Kiting is fun, but in terms of safety it ain't windsurfing. This poor guy is nearly killed:
www.peconicpuffin.com/the_peconic_puffin/2008/08/kitemare-in-tropical-storm-fay.html
yer that was a lot of stupidity from that guy, i would like to know the real story as if he was kiting and the storm hit before he knew it or weather he was trying to be a hero and kite in stupidly high winds, if he did the later i think he's learned a good lesson, if he comes through it o.k, i also believe all new kites have a safety for that particular reason.. it was pretty crazy how fast he got launched across the screen.. hope he comes out of hospital o.k so we get the real story..
Just a little background to this particular accident......
The other kiter was standing about 20 ft. further north and southeast of the SE corner of the wooden deck where the news cameraman was located. The kiter to the north kept yelling to the kiteboarder "keep your kite down" over and over again. Despite this sound advice, the southern kiter may have panicked perhaps when dragging started, as he suddenly brought his kite up from the horizontal well off the ground, initiating a lofting* in the strong winds. He ran inland for about 15 ft. before being lofted. His option for Emergency Depowering may have largely ended after that point given the speed and violence at which things progressed from that point onward. Guys were likely seconds from grabbing his kite but it flew up and away from them. He was lofted a distance of about 100 ft. north in the gust. He must have applied pressure to the right side of his control bar causing what appeared to be a kiteloop as he was flown downwind to the northwest. He struck and was dragged through the sand and then lofted again as shown in the video. One observer said the speed of flight exceeded that which he has seen in high wind kiteloops. The kiterboarder flew roughly 275 ft. horizontally and about 20 to 25 ft. high over parked cars falling into A1A. This intermediate landing did not show up in the news video clip. He was lofted a third time about 40 ft. into an alley between a restaurant and mid rise condominium building. He was seen to hold on to his bar throughout the accident with both hands and made no attempt to Emergency Depower the kite. He struck the pavement and perhaps the south building wall of the condo.
Another kiter saw what happened and sprinted across the street in driving rain, poor visibility indicated in the video to aid the kiteboarder. The lofted kiter was lost to view so the responding man ran through the restaurant and around the building furiously trying to locate the lofted kiter. He found the man lying in the alley in seconds. The responding kiter immediately disconnected the man's quick release disconnecting his kite. The man was flying a 9 m flat kite. There was a tremendous quantity of blood around the man. He was unconscious but quivering. The man had two ragged holes in his knees, a bad laceration to his forehead, broken ribs and perhaps other undesignated injuries. He started to moan and come around but was delusional and started to say over and over again, "Let me go home, I don't want to kite anymore." He tried to get up with substantial strength while several first responders held him motionless in place. Emergency services were on the scene in force in an amazingly short period of time. The man is in his mid 20's, about 160 lbs. and has about 4 to 5 years kiteboarding experience and was self-taught. He is currently in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital and from what information is available is predicted to recover.
and the end result.....
Health Status:
Stable; induced coma; unknown future
-Swelling in the brain (sub-something type of bleed)
-2-3 days analysis before we know more (CT Scan scheduled for today)
-26 stitches from center of eyebrow into scalp -Highest Rib broken -Broken Ankle -Possible Muscle Contusion in the back between Spine and Supporting Bones -Abrasions everywhere -Little Amnesia - EMT said its normal for head injuries like this. When he starts to come out of the induced coma he becomes a little combative - he's closterphobic/ doesn't know where he is
It would seem that a lot of kiters underestimate the the power strong gusts in 25-30 knt winds.
Given that gusts can be up to 40% stronger than sustained wind speeds and also considering that the wind load increases exponentially it should be obvious that a gust in 15-20 knt conditions is considerably worse in 25-30 knts.
On a windsurf board you always have the luxury of just ditching everything simply by letting go. (assuming you are not hocked in to your harness) I guess the only thing which comes close in windsurfing is being catapulted while hocked in.
I truly fee sorry for this guy.
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Poor guy.
From the little that I know about kites, I thought they have a safety/emergency release? Wonder why he didn't do that.
A friend just told me recently about youtube videos on how kiters got dragged off by a jetplane while kiting near a runway, getting swallowed up by a killer-whale etc...loads of drama in this sport it seems.
not sure if it is the same incident as this one, but unfortunately it sounds like this person has diedhttp://tudonahora.com.br/noticia.php?noticia=18582#
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Whats the difference with that or jumping into your car without knowing if a truck is going to slam into you at full speed??
same thing happened to a mate of ours down in VIC (Lourne I think), the guy was in ICU for 3 months. He was bloody tops at kiting and windsurfing, shows it can happen to anyone I guess. 
