Many thanks to all who were involved in the rescue. I was lucky and close to shore when it hit and managed to get in unassisted. It was great to see that nodody left the beach until all were accounted for.
Please make a donation to the Volunteer Coastal Patrol.
Big thanks to every one that helped out the stricken kiters, espcially the guys in the boats and on the jet ski's who scoured the bay for people, kites and boards. When I left the beach it seemed that not only was everyone acounted for but all the gear had been fished out as well which was a massive effort.
Brings the theory to light of don't go further offshore than your willing to swim.
Was good to see everyone get together and ensure everyone got back to the beach. Gears replaceable people are not
nothing like a good slap in the face to wake everyone up.
Good work all. I was having a Latte on the Northern Beaches with my feet up at the time, just like Obe-one, I felt a disturbance in the force like 15 little voices screaming out for help. I promptly ordered another latte as I kinda liked the company in my head.[}:)]
A- (you would have all got an A+ but it was on the wrong side of the bridge)
I also heard that Aya had an actual arrival time on the screen at Sydney International T1 for a short period, it went to delayed and then to not arriving. Well done Ay. 
What, so you show up and use someone else's gear for half an hour and that abrogates your own personal responsibility to read a forecast? Telling KP they should supply people with PFD's and supply a fleet of rescue craft just because they are having an event seems silly.
Like others have pointed out - the southerly was on the charts, and on the move. Seems like KP told people to get out of the water before it hit, but they shouldn't have to.
If you're the cautious kind, you could even calculate the southerly's speed by seeing how long it took to get from station to station.
My personal opinion is that this is the kind of thing that gets kiting banned - when someone gets lost or drowns or a kite cheerfully slips into the turbine of a 737.
And in case someone wants to tell me I am not from Sydney - I have kited at both Dolls, Brighton, Kurnell and Towra many times. I'm also not given to being precious about safety - I never thought I would be the one to ever EVER post on this forum about people not being safe enough.
Hey guys how good was the weekend?
I was there for slingshot and had an absolute ball both days.
I was amazed how fast the wind changed direction was all of 1 min of the breeze dieing before it changed south..
The hole community was awesome and I was amazed at the speed and support you guys when the wind hit..
Most everyone was at the beach till all was recovered and the gear was all sorted as well.
Thanks for having me and slingshot there and I look forward to the next time.
Dave :-)
FAIL...
Hey Steve,
Hope you get this message before it breakes the Galah record of the longest thread in the entire world... I saw some dude taking photies from the Kitepower boat on Saturday, not sure about Sunday, would you be able to post some when you have time, it was such a beautifull day (on both days) and I'm sure there will be some nice photies to start the season and get the kite gibberinos flowing.
Cheers mate and thanks for organising a good w/e.
Cheers for all the positive replies.
I don't think anyone in this thread is really being negative though, we all value our sport too much and our mates even more so.
I've never seen such mateship in action in very testing conditions.
interesting that all the more experienced kiters were able to keep a cool head and ride back upwind, most of the less experienced got flogged and lost this kites and boards
I' would like to help those guys deconstruct events and learn from the experience so call me anytime to discuss what could have been done better.
All lost gear is at Kitepower, please call to pick it up. I'm jammed for room, container arrives this week!!
Also Eclipse kites arrived this morning and so did Nobile boards and kites, so the demo continues at Dolls this arvo!! :-)
Cya and
goodwinds
Steve
Very good lesson for all of us.
At the end of the day, I think it is quite lucky that the gust came from the South and not from the North... better to be smashed hard against water and have to swim/body drag to closest shore rather than getting smashed hard against land and not being able to survive!
Very glad no one got injured, and respect to Aya, this is a bloody big effort you did!
Next time, if it happens outside a Demo day and there is no rescue boat... what do you guys suggest we do to help out the unlucky ones in trouble??
cheers
Jacques
There was a very clear and accurate forecast for Sunday and the weather did exactly what the BOM told us it would - NW turning westerly, then s'westerly "freshening".
Each kiter has to take responsibility for themselves and any one who continued to kite after the wind turned westerly yesterday..........the word "fool" comes to mind.
