VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

redbaron wrote:I witnessed a near miss today. A kiteboarder riding a twin-tip in the surf near Tofino boosted an air right over top of a surfer in the water

total DORKKKK🙄 esp at this time....not to mention the twin tip in the waves lol ...didn't get the vehicle for follow up i guess?

Can anyone elaborate on what happened at clover point May 1? Out of respect don't try to lay any blame.. shit happens just curious what happened.. was it a simple lofting off the point?

anything people can learn from it?

Hope Ruth is ok

FB post said broken tibia. No details but sounded like a lofting over to the east side. Maybe a bad launch? I think winds that evening were moderate, 25kt ish.

On Sunday around 2pm a kiter suffered a major accident that could've been avoided. while landing, I noticed a kite in the water on the corner of Clover Pt. upwind of the reefs. Once he relaunched he came immediately towards the boat ramp. I was running to assist because he was frantically moving the kite left and right from 10 to 2 o'clock and looked over powered. even when reaching the rocky shore still moving the kite many times L&R.
he managed to get the board off but was effectively lofted from moving the kite creating more apparent wind lost his footing and couldn't control the momentum of the kite eventually getting thrown into the rocky concrete outcrop at the base of the cliff. I was yelling to him to stop moving his kite and then had the kite crash down behind me and I lost sight of him against the cliff. I grabbed the kite and dealt with that while others rushed to him. he suffered an injury to his hip and might have busted bones. I checked his head and my god was he lucky.
I'm writing this is hopes that this is avoided in the future. several things need to be understood so that access to these launches is kept.
-when over powered keep sheeting out as much as you can and do not create more apparent wind by moving your kite
-don't have the kite directly overhead / keep it on a side where you can dig your heels in
-use your primary eject to depower the kite / if it lands and gets wrecked it can be repaired.
-use your primary eject out on the water!! / collect yourself before getting thrown onto the beach or reef in the surf

I've seen many new faces young and old at Clover Pt. and Clover is getting more attention from media with the debacle of picnic park. This year alone we've had several accidents here. If we want to continue to ride here we need a better right of passage to access these launches. Especially with the winter storm fronts coming in. check yourself before wrecking yourself. I understand shit happens but please don't be the guy that shuts down our launch.

I hope the rider is OK. We are going to lose that spot. I see incredibly sketchy stuff go down almost every time I am there. We need to self police. It is not a beginner spot. You can usually tell who it will happen to when they are launching or entering the water. It does not have to aggressive but something needs to be said in when it is spotted because we likely do not have many more chances.