Lucky to be alive...kitemare gone really bad.

[toby wilson]

Yep, that was right after the accident, I recovered Bill's board, then went downwind to see how badly he was hurt because I could get back upwind with my kite much faster than anyone on land to let someone know if he was critically injured to call an ambulance. Thank god that was not the case.

Bill, I don't think that there is ANY rider in this community that could have handled the situation any better than you did yesterday (including Billy Parker). You ARE a kook though. Just kidding! Your experience paid off, you stayed calm, tried multiple times to release yourself from the kite and luckily were not too close to shore when it happened so you had a few seconds to think although you were being drug under so I am sure that thinking was out the window and your instinct just kicked in.

ANYONE who wants to put this on something that Bill did or did not do is just foolish and pulling the blinders over their eyes. ***t happens out there, you cannot predict when, where, or how it will happen. I have had my share of kitemares over the past 3 years, I have been lucky that they were not as bad as Bill's, Tom's, Bayflite's Josh's or Christopher's. Gear gets old and you don't notice, heck sometimes BRAND NEW equipment fails.

Props to Bill for doing what he could yesterday in the little bit of time that he had to make descisions, in my opinion he is a great example of what our area riders are all about.