The only reason I'm posting this is to get the beginners aware how dangerous this sport is if you don't go through a proper training before you go out on water. Those few hundred bucks you'll pay for the course is the most important ones, if you haven't got the money for it, don't do the sport.

This happened around 5:30pm today, lifted a kiter 6, 7 meters in air, smashed him against the car, lifted him then again into the power lines where he got electrocuted and threw him down into the neighbours backyard on top of a car (can be seen in the photo). The paramedics were few meters away having a break which is probably what might save his life, when they took him away he was conscious.

Also, he didn't have a helmet, I don't wear one either but seeing this today I'll be getting one.

Wow,that incident has shook me to my inner core, the worst possible scenario has happened.I hope he has a speedy recovery.

Judging by the fact the guys landed on a car and then hit power lines.
Was Altona working on a onshore breeze today?

Last serious accident (RIP) we had in WA was during gusty onshore breezes.

Perhaps we all, experienced to beginner need to think twice, or access our behavior in onshore conditions.

I hope for a very speedy recovery.

Altona is onshore in a southerly - looks like it was SSE today. Can anyone comment?

Also no one knows how good he is, but the past accidents that have happened at Altona (I'm thinking specifically about Nik Brunner, who has taken 2 years to relearn how to walk, speak, still has trouble with basic things we take for granted like cleaning himself) have been with new-ish people who have been told Altona is a good place to kite. We've been getting a lot of out of towners as well, who don't know you're not supposed to kite near the pier or set up east of McBain st. Again, not to be a dick, but where that car is smashed (183 Esplanade) is definitely east of McBain st. If he was west of there he would have ended up in the trees but definitely not in the power lines.

Electrocuted?! Was he touching the lines, was his kite touching the lines, and was he touching the ground while his kite was touching the lines?

This thread is invariably going to turn into a "please stop kiting at Altona if you are new" thread as it does every time there's a big accident there and noobs are going to read this thread, and noobs are going to keep on coming.

Everyone, please be safe out there and stop doing stupid **** on the beach. I saw two guys boosting and lofting their kite on the beach there in 25 knot winds the other day.

melbournekiter said..

I don't think he was electrocuted, his kite went above the lines and he went underneath them the propulsion sent him 360 around the power lines vertically but he didn't touch them, only his lines, and he wasn't earthed at any point. The power pole arched and blew loudly but I don't think that would have done anything.

He did a loop-de-loop around power lines?!?!?! How did he get disconnected from his kite without being earthed? Did people have to grab him while he was still touching the lines? Either way, very lucky.

Jeez, sounds like a hell of an accident! Glad he's still alive but...

... as always I find myself asking - why didn't he pull the QR?

melbournekiter said...
Yes, he did a full 360, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Lines broke before he landed , kite ended up a couple of houses further back.

How is this guy still alive!!??

I'm really sorry to hear about this.

Unfortunately it was a matter of time (do a search for altona accident posts and warnings) before this happened (again!) and it's really sad that someone is paying the price for the wrong advice that keeps getting handed around to beginners about where to kite (by a large number of kiteshops, instructors and individuals and I won't mention names but one beginner even insisted on getting into arguments with more experienced people on how we were using localism to keep beginners out, so perhaps he will learn a lesson from this unfortunate incident). There have been numerous warning by some of the more experienced kiters on why beginners should not be kiting at Altona. Every year, a number of minor incidents have occurred and the warnings come out again, and a whole bunch of people think it's localism instead of common sense. One year we had 5 incidents for 5 days in a row and yet the common sense continues to fail in the advice being handed out.

I will repeat again what has been repeated about 500 times about altona.

1. Altona is not a beginners spot. It is not a spot to learn to go up wind. It is not a spot to learn to ride. If you fail to heed this advice, accept that there is a chance this can happen to you.
2. The beach is too short for beginners. There is no room for mistakes.
3. If you are not 100% comfortable launching and landing in both clean and gusty wind, do not kite here. It's not about localism, it's about recognising your skill level.
4. The reason people suggest it's not a spot for learning to go upwind is because of the hidden sandbanks, not localism. If you have to look at your kite while riding, this is not the ideal spot for you. You need to be able to see what is ahead of you so you have time to react if there is a sandbank. If you've hit the sandbank, it's too late. The reason I say this is critical is because if you watch the kite, hit a sandbank and it throws you into a rotation, that's where you accidentally loop the kite and get lofted or worse.
5. If you are comfortable staying upwind and still in the early stages of kiting, stay in the deeper water so you have room to make mistakes. The smooth flat water is great but you have years ahead of you to experience them when you know what you doing, so bite the bullet, ride in the choppier stuff and move there once you are comfortable.

As a side note, when I was there last weekend, some idiot on a Liquid Force who clearly wasn't competent self landing decided to self land on the grass. It went wrong and he was saved from kite damage by a kiter although he almost got hooked up in someone else's kite and could have damaged their kite in the process. There were plenty of kiters around and no need for someone who was inexperienced with self landing to do so, let alone do it a couple of metres from the pathway and trees just to keep his kite clean. Mr orange LF rider, get some common sense, earlier you rode me into the beach because you wouldn't give me a chance to turn around and insisted on riding up to 5 metres away while I waited for you to gybe, I can accept mistakes are made, but in combination with your poor self landing, the mistakes you made went into the realms of selfishness.

