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Old 05-30-2012, 06:54 AM
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ricki ricki is offline
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Default Kiters Rescue Swimmers!



"SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, SC (WCSC)- When the wind is howling and the waves are breaking, kiteboarders storm station 28 1/2 on Sullivan's Island. On Memorial Day, the conditions were perfect but instead of catching air a group of local kiteboarders were saving lives.

"It was nuts," said Erik Spencer, owner of Windymoose kiteboarding supplies. "It was like zero to sixty in no time." Spencer and another local kiteboarder Chris Bible watched from the beach as their friend James Hodge was gliding through the water.

"Hodge was kiting by and it looked like a woman grabbed him," said Spencer, who became alarmed. "It immediately looked like it was trouble." 20 yards out there was trouble. Spencer says a woman could barely keep her head above water and was floundering trying to swim back to shore. In the water, Hodge had to turn his kite around to get back to the swimmer."


More including video and additional still shots at: http://sullivansiop.live5news.com/



Thanks to Robertr for passing this story along. Looking at ikitesurf for the area, looks like winds were easterly, 20 mph and dropping through the day. The 0 to 60 comment dealt with the events not the weather I think. Way to go guys. I can recall Dan with Olinah also in SC telling me stories of similar rescues further offshore on the sand bars around the cuts. It is easy to walk out to the bar and then have trouble getting back plus issues with rips. There can be few to no lifeguards so it can fall to others in the area to help out. Kiters and SUP's can be good to have around when you need a hand.
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Last edited by ricki; 05-30-2012 at 08:04 AM.
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