Kiter Death

[Danimal8199]

Has anyone seen this: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/kiteboarding-crash-victim-named-3986423

[ricki]

I had seen some earlier accounts. He was a kitersurfer but was apparently landboarding at the time he was lofted. It must have been a powerful storm as he was lofted a good distance over land and into some trees.

More at: http://www.kiteforum.co.nz/kiteforum/1-kite-surfing-zone/25982-nelson-kite-death-2412

and http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/4496514/Review-after-kiteboarder-death

All too often efforts to Emergency Depower the kite in a high wind emergency are unsuccessful. You can be flying at high speed very fast and by the time you have a clue what is going on and what to try to do about it you may well have impacted. The best approach is to avoid the high wind emergency in the first place. This was true ten years ago before dozens of others had been lost in similar conditions, despite improvements in technology, it is still true.