[ricki]

Stein considers himself to be fortunate to have avoided drowning or worse bodily trauma by following some simple routine practices for kiteboarding. He cites the following as contributing to a less severe outcome in this accident:

1. He was wearing a good impact vest and feels this was responsible for saving him from some severe broken ribs, other internal complications and potentially drowning after being disabled by the impact.

2. He was wearing a helmet and credits this with potentially sparing himself a perforated ear drum.

3. He was riding in sideshore winds, no closer than 300 ft. from shore. He was dragged for a distance at speed and if he had thrown this trick closer to shore he might have been dragged over land at high speed.

4. He wasn’t kiteboarding alone and had a wave runner on standby to assist with his recovery to shore.

Stein feels that if he failed to do any one of these things he could have been more severely injured. Stein isn’t your average rider. He rides at a high level of competency and throws down some demanding tricks. Still, he takes the trouble to look out for number one despite shredding hard because he realizes that things can go wrong in kiteboarding?!

He wears an impact vest, helmet, checks the weather, uses distance, rides with friends and in general does the simple things that can improve the odds if things don't go quite to plan. Who would have thought that in the seconds before landing he would have been wacked by a strong gust? Lots of riders don’t bother with these simple precautions and ride as if nothing will ever go wrong. Sometimes they are right but not always as accidents have proven. Know your sport, take reasonable precautions and ride hard or set yourself up for an avoidable hammering one of these days. More choices ...