It's just about mitigating risk and being realistic. If it's really windy, or a sketchy place, or dodgy looking weather, I'll wear a helmet. Or maybe not even go out. I know I can't reach my QR everytime the ** hits the fan - it's happened and my brain didn't work fast enough. So, sometimes I've sat on the beach while everyone else has gone out - just feels too sketchy.
My point is - none of these things absolutely secure my exclusion from a nasty crash, but they might cut down the risk. It's like wearing a seatbelt. I still accept the risk though, I feel like I have a reasonable ability to judge how risky it is, and most of all, I like that I have a personal choice about how much risk i take on in each circumstance. As it should be.
Experienced kiters getting hurt?
Perish the thought
Its only newbies who ever get hurt
'cause we are all far too experienced to make a mistake.
LOL
[}:)]
Yeah, one would hope new gear was a lot better though this incident 2 weeks ago doesn't exactly fill me with confidence(!):
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=34100
(quick release on the chicken loop broke on 3 month old Tribal 2 kite)
Here's hoping it's the exception not the rule!
I have heard about this fault with other Tribals so no its not an exception. Great kite, but it has to be said that its sh1t house build quality.
J
NEAR MISSES...
While I like speed and thrills, I don't really want to die early (or become a cripple) - I expect everyone feels the same once you get past the macho stuff...
Is anyone collecting data about kitesurfing accidents?? If not, then it would be useful to do this in order to help us avoid repeating others mistakes.
So, lets hear about your near misses, include details about what happened and how you would do it differently next time.
This is what's done in aviation (in which I have some experience). Have a look at the magazine 'Flight Safety' - some great stories about things that you wouldn't want to do at home - see:http://www.casa.gov.au/fsa/index.asp
So please send in your stories, and if there is enough interest, I will compile a list and put it up on the bulletin board.
Apply the same theme to car crash victims. There would be a comparable number of drivers out there in there first year of driving as their second and third. But then you get to the 4+ bracket and you got a much larger group of people.
The first three years are essentially the same percentage wise out of a small collectoion of data- 65.
Naturally everyone has crashes/accidents but because the 4+ group is much larger even if they are less likely to have an incident they are overall going to account for more overall numbers of victims than a smaller group that are more likely to have an accident.
To make that claim you need to know how many people are in each bracket and find the percentage chance for each individual group rather piling them all together. Your comparing oranges to apples.
Whoa there a second Monkey my son!
How do we know that there are more people in the 4+ year bracket?
Who is to say that with the recent uptake in kiting (for which there are any number of whining posts on this forum) that any of the pre 4 year ranges contain the majority of kiters currently on the water??
OK this kind of backs up your argument for more detailed stats.........damn 
I had a little incident yesterday when, like Moses on a Kiteboard, the sea parted in front of me to reveal a sand bank! After the obligatory total wipe out (including double pike and triple salko) I emerged spitting sand to find a nice gash right through to the flesh on my leg. The only real negative of this is that I am out now till it heals.
Bugg*r 
Statistics like this are a load of w ank (join the spaces). Who gives a s hit anyway. I'd prefer to die on the water than on a bowling green anyway.
kiteboarding is dangerous, i think we should all sit at home surrounded by australian safety standards cotton wool for eternity. only then will we not die...
what's the fuss about anyway? we all know you can die doing it, hell i've even gone to myself: o **** well that was fun while it lasted... but im lucky the tree died instead and im back at the same spot only with a bigger downwind buffer
) instead, or as chriskay suggested, we could all learn from what went wrong for those poor deceased or badly injured kiters and perhaps avoid becoming a statistic ourselves.
I think mrrt is getting his stats from the same place people who have "only used their kite five times" do.
That said, i have been kiting since 1956 and i am still **** and now i am also old.
you can die kitesurfing? thats news to me...
HOW CAN WE MAKE THE NUMBER HIGHER!! this is a brilliant way of uncrowding the spots
but seriously, i dont think anyone wants to hear it mrrt [?amuart gnimmar latcer evissam] cus we do what we want to do and will keep doing it, far more fun than street racing [although thats something ive never done...]
also who is this ricki? and why do you take his word as truth?
People die doing lots of stuff and too many stats fills your head with ####. Focus on the stats and you'll forget about the reason why do something in the first place.
Mate,you went back to windsurfing,so leave it at that.
If you are scared ,then don't kite !
We all know Rick's obsession with accidents. We are all aware of the dangers.We choose to take the risk.
Leave us alone and go on a crusade about something that matters ,like the number of small children run over by their parents car in their own driveway !
The stastistics will shock you !
Then check the drownings of toddlers in backyard swimming pools.
Once again,an unacceptable number.
Hey,they really gave it to me over there in windsurfer Forum land !
"Invading their private little space"
Hahahahahah !
