Beautiful day and great winds

[RushMarkRush]

Today it was blowing 15-25 NNW all day......blue skys and Shell Island was going off. We took Woz's Panga to the island with a boat full of riders....Alias of Hatteras Fame is in town for a couple of weeks throwing down with us.....kite loops and much more......the new Waroo's are taking over.........great kites...great bar.
Today at Carl Grey park, an advanced launch site by the Hathaway Bridge, a rider lost his kite across highway 98. It stopped traffic for a while but there were no accidents. The kite was ripped in half by the drive shaft of a large truck and the rider escaped with line cuts on his hand.
It was not a matter of if it was going to happen......just when at this launch spot. There is ten feet of beach, palm trees, asphalt parking lot, power lines, rocks, bridge and the four lanes of highway 98.
Another rider was out there tonight riding into the darkness as night fell. It makes me love Shell Island on any North wind!
When in doubt, don't go out.

[LarryCouch]

I was out there (Carl Grey) till about 10 am and it was nice ... super flat, shallow, and the wind was pretty steady. I was on my 13 Instinct with the new centerline leash setup - great to have when you're by yourself.

I found a kite leash with buckle on one end, loop on the other. Call me if you think it's yours. It was in the muck up by the northern part of the park.

I heard about this incident from one of the local windsurfers. He was there putting on his wetsuit when it transpired. He said the kite crashed on the beach, but he didn't notice anything unusual (remember, he's NOT a kiter). Said the guy was out "doing some jumps" etc. prior. Had his back turned and when he looked back around the kite was making a bee line to hwy 98. He ran after it but was too late. Said he felt bad that he wasn't watching the whole time.

I launched up at the northern part of the park and it was great. Side shore, and because it was shallow, I was able to launch out away from the shoreline and avoid urgency. With that said, accidents happen. Be ready to take on ANY situation. Looking forward to hearing the actual account of this misadventure.

[RushMarkRush]

Not many riders would like to step forward and tell the tale of their kite going into full on four lane traffic. Accidents happen; especially in a tight launch spot when riding by your self. Things like this are why launches get closed to kiting? What could have been done to avoid this?
As always, it could have been worse....the instructor this happened to could have gone with the kite!

[WindRyder]

We have to remember that this is an extreme sport, and with that comes serious risks. Of course, the location at Carl Grey imposes more risks than other locations, but this could have happened to anybody.. whether they were jumping or not. A line breaking, or the lines getting wrapped liked they did with Lars are all probable mishaps. Instead of standing back and saying, "What a careless mistake, that guy should have been more careful...." we need to pull together and emphasize the importance of NOT kiting alone, no matter how experienced we are. Anything could happen to anybody at any time! I would hope that if anything happened to me when I was out, people wouldn't stand and say, "What the hell was she thinking," instead of helping. Crazy things happen to kiters all the time, just read the forums in other areas of the state/country. Fortunately our group is still relatively small compared to other areas. That is why we are experiencing less accidents. Think about it. Linda

[RushMarkRush]

"What the hell was she thinking," instead of helping.

There is virtually nothing you can do to help someone in this situation unless you are standing on the beach and act fast and know exactly what to do. When you are flying a kite, YOU are the only one in control of it. You are right, as this can happen to anyone........but, not jumping close to shore and wearing a kite leash work too.
We have had a lot of calls as to exactly what happened and what went wrong. There was only one eye witness account from the park by an experienced windsurfer.
No one is placing any blame here, but it shows us what can happen and makes us all think of how to avoid a situation like this. No cars crashing or anyone getting hurt makes it a lesson learned, with no penalties.
Let's face it, this guy is one of the best riders around here.

[rhowe]

Lots of good thoughts here - maybe a good wake-up call for all of us. Bound to happen sometime as we all have said. Glad it was not worse. I'm sure this incident won't be the last. Lets all do what it takes to not have any more incidents, and any talk about the "b"word.

[ricki]

Originally Posted by RushMarkRush

"What the hell was she thinking," instead of helping.

There is virtually nothing you can do to help someone in this situation unless you are standing on the beach and act fast and know exactly what to do. When you are flying a kite, YOU are the only one in control of it. You are right, as this can happen to anyone........but, not jumping close to shore and wearing a kite leash work too.
We have had a lot of calls as to exactly what happened and what went wrong. There was only one eye witness account from the park by an experienced windsurfer.
No one is placing any blame here, but it shows us what can happen and makes us all think of how to avoid a situation like this. No cars crashing or anyone getting hurt makes it a lesson learned, with no penalties.
Let's face it, this guy is one of the best riders around here.

This sounds similar to what happened at Hobie Beach in Miami too many times in past years before leashes became popular and essential gear for kiters. Hobie was chosen for SW, onshore winds often enough. Due to nearby land effects and common frontal squalls the wind is frequently gusty to very gusty.

Kites would go out of control and without a leash blast across the 5 to 10 ft. beach, narrow parking lot and into the four land road. A few times they hung up on traffic lights. Fortunately no windshields were ever covered up in the process. A number of folks were also lofted ashore suffering varying degrees of injury, sometimes quite serious. Most were jumping or riding too close to shore instead of outside 100 yards from shore outside the buoyed swim area.

Just because you have a kite leash doesn't mean it won't pull away from the rider or even break. Some kite leash designs are prone to this during release under moderate to high winds. It would be good to try to address this before it happens.

For years some have said we should voluntarily stop riding at Hobie to avoid more accidents and incidents. Unfortunately, there are tons of riders in Miami and few shoreside launches particularly those for SW winds. I suspect this is not the case where you are, you have other options. It might be worth looking into this and talking it over among yourselves.

[mmiles3305]

Stuff like this makes me hate kiting alone although i have to occasionally as I live on the East side of PC. If you guys don't mind, post where you guys think you'll be kiting the next day. Thanks, Mitch

[LarryCouch]

I agree with you, Mitch. Hate to go alone. I think I'll start posting where I'm going in the "who's riding where" section when I can. Sometimes though, I have the gear in the truck and go impromptu if it's looking good.

Larry