Close Call

[Whitey]

This happened yesterday evening. Four of us were riding late in the afternoon on the other side of the pass at Honeymoon. Waves were very big winds in the high 20's. Felt like the temperature was also. During my session riding a strapless surfboard I had several wrecks, in one I lost my prescription goggles. I came in (the sun was going down quick) to end my day. There was a lone kiter who I did not know, rigging on the beach. As my blind ass tried to land my kite to him I missed him several times. Once he landed my kite I explained to him that I could not see him without my glasses. He ask for a launch and I sent him on his way, with less than an hour of daylight left.

I tore down my kit and took it to my car, put on my clear glasses, came back down to the beach to land my buddies. I did my usual kite count to check on everyone, and came up one short, the kite I had just launched was not in the air. I scanned the area and could not see it anywhere. I went over to a bench to get some elevation and saw the kiter in the water with his deflated kite waving his arms franticly.

First reaction was to paddle out on my surfboard to assist, quickly realizing that I would not be able to make it out and back, I considered re-rigging to go out to him. As I watched him getting sucked out of the pass at an alarming rate I decided it would be better to keep an eye on him while trying to get the attention of my three buddies on the other side of the pass playing in the wave and jumping to the moon. Finally I got Doug's attention with my arms crossed over my head. Being an accomplished waterman, Doug recognized this signal and made a bee line to me. Steve saw this happening and came in also.

We could no longer see the man in the water, I showed Doug the line I had last seen him on and off they went into the dusk. They found him on the other-side of the pass in the pounding surf on the outside sand bar. Doug returned with his board and Steve towed him and his deflated kite in, getting him back to shore around 6:00 PM.

Upon return he said he crashed his kite it instantly deflated and he was getting sucked out to sea despite strong onshore winds and large surf coming onshore . He said his first thought was "Shit there is only one guy on the beach and he can't see.

I post this to help serve as a reminder not to kite alone. He should have left his kite and swam towards shore in this situation. Once safely on shore you can get someone to go out and try to recover your gear. His deflated kite was acting as a sea anchor allowing the strong outgoing tide to over power the wind and surf pulling him out to sea. He did not have his struts pinched off so he lost all the air in the kite, take the time to always isolate the struts on your kite. Be aware of your surroundings, take the time to check on folks on the water.

Great job of getting him back alive Steve and Doug, the event has a happy ending because of your advanced riding skills and instant willingness to help a fellow kiter. Without your help this could have been a very very sad event.