Thank you!

[bd]

For those of you who saw my major mental malfunction at East Beach, my appologies, I know how people on this forum like to pick apart people who mess up, so I appologize. I am not new to this, its just been several months and I made a mistake. (Paying for it with huge scrapes and a possible torn PCL).

For those that assisted me, I greatly appreciate your help! I don't think I got to thank everyone who assisted me due to my delirious state, but I do appreciate your assistance. This is why I love the sport, even after a major screw up, people can be nice and are very supportive and offer great assistance. For those that chose to chastise and give me a hard time...what ever...

Special thanks to Matt, Tony and two gorgeous women (don't know their names) with out all you who knows where I would have finally stopped.

[TampaBay Noob]

Glad to hear you're alright bro. I heard something about the incident.....I was on the water when it happened so didn't see much. I DID see the turbodiesel2 on the run...I'm surprised it wasn't torn.

[bryanleighty]

bd.. what happend exactly?

and, just so you know there is a big difference between reckless behavior and accidents and mishaps..

everyone makes mistakes..

one thing about the sport is that once you are at a solid intermediate level it really is so easy to rig, ride and have fun. riding for hours and hours at a time in conditions like we have.. flat water.. light chop.. beautiful sun shining down on your back.. your mind has time to wander and you might tack in front of someone or have your kite too low or might not see that rider in your peripherial vision until you have already boosted..

its super easy to make a mistake and if you know what you are doing, you can usually get yourself out of a jam quickly and safely..

reckless behavior is a different beast.. imagine driving on a busy freeway .. there are some drivers that are a bit faster, some slower.. but everyone is doing OK until that ONE DRIVER comes cutting everyone off and is trying to get to whatever the hell destination they need to get to just one minute faster than if they would just calm the F**K down and go with the flow.

next thing you know.. everyone out on the freeway is super pissed and on a rare but unavoidable occasion you get a serious accident.

Yeah. No one is going to go out their way to hassle an honest mistake. It's repeated bonehead moves that grab rider's attention. Glad you are okay. I didn't see it either, but heard the difference between a pretty bad day and an ambulance ride was only 12 inches.
Was the EB slime involved? That shi# is ridiculously slippery and has been responsible for so many EB mishaps.

[TritonKiteboarding]

Thats slingshots bulletproof construction at its best, just dont hook suicide to the chicken loop when your trying to do handle passes, slingshot quick release is inconveniently placed.

As for the little mishap downwind, no worries, i had the craziest upwind view of it all and real stoked your all good minus the knee. I saw your leg buckle but i wonder if your bridal was wrapped around a strut because that shit looped fast and that happened to me once(ouch). when i launch a bow kite now i launch unhooked, with my leash attached to the center line oh shit, chicken loop in one hand, bar in the other(so i have primary sheeting capabilities), if the kite starts to get ripped from you, just let go and the kite sweeps downwind. Thats the safest way to launch. c-kites should be launched unhooked, secondary depower inacted, with a safety leash hooked to an oh shit or a 5th line. With this technique you may be walking your lines out again, but you wont be getting ragdolled down the beach.

sorry for loosing my kite it happens, thanks to all who grabbed it, good karma, and i'll be the first one running to help others when shit hits the fan.
-Matt Sexton
TritonKiteboarding@yahoo.com
TritonKiteboarding.com