On a second note, if you're a beginner, the above example is a good justification for KBV membership. The car insurance company that pays for the damage to the car is going to want to know who did it and they will expect him to pay for the damage caused so he's going to have some calls from a business (who don't care about what happened and whether the wind was gusty) calling him to pay for some damage.

One can only imagine how much power that poor guy had to do a loop through the powerlines! I would like to know how he got lofted in the first place, his experience level, and if he kited there much. Really goes to show you that when you rock up to an unfamiliar place you need to talk to EXPERIENCED locals. Almost anyone who is experienced will offer advice to keep you safer. Nobody wants to see this happen....ever.
Hope the dude heals quickly and can talk about what went wrong.

dafish said..
One can only imagine how much power that poor guy had to do a loop through the powerlines! I would like to know how he got lofted in the first place, his experience level, and if he kited there much. Really goes to show you that when you rock up to an unfamiliar place you need to talk to EXPERIENCED locals. Almost anyone who is experienced will offer advice to keep you safer. Nobody wants to see this happen....ever.

Hope the dude heals quickly and can talk about what went wrong.

It's going to be unpopular of me to contradict someone else and be a skeptical susan to Melbournekiter, especially because I wasn't there and he was, but it strikes me as implausible. Any physics nerds/forensic engineers want to do a cocktail napkin calculation on the velocity needed for a 75 kg rider to maintain a vertical circle with a radius of around 10m?

Livit said...

melbournekiter said..

I think his kite was a North Rebel 12, which are often purchased by students of the the Kite Republic kite school.

Looks like you are trying to settle scores here, probably not the right place to air out your dirty laundry..... I don't think the kite model or the whereabouts the poor guy got his kite from really matters.

Hi, no scores to settle, it was in response to a post saying he hadn't had lessons. I was pointing out the school may have supplied the kite so he may have had lessons.

The other thing we need to be aware of is that whilst this kiter might have paid a heavy price with a serious injury (and potentially his life), everyone may or is likely to be affected by this. It takes one incident like this for kiting to be banned in Altona for everyone. Obviously the loss of life is the highest priority for us as a community but we also don't want kiting banned at a location because of bad advice, lack of lessons or any other potential cause. Even when experienced people launch 12m kites in 30 knots, they may think they are taking their own life in their hands and they have the right to do what they want, but what they do has an impact on the kiting community as a whole, if they ditch a kite, it can wrap around someone else's and if their kite hits power lines, it impacts the community. Councils don't like bad publicity and irrespective of whose fault it is, the kiting community as a whole may pay the ultimate price for one kiters mistake/bad advice/bad judgement.

I agree with people who said that we as a community have an obligation to prevent this happening. If someone you don't know is launching a kite that seems too big or is doing something that makes them look like they are not competent, we should be taking action.

The wind was steady around 23-25 knots at the time of the accident, with small gusts to around 26 max, was standing there contemplating taking my own 12m kite which I've used before in similar winds as its got a great depower, but then checked st kilda and saw winds increased to around 27 and usually what hits st kilda comes to altona within 5-10 minutes, and as soon as I decided not to go in the accident happened.

HappyG said..
he should buy a tattslotto ticket???.

I hope he pulls through ok. If the story is 100% correct he has had a lot of luck: First to hit a car and not the road which does not yield like a windshield and then to get caught in the powerlines without earthing. Judging from the blood on the windshield a helmet would have been a good idea.

Get well soon, mate!

I can confirm he did not do a 360 around the lines.

I can confirm we were both in the wrong area for launching and landing, along with a lot of people which would give people unfamiliar with the location that it's the correct place for setup/derig.

Seeing this first hand (standing next to him) you can't blame the kite model, this could have happened to any model kite.

The wind was blowing directly onshore (south at the accident) 20kn with fairly large gusts (25-28kn) coming through at the time of the accident, the wind was very fresh and had a lot of power/lift.

I'm not prepared to release any more information until I've spoken with KBV in respect for the rider.

Please check and make it muscle memory using your quick release.

Maybe someone could post a link to the rigging area, here's a link to the KBV info.
http://www.kbv.org.au/kbvmain/kbv-locationview.php?locid=102

(If an accurate map does not exist I'm happy to draw one up in photoshop - please PM me)

I was a few cars down when this happened. It was horrible to watch. I was expecting him to be dead - but he was moving and moaning when the paramedics where with him. He hit the wall at the back of the beach before hitting the car I think.

I'd been out on my 12 for ~ 2 hours just before this and it was top end for it - but not over the top. Felt like low 20's to me - and didn't feel too gusty.

Putting advice on here about kiting at Altona is great - but not everyone reads this. What we really need is some big signs on the beach about kiting locations and dangers there.