I think its pretty safe to say, that we have all gone out in slightly risky conditions when we are desperate for a kite, so good to here that everyone had a good time and all ended well. However, I don't think the organisers of the demo day are setting a very good example, for newbie riders that may not have gone out if they had seen the forecast, but thought it was safe because all the local advanced riders where out demoing new kit. All riders should have been warned of the imminent southerly that was well forecast and easy to track on Bom and seabreeze. If I am at my local, and a novice turns up when I know a southerly buster is forecast for later that day I will advised them NOT to kite, so a huge rescue operation will not be needed. Would all of those novices needed rescuing if you were not there? who knows?
hopefully i can make it to this one. Last weekend was a freak occurance and from what iv heard it was a geat effort by all involved including KP to ensure everyone was safe.
Kite Surfing is Dangerous!
Accidents can and will happen! Glad to hear no one was seriously hurt or worse!
Big call to make for the 1 bloke standing on the beach. What to do?
The best thing that can come out of this is for people to learn from what happened. These blue sky Southerly Busters do come through and perhaps people will be a little more aware of them / reminded about them including myself, sail boarders and sailors.
Any experienced Sailor, Kiter, Windsurfer have been caught out in something simular in the past and learn from it. Our cat club and sailing community have experience simular in the past and have incorporated safety procedures from lesson learned by us or others before us.
A positive with the kite surfers on Botany is they tend to kite in groups. If anybody gets into trouble, someone is normally there to take action.
If any person / company organises an event and or their equipment is being used, they are responsible for the safety off all involved in such an event. KP would be aware of this and I am sure they had systems and procedures in place. If KP warned people on the beach about the approaching Southerly, then perhaps some people need to take greater notice. (I should have taken notice from our club also and left the board in the shed)
A few things we do at the club may be of benefit to organised kiting events (if they do not do them already).
1) Have an emergency plan in place with specific people nominated to perform certain tasks. (We also have a hooter and flood lights to warn people to get off the water)
2) Have a general and weather briefing before anyone takes to the water.
3) Constantly listen to marine updates and communicate with Sydney Airport regularly if suspect weather is forecast.
4) Sign on and sign off sheets. Sign on before you hit the water and sign off when you step back on land.
5) Have a support vessel at close hand to render assistance as with trained first aid officers.
6) Ensure all participants are wearing approved Safety equipment.
I will try and find the new regulations governing PFDs but as far as I know, they must be used in all waterways. I also believe PFD type 2 is now the minimum requirement. If there is any grey area to this, I would rather enforce it then to argue it out in court after someone drowns.
Cheers and bring on those stiff North Easters.
Stephen
I did not see the KP boat on the water and the jet skier went home to get his jet ski. I was beside him when he said he was going home to grab it. Hence my report.
All is now good, nobody hurt and many wiser for the experience.
I think something to bear in mind is that with this southerly at least, it was only 35knots for 10mins (with 40 gusts). It quickly settled back down to 20-25 after the front, which was what we were sailing in before it hit. I think the point is DONT PANIC and tire yourself out and let the full force of the front pass for a few minutes.
edit: image updated to monday
I'd like to see some other graphs of fronts and see if it's worth waiting a bit before trying to launch again.
I think we all learnt a great deal from this. Stephen from the Cat Club has some good advice regarding organised events, many of which are already in place when state and national competitions are run. We were fortunate that the demo day was being run so that a coordinated rescue happened so quickly.
On the day, the people who ditched there kites were the less exprienced. As Matt said "self rescue is key, if you ditch the kite its like ditching your life raft".
I think we need to put safety firmly on the agenda in the coming months with information/training days obviously needed. The only way you will find out about safety/advanced training days, events, weekends away is through AKSA/NSWKBA or other state equivalents. So join up and get on the mailing list. Renewals are now due. Also, state committees please think about running safety training days at your local beach. It seems that once people have had their initial couple of lessons they quickly forget self rescue. I have over the years helped out many people on the water who had no clue regarding self rescue.
Dont' forget your AKSA membership also gives you third party insurance if you or your kite damages people or property, such as aircraft!
Select to expand quote
Dont' forget your AKSA membership also gives you third party insurance if you or your kite damages people or property, such as aircraft!
Hang on a sec .If you go out on a day when it is clear that there is going to be a wind shift that potentially puts you and your kite on the runway of an extremely busy airport ,don't think that membership of an organisation or insurance of any type will get you off the hook .There is still such a thing as personal responsibility and duty of care .
I'm not saying that your comment is suggesting this but i think that there is potentially alot of danger in people thinking that because they are insured they can go out there and do whatever they like and all will be well .