Hence i'm banned.
Lets face it, accidents happen no matter what the sport/activity.
I think it comes down to using common sense and taking responsibility for your own actions as an incident like this not only affects you but your friends, family and all others involved.
I hope he makes it through this.
Yer i wouldn't wish those injuries on anyone, but anyone doing any dangerous sport knows from experience you don't go out in conditions above your ability or are odviously dangerous.. there is a safety leash on a kite for this exact reason, some kiters are to proud to pull it and this is the end result, going from the story he should have ditched after the first few seconds when the other guy was yelling out to him, he may have been worried about trashing his kite into some tree's or something, but as Ben Wilson said in his Smack dvd "you can always buy new gear", you life is worth much more than a few grand.
Funny you should say that about Ben's DVD PC as I remember yonks ago at the Nats on the Goldy, him been hit by a freak gust of wind which had him headed for one of the high rise buildings. It was only that myself and another kiter grabbed him which gave him time to release.
Cheers
The quick-release thingy only seems to be useful when you have time to think.
How easy is it to unhook from your harness when windsurfing? SO easy; we do it countless times every session without a thought. But when you're hooning along and you suddenly realize you've exceeded your personal speed limit and are going to catapault, unhooking can be totally impossible (at least until you've hit the water and recovered your senses a few seconds later), because things go from cool to out of control so quickly. It must be like that with kites sometimes too, but the risk of serious injuy is just so much higher.
All kiting jokes aside, this guy is (or possibly was) was a regular person with feelings and a life and a family and so on, and if he's dead or seriously injured it's very sad indeed.
They say that with the new gear, kiting is now safer than ever. I guess it's still not safe enough, though. These guys should consider kiting on ideal days only, if they must kit at all - and maybe windsurfing or going elsewhere when it's over, say, 25 knots, gusty, or onshore.
Methinks.
I guess the truth is, that with the amount of kiters out there, the amount of these kinds of accidents wouldn't even rate in the percentages, a bit like rock-climbing/absailing/paragliding, etc. In general, I think self-preservation prevails.......unfortunately, some choose to live a little close to the edge (like those wind-glider extreme nutters.....looks awesome fun, but you wouldn't get me doing the mountain/bridge fly-bys in a pink-fit).
In saying that, I guess at the time this guy wouldn't have thought of the outcome of lifting his sail, but hopefully others will remember those images & think of the possible danger next time they're in the same situation. Perhaps these incidents actually keep the sport safer (for the majority) in the long run.....
For me it appears like (as someone said) skiing behind a speed boat with a sticky throttle and no way to control it or even escape. For whatever reason they don't appear to be able to release. Whether this is psychological, physical etc, it doesn't change the end result that they can't/don't do it.
I suppose comparing windsurfing to kiting is like comparing a car to a plane. Both can be dangerous, but when you have a mechanical problem in a car, you're a lot closer to the ground.
As for on-shore, off-shore. Is off-shore that much better? These boards have little buoyancy and you can lose it a lot easier than separating a windsurfer rig and board. If you get tired, there is no big floating thing to sit on.
Lofting accidents are usually caused by the rider radically oversteering the kite,
rather than by getting picked up by some rogue gust and flung.
This can happen even in moderate winds, it doesn't have to be nuking.
For example,
Let's say a kiter is standing on the beach with the kite parked low, say 9 o'clock.
Maybe he wants to tough-out a squall, and he has his doubts about keeping the kite at 12 o'clock....the so-called neutral park.
Then for some reason, the bar is oversteered drastically, causing the kite to fly rapidly across to say 3 o'clock.....
creating a massive power spike.
In that instant, no more than a heartbeat....
the kiter will become airborne and he will have no time to think or react.
He has to take the hit.
Now, this is the survival bit.
While he is flying thru the air (before the hit),
he needs to have the presence of mind to let go of the bar with both hands,
fully resign himself to the flight (for want of a better word).
Of course this is totally contrary to your natural instincts.
Your natural reflex will be to death-grip the bar, fully freeze.....
and to adopt the foetal position.
Now, having let go of the bar, he is still attached to the kite by the chicken-loop...
zooming thru the sky at high velocity.
Immediately he takes the hit, (the impact with the ground)....
he needs to pull the trigger, release the chicken-loop....
that's assuming he's still conscious.
sympathies to the bloke, but he went kiting in a cyclone. it doesn't get much stupider
