Hey guys,
Anyone know what the statistics are for windsurfing fatalities worldwide? I just posted this to the kitesurfing forum:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=34752
As at June last year, kitesurfing fatalities were at approx 65 according to Ricki Lossi's sobering statistics:
kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2331754&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=40
...with the spread being:
2007 - 3 (up till June)
2006 - 13, possibly 16
2005 - 16
2004 - 11
2003 - 5
2002 - 10
2001 - 3
2000 - 1
(note these are just the deaths Ricki has been able to track so the figures are apparently likely higher again)
Which makes it twice as dangerous as scuba diving (in terms of deaths per 100,000 people) though a lot less dangerous than paragliding. Apparently snow skiing and snow-boarding are actually safer than walking!
Does anyone know how many more deaths there have been in the last 8 months?
Also, what I haven't been able to find out are the statistics on major yet non-lethal injuries (spinal, head etc) amongst kite surfers. Does anyone have those sorts of figures?
I have to admit that after a near death experience myself, my 12m Airush has been sitting in our garage and I've gone back to windsurfing. I haven't found any stats on windsurfing fatalities since the 70's but to my knowledge it is a blip in comparison.
No I only got a bit winded after this bail-out 
-Mart
Kiters will have the response that you have to die of something so it may as well be something you like.
Same response smokers have.
Was at St Kilda beach last night talking to the lads, when one of them said...
The other day (which was about two weeks ago) an experienced kiter lost control of his kite, and so was heading for some girls on the beach. Did the right thing an dumped his kite to avoid hitting them; ended up head-first in the sand. He is now in traction from head to waist.
Whats the deal with the connection between the kiter and his kite? Do they use a harness like windsurfers and can hook in and out reasonably easily or are they more firmly linked to their kite and its a big deal to disconnect?
They have a clip on their hook so the loop doesn't come off I believe. There is also a 'chicken loop' between the loop and the bar and it has a quick release so you just pull it and the whole kite/lines flys away. It sounds good in principle but in reality things happen so fast there is often not time, it's too highly loaded or you can't reach it.
Kitesurfers = 65 dead. Windsurfing fatalities?
I found about 30 with google. 17 since 2004 and 5 last year and of course that surely is not complete.
So wear a helmet, watch out for powerboats and sail with a buddy.
it is very easy for all the saftey measures to fail as well.
I had a lesson a few years ago in moderate winds and ended up all hooked in heading towards rocks and road with no way out.
I had all the quick release devices, but I bounced off the water at one stage and actually wrapped everything around the bar, once I did that the QR devices no longer worked and I had absolutly no control over the kite. It was only for the force of what was going on actually breaking the part that was keeping me hooked up that I didn't come to a very nasty end. An experienced person may have got out of the situation but I couldn't.
Thought that was enough, kites aren't for me after that.
am not surprised at all no pun intended for kiters
i learned by teaching myself with a trusty mate to launch and retrieve kite. all i ever learned from an instructor friend was 30mins. of body dragging and that was it..to top it all am a hard headed nitwit who practiced near rocky oyster beds and lots of kids
..sure i did learn slowly and a lot of bruises to knees and nipsbut with hard work i finally made it to a smaller board and tackled hiwinds..learned to jump by instinctively pulling bar opposite to where i was going or it was thorny bushes..now as i became better i kite even closer to shore and am calling it luck on my side one single mistake and i become part of the coco nuts
..but i've become more responsible doing everything opposite..i give allowances by 3lenghths no matter what and with the latest in punch out depower still if you stumble and skip like a stone it sure is hard to push forward to depower and even if you've done that there's still a few meters of pull..so i guess the point am trying to make is part of the stats are from self-taught and non-iko instructed guys form half of the fatalities, just my guess
That's interesting mrrt. All the Kities I've talked to say its not dangerous any more. All those death and disaster stories date back to the bad old days when the kites didn't have the range or the depower (not sure if thats a tautology) that they have today. However most of those accidents are recent.
