Kiteboarding Safety!

[katana]

With reference to another topic, i just have to ask, what sort of person is doing this sport, if they really need to be told that launching or landing near to any solid object (walls, groynes, posts cars etc etc) is very dangerous??

 

Should we also be telling them that you should not point a loaded gun at your head and pull the trigger???

[SandMonster]

for some people...yes...

 

but for others I think the issue that needs to be covered by training is how 'near'...

[AndyC_NW]

With reference to another topic, i just have to ask, what sort of person is doing this sport, if they really need to be told that launching or landing near to any solid object (walls, groynes, posts cars etc etc) is very dangerous??

 

Should we also be telling them that you should not point a loaded gun at your head and pull the trigger???

 

 

I don't know what all the fuss is about. It's natures way of cleaning up the gene pool!

[CoyoteBoy]

Unfortunately there are a lot of people in every location that launch and land near the car park, walls, groynes etc. And from my observations its often the local time-served kiteboarders that do it - I was watching it at the weekend.

[high pockets]

Unfortunately there are a lot of people in every location that launch and land near the car park, walls, groynes etc. And from my observations its often the local time-served kiteboarders that do it - I was watching it at the weekend.

 

Agree with you there, even if you feel totally confident about launching close to cars, people, swings etc. you should'nt as it encourages newcomers to do the same (among other reasons).

[PieGuy]

I managed to put my kite on a bridge, even after launching 100 / 150 meters away from it, there was quite a lull in wind followed by a huge gust, my kite inverted without warning and just dragged me quite happily across the beach and parked itself on the bridge.. i guess it was just a freak occurance but it just goes to show how easy/quickly things can get out of hand.. if i had launched any closer to the bridge i would have been over the wall and onto the main road..

 

Fly safe

[CoyoteBoy]

You need to eat more pies pieguy But yes, it can go pear shaped when you least expect it. I started kiting with S-Arcs, downwind self-launching an old S-Arc (most reliable way with the older arcs IMO) was a 50:50 experience - will it launch and make you fly 15ft in the air or will it launch, bowtie and drag you for miles. Side-launching was almost as fraught with danger too lol. I learned back then never to launch unless I had 4-5 line lengths downwind becaue it was so likely to go pear shaped - i think i hold that with me now and still dont launch my waroo anywhere near anything at all.

[richie rocks]

With reference to another topic, i just have to ask, what sort of person is doing this sport, if they really need to be told that launching or landing near to any solid object (walls, groynes, posts cars etc etc) is very dangerous??

 

Should we also be telling them that you should not point a loaded gun at your head and pull the trigger???

 

 

I don't know what all the fuss is about. It's natures way of cleaning up the gene pool!

 

 

I'm with Darwin - survival of the fittest and all that. It's one of the biggest debates within the scientific community - did Darwin sail to the Galapagos Islands on the Beagle, or was it, as some now think, an Airush 10m Vapour?! They say he died with a smile on his face. 'nuff said. Airush - in the bag! Hav' it!

[intomountains]

It is all very well to take yourself out of the gene pool like this but a bit unfair to take other more intellegent beings out with you.

[CoyoteBoy]

To be honest its nothing to do with intelligence, its common sense thats missing.

[Anne1599968726]

I think the worst I've done was dump a kite on the footpath next to the beach and narrowly miss some pedestrians. Stay away from seawalls, children.

 

That was after running across a road with the kite in the air, mind

[katana]

'It may sound like a stupid idea, but whenever we get offshore (northerly) winds, the water flattens down and makes it ideal for kiteboarding.

 

How come in other countries people get away with kiteboarding in offshore winds, but ive never seen one person out there on a northerly???'

 

This is a quote from another post - another volunteer to exit the gene pool methinks!

 

Seriously though, think about the people who may end up putting their own lives in danger to save someone stupid enough to go out in offshore winds with no means of rescueing themselves!!

[oc1rob]

Agree with all of the above comments and can think back to a few weeks back when we were over at old Hunstanton.

We inflated the kites quite a way up the beach, so that we could leave our stash of bags n cack well out of the way of any impending tide arrival.

We then carried the kites the best part of 1/2mile (or so it felt) so that we were close to the waters edge, sorted lines out and launched there.

 

As it happened the wind was desperately insufficient for 12m bows but after a 2Hrs drive we had a go in any case and me as a learner I get to practice the stuff I need at this stage, like wet relaunch and a bit of body dragging etc.

 

So we were all somewhat shocked to see that after we had given up and carried our kites back to our mound o'cack...

 

about 100m from us, in with general beach goers (it was a nice Sunday afternoon after all) three other flyers proceeded to lauch their mahooosive C kites, and struggle to keep em up (we are talking 8-10mph here) above the heads of other beach users FFS!!!

 

Now surely walking out 100m to somewhere damper and quieter is not too much to ask is it??

[SWAT]

On Sunday last weekend on Gower a lone Kitesurfer went out in an offshore even after two experienced kitesurfers I was with, at different times, suggested to him that this was the wrong thing to do.

 

The reply was much along the lines of "well, it aint that far off being cross, I am going out anyway!" much to their dismay.

 

Now it turns out this guy could ride a bit, and was OK, although he lost about 400m of ground on every soiree out to sea, and had to walk back.

 

All well and good because none of his kit broke.... if it had, he may have ended up at Pendine.