VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Fatality in paracuru: http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2382928

He got his leg wrapped in the lines, probably after a wipeout, then kite looped and he was dragged backwards until he drowned.

Scary, because light wind conditions, freak accident. But in realm of possibility for wave sailors....surf towards the kite, slack lines, kite hindenburgs and crashes, now you're in amongst the lines, with waves....could easily go bad from there.

In the discussion, some people said the natural reaction is to try and untangle the lines, but maybe better to try and climb the lines and get kite to depower. Though question is if you could even reach the lines while being dragged. Knife does you no good if you can't reach the lines.

The other point made is that the key is to keep breathing....could you use arms as a fin to keep your head above water? And my question.....would a PFD have given that little extra flotation needed?

RIP

DS is down in Paracaru, Brazil. I asked him what he knew:

"I did hear about this terrible accident because I was windsurfing the day it happened. I never saw anything, because I am usually a little further down the line then the kiters. Less busy and less chance of traffic or collision. Also, the wind was a little light that day, so I may have been concentrating on punching and planning out thru the waves. The waves did ranged from head to Logo high. It was a average wave day with lighter winds, as I remember it. I was sailing a 5,5 Ezzy wave sail on a 85 litre fanatic all wave board. I was up on a plane 95 % of the time. It was a good day. I was having a good session, all was good.

A Polish friend, also a windsurfing, saw and watched two Kite instructors try to rescue him and revive him. Apparently, he was already gone when they got to him. The speculation, I hear was that he was an experience kiter, and maybe not so much experience in the waves. He had only been here for about 3 days and was maybe not that familiar with the sailing conditions. My friend never saw the fall, he only saw the kite Eggbeatng from a distance, and it dragging the unconscience man.

They are not sure if he knock himself unconscience or he fell forward into the lines while kiting in the waves. I believe the end result was his lines got wrapped around his legs or leg. He was dragged feet first, while his kite was kept looping or as we call it eggbeating.

When they got to the poor Fella he was already unconscience or maybe his heart had already stop beating. When they got to the beach, they tried to revive him, but it was obviously too late.
I am not sure that my information above is completely true, because, of course, I am hearing the story second hand.
It is a very unfortunate and sad for the 45 year old man's family and friends. He apparently had a group of 9 or 10 people here with him on the trip.

It is very difficult to say if this accident could have been prevented. Mainly, because I don't think anybody knows what happened that lead up to the tragic accident. Was it human failure, equipment failure. a freak wave or fall, lack of experience, or a combination??? I don't know these facts and I don't know if anybody else knows all the details. I understand he was kiting alone at the time.

A very, very sad and unfortunte situation for all involved with the man, the kiting community here and around the world."

I can speak first hand about having been hog tied by my lines and being dragged feet first down wind. It happened at comox and the first few minutes were extremely freaky. I basically jumped big, overflew my kite it hindenburged and I sank...when I came up I was completely unaware my waist and feet were through the lines and when my kite started to want to lift...well upside down I went. I truly can say I didn't really panic, don't know why fuilly, maybe kite experience, maybe not, what I did was immediatly pull my trim strap to max depower which to my surprise did lessen the pull, I then ejected, but was still hogtied. I then hit my leash eject as I was still being pulled backwards, but still hogtied but the pull on me was significantly less. I then basically pulled my legs toward me grabbed the lines and figured out which was a outside rear stearing line and pulled it to stear the kite out to the wind edge to further lessen the pull. Once there I basically pulled myself up my lines still hog tied to my kite and self rescued to the beach wayyyyyy the FQ@#%$ down in the bay. All during this experience I knew where my line knife was and was fully prepared to use it if necessary. From that experience I now always ensure my knife is at the ready and sharp, and if my kite hindenburgs I always swim backwards immediately and look UNDER the water from lines. That was my experience, maybe what I did might help someone else out down the road.

Very sad about the death, truly unfortunate

"A kite surfer got into trouble at Lawrencetown Beach on Friday afternoon, but in one way he had luck on his side.
The man was far from shore when his kite went down, said Eva Brannen, who watched the situation unfold from a truck at the top of the beach’s cliff, where she was selling Christmas trees.
The man, an experienced surfer in his 60s, was then carried several kilometres down the beach, she said.
It’s unclear what went wrong with his equipment or why he could not get the kite back up. Eventually, the man unhooked the kite from the board and let it go, said Brannen. His surfing buddy called 911.
Firefighters arrived quickly, but they weren’t ready to do an immediate water rescue. However, there happened to be a couple of people at the beach who were able to step in.
Dr. Sonya Hanson, who works in the emergency room at the Dartmouth General Hospital, was at Fancy Lucky Vintage on the second floor of a building on the cliff. She was trying on clothes when a fire truck pulled up.
Hanson is a surfer as well as a doctor. The shop’s owner, Amy Honey, realized someone was struggling in the water and asked Hanson to help.
“She said, ‘Yeah, OK, unzip me,’” said Honey. Then, from the window, “I see her run by in a wetsuit with a big paddleboard.”
Hanson went into the water with Jason Beach, the owner of Kannon Beach Wind and Surf. The two reached the man and Beach paddled him back to shore on his board.
Hanson said the man had entered the early stages of hypothermia and was having trouble using his hands. However, he was wearing a dry suit, which helped, she said.
The man was taken to Dartmouth General, where she expected him to recover quickly.
He had been in the water for a while before the 911 call, but the clear signal that he needed help was when let his kite go, she said.
“Once you don’t have your kite, and you’re out that far, it’s an obvious problem,” she said.
Beach and Hanson said many of the emergency situations at Lawrencetown Beach are handled by locals before first responders are organized to get in the water. And the professionals don’t know the beach and its sandbar as well as Lawrencetown regulars, said Beach.
“It wasn’t putting us in any danger to try,” he said.
The Canadian Coast Guard vessel Sambro and a Cormorant helicopter from 14 Wing Greenwood were sent to the area, but the man made it back to shore just as they arrived, about 50 minutes after rescuers were first called.
Maj. Martell Thompson of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said the man was nearly half a kilometre from shore at one point.
“It’s pretty windy out there today,” Thompson said.
Bridget Turner, an employee at Kannon Beach in Lawrencetown, said there were few people out kite surfing Friday because of the weather.
“It is cold … when you’re kite surfing and you’re wet. This is the time of the year where a lot of them actually stop kite surfing, so there are not too many people out and about,” she said."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1172 ... town-beach
Teabag: Flippers will cut in half the swimming time to go ashore, or allow you to come back ashore if there is current (up to a point). - Saturday December 07, 10:20PM