I wonder how the stats compare with other sports, cycling for instance. Windsurfing I think is pretty damn safe. Hagar might disagree...
I wonder if the insurance industry agrees.
Another interesting factoid from Ricki's research is the fact that it isn't mainly newbies who are getting themselves killed, but experienced kiters:
Experience level of deceased:
4 or more years = 42%
3 years = 23 %
2 years = 15%
up to 1 year = 17%
kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2331754&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=40
-Mart
A lot more people die from Bee stings and Asthma in Australia.
At least these poor buggers went out doing what they were enjoying a couple of seconds previously.
65 around the world is minor even giving the small number of people who kite vs population, most likely more people die driving to the beach world wide.
total number of windsurfers worldwide is 20 million
I find that hard to believe. I'm sure Auswind would say the numbers are even or kiting has the edge. Certainly at most beaches there are more kites than windsurfers so where do you get the idea that there are 100x more windsurfers than kiters? Maybe you are thinking of the boom years of the late 70s.
Still it's a lot safer than going shopping in Bagdad.
www.abc.net.au/news/2008-01-31/million-iraqis-dead-since-invasion-study/1028878
the figures could also be very subjective, all depends on how it is measured.
I mean, have they included people that were killed in a car on the way to kitesurfing, what about the difference between rigging and actually having the kite in the air, Land vs water based. And what about those that drowned that had very little to do with the fact they were kiting and the same thing could have happened no matter what the activity.
Most statistics can be swayed to make what ever point you want, the devil is in the details.
"Dying doing something you love" is all well and good but don't forget you leave loved ones behind...plus it'd be better to survive the session and do that thing you love another day, wouldn't it???
Spinal injury would be worse than death in many ways, and that's a real danger in kiting...
Windsurfing can be dangerous, sure, but you make a choice, to sail in dangerous conditions, very high wind, reefs, rocks, big waves etc. In more sedate conditions - flattish water, maybe 20 knots of wind - no problemo. You're not gonna be unexpectedly slammed into the ground from 30 feet up.
I think it would be fair to say that kiting seems to be more dangerous in fairly normal conditions - a gust and a fumble, and you can be beach pizza...
You're not gonna be unexpectedly slammed into the ground from 30 feet up.
No, but 30% of windsurfers died after being hit/run down/chopped up by power boats, unexpectedly I presume.
Time for some lateral thinking... surely kite strings pose just a big a danger to jetskiers as to anyone else?
All we have to do is pit the kiters and jetskiers against each other, and with a little luck they'll wipe each other out.
And VOILA! Clear, safe waterways once again!
Wet Willy I can see it now:
A big circle is marked out on an estuary, with entrances on the north for jetskiers, and on the south for kiters. Floating grandstands line the circumference, with hawkers selling hot dogs and suncream.
A loud hubbub gradually gives way to an expectant hush as the competitors gather outside the arena...
Then, 50 badly-distorted speakers screech out:
Gladiators, READY!
65? thats pretty good going. statistically far better than driving in perth...
based on average 200,000 kiters over 7 years [1/10 perths population i think], 7 years so with say 200 people dead on wa roads per year so 650 Vs 1400
well its twice as dangerous in your car by those statistics.
Robbo busted his wrist kiting a few days ago in Syd I heard through the grapevine.
i'd reckon many of the kite accidents occur because people learn it very quickly and get to the point of zipping back and forth & jumping before they've had the opportunity to experience a broad range of wind conditions, particularly those folk with no sailing experience of any kind
If I wanted big air that much, I'd just go hang gliding or skydiving. I often wonder whether they look at kiters and windsurfers, and our "massive" 30 feet high jumps, and go - what the hell are they getting so excited about?
Sure, the sports are very different, but if big air is what it's all about - which is what some kiters seem to say when they say that's kiting's advantage over windsurfing - then why not get 25,000 feet of air instead of 30?
