bad times at SW. almost horrific.

[bryanleighty]

again, i am not pointing fingers and did not see who was on the beach and who was not. i know who was riding when it happened and i know that i passed a couple people (really have no recollection of who as i was not paying attention) as i raced to my car.

really i am not singling anyone out.. not at all. i just want to say that i hope people that can help, will. that is all.

[robertovillate]

Originally Posted by bryanleighty

i'd rather not risk getting a finger tangled...

with the one line disconnected there was no controlling the kite. i know that the OS handles are supposed to be fingers friendly but I'd rather lose 10 kites than 1 part of my hand.

BL - Wow, glad you are OK. That is a situation I've often imagined at that spot and I've steered my students away from these spots with this in mind. And yes, someone should have helped you out...but then again sometimes there's nobody there who can help.

This type of situation is precisely why I carry 2 leashes - so I can transfer one to the O-shit without being completely leashless and disconnected / or having to rely on my fingers to hold the OSH - very risky. I typically ride with both attached to the centerline most of the time...If I am going far offshore cruising and not doing tricks I hook one to the OSH in case my centerline or something else breaks unexpectedly. I've even used the extra leash as a tow line for another kiter.

Not to sound redundant but launching/landing/and anything else close to shore is where we are most vulnerable. Even an experienced rider can have it handed to him/her...things can happen so fast.

PS...can you post a photo of the bar so other 06 Waroo bar owners can see what happened?

[bryanleighty]

good idea Roberto..

could have been SO much worse..

could have been jumping.. could have been way upwind where i had been only 5 minutes prior.. could have been a few hundred yards from the bridge where i had been only 3 minutes prior.. could have been while i was launching.. could have been when i was riding at the beach last weekend..could have been when Dan and I were riding with this bar at backside skyway a couple weeks ago in 30+ wind.

could have been so much worse in pretty much any scenario ... i think i got off light.

and really.. about my comments for no one helping.. i did race to my car and speed off like a bat outta hell.. (thinking i wouild have to do a freeway kite recovery).. so i know that it was impossible for anyone to see where i went.

as a whole...i dont think people *have* to help... i just hope that everyone would always *want* to help.

i know i have gone WAY out of my way to help a downed rider or two.. and often do board retrevials to help a fellow rider out as much as possible. I just hope everyone else would do the same for me ...

I guess after a really good scare my emotions were a bit outta whack so i got a little pissy. hehehe..

[bryanleighty]

Originally Posted by robertovillate

PS...can you post a photo of the bar so other 06 Waroo bar owners can see what happened?

will do!

going to brave the mangroves tomorrow afternoon to try to get it back. it up about 20 feet..

i have a retractable hook pole on my sailboat.

[Lori]

Bryan I am glad you are OK.

That freeked me out enough not to put up my kite this morning and go to work!

I have to admit I froze when seeing the kite hit the water for nanoseconds and then relaunch, then think you were OK cuz kite was in air (did not know your bar was broken) and then do kiteloops and crash and repeat. How do you even go and grap someones kite without making the situation worse. As you said approaching from the downwind side is probably the way to go but still hard to judge where it is going to land to grap before it relaunches without you being on the wrong side of that. So it was not an easy can you catch my kite situation. But next time I would run downwind and try to grap it. I barely was able to grap Rauls kite on the sand before it relauched and it was not looping that is how windy it was.


I was actually more concerned for the cars on the skyway then the kite as I am sure you where at first as well as the kite appeared to go over the first set of trees. But I saw no change in trafick flow so figure it had been caught somewhere you were OK and no accidents on the bridge so I thought it was a very good ending. But if you ever need help getting a kite down just ask for help unfortuntely today it was not clear how to help you out there today so I think everybody was a bit frozen with the looping kite going over the trees.

[toby wilson]

Lori - no need to come on here and say that, you probably couldn't have done much in the situation. My comments (and Bryan's I'm sure) were NOT aimed at you. I want to make that clear.

My frustration lies when I see this happen on a crowded day with 35 people on the beach standing around watching someone get dragged repeatedly and then I hear someone mutter "let them learn a lesson". Enough people die or get seriously injured in this sport every year, all I am saying (and doing my best not to offend anyone in the process) is to watch out for your fellow kiters like you would appreciate being looked after in an emergency situation.

Originally Posted by bryanleighty

I guess after a really good scare my emotions were a bit outta whack so i got a little pissy. hehehe..

I've done the same thing. Glad to hear you did not sustain a major injury.

That is the interesting thing about gear failure in heavy wind--even if the gear is new and has a lot of safety features, if something breaks in heavy wind, the odds are that the shit will hit the fan.

Bryan, you've been kiting for a few years now, but it sounds like you traveled back in time with an old school kitemare. Welcome to the year 2000 or 2001. This is how it used to feel to kite back then, except this kind of crap happened much more often during those medieval times, even when the damn gear didn't break.

Originally Posted by toby wilson

they'll just learn a lesson" attitude was the reason Roy's old Turbo Diesel got a tear across the whole leading edge from the rocks downwind toward the bridge at the SW when he was a newbie.

Sounds like he learned a lesson to me ! Like don't ride down wind near the rocks unless you are prepared for the consequences?

How many times are we going to see the same people stuck across the channel or walking from the rocks 100 feet from the road.

Regardless, yeah I'd have helped you Bryan... I drove by and saw you guys boosting. Sounds like you now know what the o-sh$t handles are for. Glad you are ok.

[Erick]

Originally Posted by BigR

That is Ridiculous Toby! Like I said B4, there was no one at the beach basically. You weren't there and didn't see where or how it happened or
where it went into the mangroves. hint, not close to the rigging area.

And even if there was, HOW can you help when the person you were going to help runs into their car and drives off at full speed? what do you do then? get on your magic carpet and follow ? to where? Wouldn't he have waited for someone, to jump in the car with him if he wanted help?

By the time Shane and I came in ( which was quick ) he had already driven back with kite

Toby's point is that if you are able to help then be proactive, if you don’t feel you can accomplish a rescue then is better to stay away. However, I have seen many cases were riders are just simple spectators.

Originally Posted by toby wilson

they'll just learn a lesson" attitude was the reason Roy's old Turbo Diesel got a tear across the whole leading edge from the rocks downwind toward the bridge at the SW when he was a newbie.

Sounds like he learned a lesson to me ! Like don't ride down wind near the rocks unless you are prepared for the consequences. Ultimately we are all on our own which is why we learn self rescue techniques. However, I agree that we should all make an attempt to help if possible.... providing it's not an unreasonable waste of time (like the same person getting stranded repeatedly which has been happening a lot lately).

Ok back to Bryan:

Scary dude, yeah I'd have helped you no problem.... I drove by and saw you guys boosting. Sounds like you now know what the o-sh$t handles are for! BTW, I think the name "o-sh%t handles" doesn't come from when you need them, but from when you grab one and forget to release the velcro first!!! Instant kite loop, no more finger. Glad you are ok.