i think this comment below is important as well. he points out some errors in the media story, and political issues surrounding the SAR.

Dave
• 7 hours ago

−

I was the one who made it to shore when the wind went west and in 15 seconds shut down 100 % and called for the fire department and their Zodiac that was donated to the local fire department by a kiter no less. The new Liberal government took it away from them last week and put it in the hands of the cost guard or search and rescue. They turned a simple 15 min Rescue for 2 men in a boat, into 20 men and 20,000 dollars with a 2 hour wait not 55 minutes as they said. 20 men on shore with nothing that floats not even a tire tub. All upset watching Jeff fight for his life only 300 years off shore but in a strong current . Not a KM out as they made it look. Thanks to J and Soya they made this simple , the same as the fire department could have done if they had their boat ;like they did for many years. Good lesson in this our search and rescue is a joke unless your saving an oil rig in the North Sea , useless for small rescues and not cost efficient at all. We all have to make noise over this all you MLA for a start. All surfers, wind surfers, kiters, kakakers , swimmers, small boats at big risk thanks to the Liberals. Dave Beck

Flippers would have make all the difference, he would have been back ashore in ~ 60-90 minutes... (if after 2 hours the guy was still 300yds, current where strong enough to maintain his position or getting draft offshore very, very slowly without them, but with flippers he would have been able to do these 300 yards to shore in an hour (3.5- 5 yards per minutes?).

Happened to me at CB, was only able to maintain or drift ashore a little without them, once I put them on, I was making progress towards shore. I gave it all (scare of sea lions) which was very demanding / exhausting for only ~50 yards, but if further out would have maintain a slower paste for a longer time if would have been able to get over the sea lion fear

They look stupid I know, but it make such a difference...

I understand ... BUT , could you change your BWD name to ' FLIPPER'

Teabag wrote:Flippers....They look stupid I know, but it make such a difference...

There is a Hawaiian big wave surfer who always carried a swim fin tucked into trunks for this reason...to get in at Waimea, got to make it through the rip, or you do another circle of the bay.

The problem, of course, is that when you don't need it 9 times out of 10, 29 of 30, 99 of 100...complacency sets in. On that one freak day, it might save your life. Same thing with helmets, pfd's, hook knives, secondary hook knives, and so on. This sport is manageable risk, but the evidence shows clearly that there is danger and it is not just newbies dying and it isn't always on super dangerous seeming days. Anything that bumps odds in your favour is a good thing.

As well, relentless self testing and awareness of safeties and the muscle memory how to use them.

Keep safe my ocean brothers and sisters!

It is also a good practice not to go out further than you are comfortable swimming back to shore. I'm amazed at sometimes how far I have seen ppl out to sea at Cook Street. I really do not see the reason, as you don't need to go that far out to tack upwind efficiently.

once again I'm writing about a broken Ocean Rodeo swivel ring connection. The Swivel to pulley connection on the freeride bar snaped while loading for a jump leaving me with a kite only attached at the steering lines. After the kite settled down and dropped to the water I had to disconnect chicken loop and leash then pull hard on one steering line.. after a quick rotation the kite went from leading edge up to down and as I hauled in all 60ft it didn't want to relaunch or take off until I was just about at it.. but it was easy to retrieve using the OR 'Re-ride' system. In case you don't know what that is... the self rescue was easy and all was good once back on the beach.
I actually did check my ring prior to rigging last night and all seemed good! I believe this has happened before with the certain weld or welder they had prepare the older Ergo bars.

anyone able to speak to this...

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local ... -1.1212997

I heard from many asking about it.. as if it was me!!! haha... but Mark Atkins was packing up as I arrived that day and said someone had been rescued!!! heard a name... Rupert??

I'd just like to know what happened...

I'm actually asking a question in order to learn from someone's mistake... or in this cause what he could have done when his equipment failed... obviously the times colonist article doesnt tell the whole story!

and thanks to the one windsurfer who pm'd me to say who he thought it was and mentioned he was also curious of what happened!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=260wXO4pq5w

just a reminder to everyone... its a good time of year to do a once over on your gear...

tighten up those board screws on fins / foot pads, re-tune your lines, buy a new pump, carefully inspect every stitch on your quiver, check over harness straps etc etc

I also recently treated my wet suit with MiraZyme which made it smell nice!!

to funny Lawrence. Gotta got me some of that Ovo Drink. Lines wrapped around kiters feet or legs, not funny. That is how you get dragged backwards and drown. Don't sail alone.

Adrian. dont forget your Eprb[/code]