It's cool.
well i have a question, since im thinking about starting kitesurfing next summer... if youre a real woose on a kite and arent trying anything fancy, is it still just as possible for something crazy to happen to you? i get it that it has alot to do with how experienced you are and how well you understand your gear, how to use it, and the conditions... but how often does it happen that a good kiter just gets messed up? cos to be honest im sh!t scared of kiting, the power of the wind intimidates me and since i nearly drowned as a kid im scared of deep ocean water... yeah kiting is REALLY the sport for me :P but im aiming to overcome those fears lol but im planning on getting lessons (at least 3 2 hour sessions) cos i really dont wanna screw around with the power of those things... but just curious how much of this danger is outta my hands?!
seriously though, you will be fine if you have a good instructor an dont try any fancy tricks in shallow water
)
Death , its final, my hat is off to anyone that lives by the moto you only live once,
but where do you draw the line with statistics, I would rather be alive than dead but I would rather be able to walk (neck or back injury) , think and talk (brain damage through almost drowning , getting whacked in the head by the board or landing on a beach from teabaging) , there are plenty more life altering accidents (eye injuries for example) that can happen while kitesurfing, and many of these instances is not about how long kitesurfing for but also the natural inherent risk factor sometimes we have no control over.
Controlled risk is fun hence why most people kite, but the more progressive an individual gets with kiteboarding the more our controlled risk boundaries get extended to the point of coming close to the natural inherent risk. Hence why more experienced kiters who should have the best control and be least likely to be injured go out in conditions that have a higher inherent risk of injury and perform higher controlled risk behavior, sometimes they cross over and thats when they come undone.
Newbie’s will always be represented in the list of accidents, obviously because they have a lower controlled risk than intermediates , and also they may even have a higher inherent natural risk mainly due to ignorance of those risks.
Go out and kite its fun!
Hi Mrrt
All I can say is it is a shame that a scare would put you out of the sport. But it happens.
In some cases the longer you kite, the further away from the basics you can get. New gear would be helpful, depower, wind range, safety improvements etc all make kiting safer.
There is no substitute for the basics though like:
Checking the conditions, off shore, on shore, high wind, gusty etc.
Your kiting area, is there something down wind that you will hit if things go wrong.
Regular testing of your safety gear so that when you go to use it, it wont fail.
Wind effect, is there a clift or trees near by causing updraft and un expected wind conditions.
I hope you can get back into it. It would be quite amazing if you can go out windsurfing in 25 knots plus, but not get your confidence back to go out kiting in 15 knots. You can always work you way back up to the big winds. Hopefully you have not already made up your mind. There are risks with everything, it is up to us to manage the risk.
Cu Fiona
Well base jumping is considered the worlds most dangerous sport by alot of people with deaths estimated at 5 - 15 a year.
so if kitesurfing is looking at pretty much the same figures, then technically it should be right up there as one of the most dangerous sports in the world.
Yes kitesurfing is dangerous, but we all do it for a reason, it puts a smile on our face.
****** LOL... this thread has just cracked me up. Yes we are all going to die.
“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else."
mrrt, just because you flew a kite with a bogus safety release system thats no excuse to quit.
I can see the more advanced riders getting into the statistics simply because they are pulling bigger tricks and taking bigger risks. Unfortunately no matter how good you are there are always uncontrollable variables out there that will eventually mess you up... hidden shallow or exposed reefs, gear failure at high altitude, a wind shear at a dangerous surf bank, over confidence in your bodies ability to land something that you really should bail on, freak waves on landing ect... Its like a motorbike. You can ride in your limitations or you can fang it and ride like a maniac.
I see those with a total disregard to safety or the fragilness of life as people who have never had a serious accident. Once you have nearly being killed or suffered the long rehab of a serious accident you will forever understand how easy it is to fckup and die and respect yourself by doing everything you can to not let it happen again.
Select to expand quotemrrt said...
Experience
4 or more years = 42%
3 years = 23 %
2 years = 15%
up to 1 year = 17%
and the other 3% died just thinking about it.
Spacechimp is right. The figures are all gobbledegook for lots of reasons. To be accurate, with so many changing variables, you would have to quantify the figures annually with consideration for age of gear used etc etd etc as well.
But such a small sample makes any analysis meaningless anyhow - especially when there is a large 'accidental' factor involved.
eg Incident A would have killed anyone with a kite up regardless of experience. Incident B which killed the newby wouldnt have even been a blimp to avoid by the hot shot. And incident C which killed the hot shot couldnt even happen to the newby cause you would have to be a hot shot to even be there. 
But mrrrt is right too in that stats do show that experienced kiters shouldnt think they are invincible - as many do. So good advice.
Point really is that - wherever your're at - if you push the boundaries to the limit you risk death.
Newbys HAVE TO push those boundaries because thats what you have to do to learn.
Once you are proficient then you get to choose how far you push it.
Regardless of any figures the kiter least likely to die is the experienced rider, on good gear, who doesnt get TOO reckless.
