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Old 08-07-2004, 09:15 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2004
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Default PRO RIDER LOFTED!

Shannon Best went out off Delray Beach, FL, USA on Wedesday, June 9, 2004 at 5 pm in light 11 kts., side onshore, conditions with a Best Nemesis 18 m LEI kite with a chicken loop bar and leash. He was just powered up at 194 lbs. He didn't see any threatening clouds at time of launch.


A view to the NE from about 7 miles to the south towards the area of and around the time of the lofting. Clouds are present but don't look particularly threatening in this livecam photo.
From: http://www.video-monitoring.com/boca/default.htm


Rain clouds moving to the NW on color weather radar.

He had noticed a slight buildup in wind speed but assumed it would last for about five minutes and drop off. At this point he was the only rider left on the water although there were about ten to fifteen guys onshore in the launch area. Eyewitnesses on shore saw a cloud with a rain line approaching fast from the SE.


Above two images from: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/

At around 5:30 pm, a squall or storm came in fast and heavy from the Southeast, suddenly increasing wind up to around 30 kts. plus as he was riding north, looking away from the squall. The duration of the squall was about ten minutes.


The wind record for the squall at around 5:30 pm at a location about 7 miles to the South.
From: http://www.video-monitoring.com/boca/default.htm

Shannon was about 750 ft. offshore when the wind built up. He was immediately dragged downwind, so he boosted a couple of “whopping big” jumps approaching 10 second hang times and about a 300 ft. glide distance to try to dissapate the kite load.

By then he realized that he couldn't tack back to the launch area and he wanted to avoid swim areas. So he came into an uncrowded section of the beach where he thought it would be safe to land. Given the late hour, most people had already left the beach. The squall gusts were still building as he was being dragged on his feet over the sand. So he decided to just unhook in case it picked up any more so he could release the kite. As he pulled down the bar to unhook standing by the edge of the water, he was lofted off the ground into the air. The next thing he knew he was about 30 ft. off the ground and about 80 ft. downwind flying to the NW on a diagonal up the beach and towards a line of wooden beach lounge chairs.



Shannon estimated his speed over ground to be about 20 mph. At this point he decided to drop his control bar and free fall to the sand beach before he came any closer to the trees bordering the beach to the west. He fell to the sand about 35 ft. short of a large wooden lifeguard stand while his kite draped over some trees beyond stand. He had traveled over an approximate 100 ft. lateral distance from lofting to free fall to earth.


Full size: http://gallery.kiteforum.com/albums/...ng_Diagram.jpg
An annotated photograph of the lofting scene taken several days AFTER the incident.

He then just sat on the ground and waited for his friends to run up while he did a body check. He impacted one leg, bruising it heavily. Fortunately, X-Rays didn't show any fractures to be present.
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