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There was a serious accident at Altona beach this afternoon involving a 29 year old Asian gentleman.
The kiter was lofted by his 12m kite by gusty winds up to 30 knotts.
Luckily, an Ambulance was already across the road and so was able to administer treatment within a minute or so of the accident.
I wish him and his friends (and his girlfriend who unfortunately witnessed the whole thing) all the best.
Altona is a safe place to kite with the correct precautions - PLEASE PLEASE stop flying your kite on the beach and launching close to the wall - especially on a gusty day.
posted in the correct section by someone else here:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/Accident-on-Altona-beach-few-hours-ago/
Can't pick what is more irrelevant - posting in the WS forum or mentioning the fact he was Asian......
Are asians bad kiters?
Bloke / person / tourist would have sufficed...?
If he was Asian then say it, don't be one of the sheeple scared to use normal
English words, like cobber & china.
.
Where's Altona? No comment on the accident....all I'll say is kites, accident waiting to happen!
^ After reading the entire thread - **** kiting.
"He did a loop-de-loop around power lines?!?!?! "
"Yes, he did a full 360, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "
Was once thinking about taking up kiting. Decade ago when it first started getting big. Then I heard stories of kiters losing or injuring their fingers etc. Now this,remembering what happened not long ago in Perth. This sport is seriously dangerous is the bottom line. Most of the really serious accidents that i have heard about seem to be when kiting in onshore conditions. Sure it's a great sport but all kiters need to become aware of the dangers particularly when sailing in these onshore winds. Hope and pray for a full recovery.
I hope the kiter is ok and all our best wishes goes out to him and his girlfriend - a lesson in safety there for all of us
Picking the right lauching spots is big rule number 1. I think shops that hire out or sell kites should only do so if they put the person through a course first. A powered up kite out of contol is scarey stuff for the person themselves and onlookers.
I can ashamedly say that I've smiled watching kiters get dragged through the sand, fumbling back upwind trying to retrieve their board, being lofted by a gust whilst their board is left 20m behind them etc. but hearing stories like this make me shudder.
I can't imagine the pain that episode would have inflicted and hope he recovers.
Please I need some advice from some one who can kite. Is it unnatural to pull the QR system ?
If some one finds this post offensive I will delete it.
I pray all the best for the American
2 numbers that don't go together..12m and 30Knts...seriously....
Hope he recovers sounds horrific send shivers down my spine.. read the threads in kite section, just so much wrong, and the pic..geez
Not really an 'accident' everyone knows you don't use a 12m in 30knts, or 25 in fact you don't even need 12m in 20, onshore winds power lines, no beach area or lack of..it gets worse.
Every time I ready a story like this its the same set of numbers, involved. Does my head in.. Sorry must be my common sense kicking in..
As for QR safety etc.. 30knts with a 12m..getting slammed good luck getting that in micro second, bugger all chance
For the record an 11m Kite in the right hands will get an 85kg guy flying in 12knts easy...so WTF are they doing with a 12m when its 25+?
Noted that an 'experienced kiter' in Melb on same day was flying a 7M..more like it.
Seems to be a lot of BS out there that you can hang onto any size kite in any wind...maybe..to a point...and this fella found that point..you have no chance with a 12m in 25-30 if things go wrong..no chance..
About time the shops and kite industry started being realistic about kite size limits, and encourage people to use a smaller kite in stronger winds, or don't go out in stronger winds.
It's an awful story, and it should never have happened...Should be windsurfing when it hits 20k! much safer
After 13years so far of teaching kitesurfers, I can say without a shadow of doubt, that it is very much an unnatural thing to pull the QR. it is also very much, a primary thing to teach and to reinforce by the instructor, till it does become "natural".
In fact kiting involves a number of actions that are " unnatural" and require a degree of relearning and formation of new brain neurons in order for it to become natural.
Unless the instructor can incorporate this into lessons and show enough patience for it to bare fruit, I am afraid these incidents will continue.p
There is.some serious angst going on in the kiter forum regarding this terrible incident. The circumstances just reinforce why I don't kite surf. If I select a too big a sail for the wind conditions, I get back slammed or catapulted but can make it back to shore. There is a very low potential for serious injury or death.
A friend of the injured kiter posted an update on his condition - he is still in a coma with a serious head injury. My thoughts are with his family any friends and for a speedy recovery from his injuries.
As a long time windsurfer (started last century) and a part time kiter, I think that the "experienced" kiters should start to foster responsibility amongst their numbers to help minimise the risk to others entering the sport.
When you learn, there are 2 golden rules that are reinforced.
Wind: Side, Side-OnShore Winds
The key wind directions to look for when choosing a riding location are side shore and side-onshore winds. This means the wind is blowing either parallel to the beach or at a 45o angle onto the beach. These are the safest two wind directions for kiteboarding as they will blow you along or gently back towards the shore. Once you determine the wind direction for the day, look at a local map and find a launch site with these wind directions. As a general rule, do not ride in straight onshore or offshore winds. These can both be very dangerous wind directions and can blow you directly onto land and into hard objects, or out to sea.
Space: Clear, Open down Wind Space
Kiteboarding and its gear take up a lot of space. Downwind space is key when choosing a kiteboarding location, both on the beach and in the water. You don???t want to launch just upwind of a bridge or rig and launch your kite upwind of hard objects on the beach. Never launch your kite directly upwind of people. Clear, open space both on the beach and in the water is the way to go. If your launch site is tight on the beach, you can ???create??? more open space by moving out onto the water before launching your kite.
Experienced riders are flaunting these rules on a regular basis. As kites can be spotted miles away, this brings riders of all levels like bees to a honey pot. They are not going to check a location website or carefully asses the situation as others are kiting at that location, so it must be OK. As seen in the kite forum, there are some big ego's there and the "I'm so good/show off factor" is big in the sport.
I hope this guy recovers, it's going to be a long process if the reports of his injuries are correct.
I thought kites can be trimmed (have their surface area shrunk), so they have a bigger wind range then windsurfing sails?
yes they can, within reason, and 25-30k is not within reason for 12m.
When I first started kiting we kind of the first to be doing it in and we all looked out for each other, back then we didn't even have a 'chicken loop' so we fully appreciated how much power the kite generated...
These days they learn 100% from the start in the chicken loop, so they really never get the sense of the 'real power' the kite generates.. you can tell the new breed because they are the ones banging on about how big a kite they were carrying, instead of learning how to milk the power on a smaller size kite, which is what good experienced kiters do.
Once you have copped a few pastings getting dragged along beaches you might learn to respect the kite, till then you are lulled into a false sense of security by how easy it seems....till **** happens, and with kiting when it does happen it happens big.
Hope he gets through it and the kiting community takes something from it to try and avoid it happening again, this one just shouldn't have happened.
