2. Avoiding Suicidal Behavior - Safety Tip Of The Week

[ricki]

If you have students out in an avoidable storm in a class and someone suffers a serious injury as a result. It is likely just a "freak accident," right?*

- Was the hazard fairly obvious and avoidable?
- Did you disregard the hazard and possible consequences?
- Did you use "due care" to warn your students and try to avoid the evident hazard?

It is possible that civil and maybe even criminal charges could follow.

Look at what the boat Captain is going through in Pompano after the para sailing accident in the squall. He was facing criminal charges and a civil lawsuit. Add to that what he will likely be thinking about for much of the rest of his life.

If you don't teach, you don't have to worry about any of these serious consequences in ignoring storms, right? Wrong.

The hazard is obvious as are the possible range of consequences. Some call us "dopes on ropes." If all riders, not just instructors use common sense and courtesy it should be easy avoid that handle and a lot of possible problems. Think about it.



* In kiting "freak accidents" are fairly uncommon. Most are predictable and avoidable with reasonable due care.

[The Kite House]

Once you take someone under instruction you then assume responsibility for there conditions and safety if under contract or money. So you have people out in crazy stuff, you can get them hurt and be in alot of trouble, states in insurance guidelines that you have to stop instruction if hazardous weather is in the area........oh yeah in case you think your smart , they just look at radar.

The Meso High section i put up is a very unique condtion that happens in the keys, i know so after 16 years of trial and error. Most people dont know there area, i work with the local NOAA office to understand more of whats going on, so i can push the envelope, but hey, i dont want to kill myself. Most people i see that get into a situation dont have a:

plan if something goes wrong
never even pulled the safety[under a load, not 10mph]
never self rescued
value the kite more than them selves
still think its ok to ride when the bar is giving them static zaps
have no real idea about the weather and could identify a thunderhead from a stratus

more knowledge less, risk......but there will always be risk, lets not kid our selfs, the more you push the envelope the more it pushes back!

p.s. dont be afraid to tell the other guy, man this is not a good looking front coming in, better not go out...if we speak up more, maybe we can has less problems......even the instructors need to be told this from what i have seen.

Thanks Paul.
Having a top instructor emphasize these ideas helps tremendously.

[kiwiar2000]

scary stuff
yesturday was a good example of not to ride out

[ricki]

Originally Posted by pudge

I once spent a gusty day on the beach watching kiteboarders getting yarded, and I began trying to conceptualize the psyche of the rider that willingly goes out in conditions that are catastrophic.
I started to think about cigarette smokers who are heavily addicted, but can only rarely get a cigarette. It helped someone like me visualize the "take as much as you can, when you can" attitude that most kiteboarders emplore. I broke it down like this:

Addiction creates cravings, cravings create uncertainty, uncertainty creates obsession, obsession creates overconsumption, overconsumption ultimately creates death

I hope your all enlightened, and if not, please ignore my rant :mrgreen:

Good points Brenden.

I think guys that ride in squalls may fall into three areas. The first and apparently most common is comprised of people that really aren't aware of just how dangerous these storms can be. I encounter this fairly often.

The second involves riders who may be more aware of the hazard but blow off the risk denying that harm will ever come to them, because ... not sure why. It is a numbers game, lots of people can do ill advised things and only a percentage will get spanked or worse, killed.

The last involves riders who should know the hazard, may have been injured already in excessively gusty weather, who try to use technique as a counter. Compared to the first group, they are way ahead, as well as compared to the second group too. Then again, gear fails, particularly under peak loading such as in storms. If your timing is off, or if the storm misses some key cue, then what? Also, just how much can you do if a 60 kt. plus gust is served up say from 20 kts.?

When, it comes to squalls, BIG holes or areas of clear air beyond the disturbance are worth looking for. Once the storm and poor conditions start to move in, the smart money packs it in, early. Just like golfing in a lightning storm, you won't necessarily be struck, the odds just go way up. Heavy weather's moving in, anyone for the links?

[ricki]

Tom Leeman supplied some nice shots of some inbound squalls last Saturday afternoon. I had an incredible session that morning and had called it a day when the first small squall started to move in. Squalls seemed to head through a frequent intervals for the rest of the afternoon judging from torrential downpours a bit south in Boca Raton.


I stitched three of Tom's shots into this dramatic panorama

Tom Leeman shot the rest of these as well.







As a rule, in recent times, I've noticed the guys in Delray usually come in before squalls are on them. It is hard to judge distance in these shots but it seems likely the squall was close enough for a nasty gust front to slash out and of course they're are well within lightning range. Not sure what happened this day but no one was hurt or lost their boards that I heard about. I know after one of the early squalls the wind died off for about 1/2 hour in the post-storm.

Once again, squalls may ...

- have no significant impact on the wind
- may change the direction (like offshore) and/or drop off to almost nothing
- may explode with gusts into 40, 50, 60 mph and more with NO time for proper reaction

and you never really know which of the above will happen in advance.

Lots of guys have been killed and maimed worldwide over the years. Use your head to try avoid pain or use it as a projectile. Squalls don't care what you do, they just act.