any thanks by this tourist for his rescuers
Made the channel 10 news. They showed the vision from the heli looked to be infrared so must have been getting dark.
The thing is at woodies beach 3, if the wind turns to **** for whatever reason you need to make the call pretty early to swim in. If you can't make it in near the crane and there's not enough wind to make it upwind, IMO start swimming. I've had to do it a few times but you don't wait to your 1km offshore still trying to relaunch to make your swim in as swimming upwind is very hard. It's very much the case of don't go further offshore than your willing to swim in, and if your too much of a noob to realise this you shouldn't be kiting there.
LOCATION: Beach 3 Woodmans Point
A small group of us had just finished our session when we noticed a kite down and man on the water a long way off the beach.
The sun was about to set and the wind was dropping SW around 15 knots. I observed a man offshore who seemed to be having extreme difficulty relaunching the kite.
After numerous attempts to relaunch he managed to get the kite back in the air.
It looked as if the guy was not sure 'HOW' to fly the kite back into the beach at Coogee. He was able to relaunch but kept trying to go out to sea rather than come in to the beach.
I then rang the Fremantle rescue services as the sun had now set and the man was in the water again with the kite down.
We stayed on the beach until we could no longer see the man at which point he was well over a 1km offshore.
I rang the rescue service again to tell them that we could no longer see the man.
They told me they had sent out the boat and asked me where he was last seen which was difficult to judge.
In the car park I was told he had just bought the board the day before and was actually an inexperienced rider that had just learned to go upwind.
YESTERDAY
I was at the beach yesterday again the same beach and the man was there again.
I had been told he had just had to self rescue his kite and swim in AGAIN. The conditions at the beach where awful with gusty SW breeze that at some points ranged from 0-13 knots.
The man approached me and asked me for a launch which I refused.
I asked him about the previous day and what happened - I do not think he understood me.
He then launched and returned to the car park.
I find this absolutely amazing that he was involved in this MAJOR rescue and decides its a good idea to back to the same beach again for more.
On side note his friend also a beginner unable to launch his newly acquired 5th line kite was floating around about 150M offshore!
He was then pulled in buy a guy on a 17M CORE kite.
15 Minutes later he is being given lessons on beach 3 on how to use his 5th Line by his mate.
This is an absolute disgrace. The rescued rider could have easily been involved in another rescue that evening or his mate.
I have spoken to some of the locals to ensure that if these men are on the beach again to refuse launching there kites and ask them to politely go to a beginners spot.
What else can we do?
Fair enough the aussie thing to do is give em the benefit of the doubt. But 2 days in a row is just bloody dumb. Cant wait for the end of summer so all the dikheads piss off. Makes me wonder what their thinking kiting offshore but cant stay upwind.
There are so many helicopter rescues in the Alps everywhere around the world. Millions of $ spent on a poor tourists caught unprepared...
Of avalanche, I think 3 young Aussies died when I was at Hakuba, Japan, some year's ago.
Man, I've witnessed 2 heli rescues in 3 days last winter over there...That's life, sh.t happens.
It's pretty simple really don't kite further out than you are prepared to swim.... I have no idea why people insist on kiting 1km offshore.
Kiting has attracted many people from the suburbs with little or no sea sense if the wind is blowing offshore and fickle
a) don't head far out or out at all.
b) do not spend 10min drifting further out whilst attempting relaunch ...bite the bullet pack down and paddle in.
I would bet that 90% of kiters would struggle to swim 1km in the ocean (most don't realize it is a lot bloody harder than in a pool) combined with an offshore breeze and current and it quickly becomes even harder.
People need to take more responsibility it's not just your safety at stake but you are also putting the lives of your rescuers at stake and or any person who has an emergency whilst the coast guard are attending to you.
The only reason I can think of why any kiter should need to be rescued is due to injury which prevents them from swimming gear failures and changing conditions are not valid excuses you should be checking your gear and the conditions before heading out obviously we don't all do that all the time ...... But if you don't go further out than you can swim you won't need a rescue.
It really is that simple.
I don't know the circumstances but I wonder if he ever thought of ditching the kite?
I reckon I would have way before 8.30pm.
Anyone could end up in this predicament but I think I would be going through steps something like this,
I: Try to relaunch the kite; if that fails then,
II: Bring the kite around to the side that is at least dragging you back towards land (it was still blowing SW wasn't it), whilst crossing your fingers that the wind may pick up and it might relaunch; if you can't do that for some reason then,
III: Roll up the lines and self rescue, if there is a bit of wind you should make some progress toward the shore; if there is no wind or kite is deflated or whatever then,
IV: Ditch the thing and start swimming.
The last thing I would want to do is stay attached to something that was dragging me further out to sea.
You can buy another kite but you only get one life.
After hearing the events from Sci I say go buy a big bottle of tuna oil and drench all his equipment in it, give darwin a hand.
Oops signed in as Woodys - my commercial tag - for that last reply.
I would like to express Puppets view for the sake of those that know me.
I am appalled - seriously seriously angry.
If Sci's rundown is accurate (and why wouldnt it be - hes one of the ones with most to lose here) then this guy HAS to be stopped.
"What else can we do?"
A few things Sci....
Name shame & identify by personal description, vehicle description & rego and kite & board brands & colors.
IMO it would be every WA kiters responsibility to look out for & stop this guy anywhere he was seen doing anything to endanger himself, our spots or our sport.
If we all know who & what to look for we can be pre-warned. Im sure we all give unknowns a lot of leeway before anyone steps in to try to avoid a problem happening. This guy doesnt deserve ANY leeway and its only if we know how to recognise him that we can be forewarned to act in a way that may otherwise be considered premature.
If hes spotted somewhere else appearing to be doing the reasonable thing then fair enough - otherwise (imo) do whatever it takes to stop him. For mine that would be ANYTHING at all short of physical violence (but Im drawing the line there cos Im such a Clark Kent personality. If it has to go that far??? your call)
What else can you do Sci - give us all the full gen so we can all keep watch. Then just hope others take it seriously.
Sorry for the histrionics but this is sounding like the worst incident I have ever been alerted to.
That one rescue is now on the record and WILL be thrown in WAKSA's face on the next battle ground and every one following. Great to know we can rely on those S&R crews when its a true emergency but we cant afford abuses like this one - and certainly not twice over.
Regarding ditching the kite, from a marine search and rescue point of view if he is way past the point of (or too incompetant to) packing up and getting himself back in I'd suggest a deep water self-rescue/pack-up but stay with the gear, it gives you extra buoyancy, gets you out of the water a little and is a bit easier to spot in a search. Yeah you will drift offshore a little quicker with it but the computer modelling used for drift predictions will take this into account. I'd suggest in this situation it's better to be a bit further out, nice and floaty and easier to spot, than just a cold hypothermic head bobbing in the ocean.
If you do decide to ditch the kite, anywhere in the water let someone know, in WA ring Freo Water Police, 9442 8600. From memory there was an expensive search for a lost kiter down Cottesloe way last season after someone saw a kite go down offshore and the rider punched out and swam back in.
But for this nutjob, Darwin will still get him, it just might take a couple of goes...
