kite-surfing accident off of the Dunedin Causeway

[Roadancer]

PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Pinellas County sheriff deputies and Pinellas County EMS responded to a kite-surfing accident off of the Dunedin Causeway shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday.

Christopher Bryan Kenny, 16, suffered serious burns when he was pulled into power lines on the north side of the Dunedin Causeway by a strong gust of wind.

He was transported to St. Josephs hospital with life-threatening injuries.

FYI....

[rigger]

I hope the best for Christopher. We almost had a couple incidents at the SW. Everyone were on 13- 16m when that gust front came through. Needless to say the guy on the 16 got worked pretty good, but he is ok. He had a hundred + yards between him and the shore. The only one that didn’t get blown off the water was the guy on the 13 Ozone.

Need to watch those bursts. It gives somewhat obvious signs before it moves in. That’s what, the second time that’s happened this month? Serious injuries both times.

It's like the 8th time! It's been happening almost every day, except for the last couple days.

I think it's probably the 4th or 5th time everyone was taken by surprise. Fortunately I heard there were a couple guys out there warning everyone not to launch... Randy and um I can't remember the other guy's name?

GOOD JOB GUYS for giving everyone the heads up on the beach.

Definitely huge props to guys at the SW and Lassing today. I heard a bunch of great stuff.

I still can't believe the 16m Waroo rider (we both know who, Jeff) is launching/riding big kites in that situation.
He has been talked to at least 5 times by me and others and knows better.
Not only is he risking his own life, he is risking the lives of those driving vehicles on the highway. It's inexcusable given he facts he has to work with (seeing it spike in a heartbeat 3 times now in the same scenario).
Doing it (rigging before spike) at EB or Lassing is not a great idea, and you are definitely risking serious injury, but at least out there we don't jeopardize cars in the interstate. That just ups the stakes at the SW, in my opinion.

I am terribly sorry to hear about the incident with Christopher. He was a new rider and probably didn't have a clue about the wind scenarios we have or understand the true nature of the wind. He just wanted to practice and learn to ride.

That's why at places like the SW, we need to approach riders when we see this scenario playing out. I heard that several riders did talk to others today at the SW and Lassing before it happened convincing several to come in, or not go out. Major props to you guys!

I feel bad for Christopher, but it's getting frustrating hearing this same story, when it can be avoided. Most of our riders would hop off the water if they saw a huge shark, especially if the same one was on "schedule" and it was attacking our riders. Yet, some continue to ride when a "real" threat is on it's way, visibly evident, and has a history (on the wind archives). Unless I have bad information (I don't think I do), we have had 5 kites "get away" and two reach the road in the last 4 weeks. All of these incidents occured on an east wind spike.

Several people are currently educating others about this wind spike on scene at the SW, Lassing at EB. That's truly awesome. Let's all (cuz not all our on this forum) make a point late tomorrow afternoon and Monday night to point out the spike and explain it to others as it happens. (Clouds coming, blue sky behind them, Port of Tampa just spiked, white caps out in channel... five minutes til it's showtime).

The more educated the local crew (more than half have ridden less than a season) know about the weather, the better. Also, we really need to kill this myth of being able to depower a 16m Bow kite 100%, it's a flat out lie.

[Erick]

First, I'm sorry to hear about Christopher and I hope for a speedy recovery, on another note...

Big props to Billy P. at EB when swell came there were 3 or 5 lessons when it gusted to 40 something MPH. One newbie ditched her kite, after that Billy just got out of his RV and borrowed Oliver's kite and retrieve it. He came back with the kite and then helped other riders retrieving their boards.

That was very cool!

No injuries at EB as farest I'm concern.

[kite-4-life]

Rock and Roll all night