www.couriermail.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes

this unfolded today at sandgate, wind was SE around 25 - 28 knots. was just waiting inline to be landed when i witnessed this poor bloke ripped off his feet and slammed into a tree, while he was stuck in the tree the kite sprung into life and went for a series of loops ripping him up into another tree then dragged along the ground, several other people chasing him to hold him down. Poor bloke didnt move once kite was disabled. Hope he is ok.

Kite was a North Evo 11 or 12m

Not good news , saw 2 ambos go part brighton and slowed right down obviously looking for someone , they continued to Sandgate . Hope the guy is alright ,

**** can get real ugly , real quick in that kind of breeze .

be safe people

Hope for a speedy recovery.

Shouldn't this be in the QLD section???

What the hell was he doing out there on a 12m in up-to 28 knots? You gotta ask about the skill level and who taught them. My thoughts, hope he pulls through and buys a smaller kite to enjoy that kind of wind in the future.

Horrible stuff. Abit gusty yesterday huh most kites in use on the sunny coast were 8m. Hope hes ok.

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horey69 said...
What the hell was he doing out there on a 12m in up-to 28 knots? You gotta ask about the skill level and who taught them. My thoughts, hope he pulls through and buys a smaller kite to enjoy that kind of wind in the future.

12m learning curve I would think..

Hope the person involved is ok !!!

Quote was just waiting inline to be landed
Self landing and launching even flagging the kite rather than putting your self at risk hanging around on the beach with your kite up .

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stuntnaz said...
Hope the person involved is ok !!!

Quote was just waiting inline to be landed
Self landing and launching even flagging the kite rather than putting your self at risk hanging around on the beach with your kite up .

Maybe read the post again, the guy quoting was from my understanding was waiting to be landed, we carnt comment on this as we weren't there, so maybe we don't blow this out of proportion, kiting will always dish out injuries , no matter what, looks like he was a lucky one

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horey69 said..
What the hell was he doing out there on a 12m in up-to 28 knots? .......

Probably saw the posts from the heroes here who bang on about how big a kite they held up in certain winds (usually on a "35kn day" which was in fact 20-25 with one gust for 2 sec)

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cauncy said...

stuntnaz said...
Hope the person involved is ok !!!

Quote was just waiting inline to be landed
Self landing and launching even flagging the kite rather than putting your self at risk hanging around on the beach with your kite up .

Maybe read the post again, the guy quoting was from my understanding was waiting to be landed, we carnt comment on this as we weren't there, so maybe we don't blow this out of proportion, kiting will always dish out injuries , no matter what, looks like he was a lucky one

the way I read it is this guy might have been in the que to be landed as well !!!
Big thanks to the red thumb brigade all I'm trying to do is make our sport safe for us and the public .

So what went wrong?

Guys, don't hack this guy because everyone of is has put up the wrong size kite, landed badly and done silly thing, but for most this hasn't ended up badly.

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stuntnaz said...

cauncy said...

stuntnaz said...
Hope the person involved is ok !!!

Quote was just waiting inline to be landed
Self landing and launching even flagging the kite rather than putting your self at risk hanging around on the beach with your kite up .

Maybe read the post again, the guy quoting was from my understanding was waiting to be landed, we carnt comment on this as we weren't there, so maybe we don't blow this out of proportion, kiting will always dish out injuries , no matter what, looks like he was a lucky one

the way I read it is this guy might have been in the que to be landed as well !!!
Big thanks to the red thumb brigade all I'm trying to do is make our sport safe for us and the public .

Maybe stuntnaz, but we weren't there so we don't know, with you on the safety side but I'm afraid we will possibly see an increase,

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cauncy said...

stuntnaz said...

cauncy said...

stuntnaz said...
Hope the person involved is ok !!!

Quote was just waiting inline to be landed
Self landing and launching even flagging the kite rather than putting your self at risk hanging around on the beach with your kite up .

Maybe read the post again, the guy quoting was from my understanding was waiting to be landed, we carnt comment on this as we weren't there, so maybe we don't blow this out of proportion, kiting will always dish out injuries , no matter what, looks like he was a lucky one

the way I read it is this guy might have been in the que to be landed as well !!!
Big thanks to the red thumb brigade all I'm trying to do is make our sport safe for us and the public .

Maybe stuntnaz, but we weren't there so we don't know, with you on the safety side but I'm afraid we will possibly see an increase,

Something to ease the pain of reading this horrible incident. I hope he makes a speedy recovery and/or is safe.

Have seen people fly up into trees a few times along Brighton & Sandgate and not always in strong wind. I was once just about to land in about 15 knots at Brighton with kite at 12 noon and got lifted and lightly landed down the beach by keeping a cool head. I guess it just drums home the point of always keeping your kite low when at the beach or walking too and from the water. Lots of silly things are done by even experienced kites so let's get the facts from those who know what really happened. Let's hope the guy gets better fast and back into the sport and remember this has just stuffed up his and his family's Christmas.
One more thing to remember along the length of the foreshore is that the sea wall and trees provide lift and this can extend up to something like three times the hight of the object in front, so be careful with kite low when getting close to the wall.

I was waiting to be landed ,very crowded as one would expect on such a windy day, the bloke who had the accident was just getting launch by another guy. The rest as follows .. scream ... Kite loop.... tree...... kite loop.... ouch.

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freeride80 said..
the bloke who had the accident was just getting launch by another guy. The rest as follows .. scream ... Kite loop.... tree...... kite loop.... ouch.

The bloke gets ripped off his feet after being launched.

Maybe he clipped in with his bar upside down.

Just guessing here.

Get well soon dude.

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Hardcarve1 said...
Have seen people fly up into trees a few times along Brighton & Sandgate and not always in strong wind. I was once just about to land in about 15 knots at Brighton with kite at 12 noon and got lifted and lightly landed down the beach by keeping a cool head. I guess it just drums home the point of always keeping your kite low when at the beach or walking too and from the water. Lots of silly things are done by even experienced kites so let's get the facts from those who know what really happened. Let's hope the guy gets better fast and back into the sport and remember this has just stuffed up his and his family's Christmas.
One more thing to remember along the length of the foreshore is that the sea wall and trees provide lift and this can extend up to something like three times the hight of the object in front, so be careful with kite low when getting close to the wall.

From reading your post it sounds very likely you've a scetchy bit of wind at your launch/ landing spot, especially if people get lofted in standard breezes, it's important for locals in these spots to be vocal to other kiters, especially newbies and visitors, a little vocal scare will naturally have them on their guard
Launching around and above structures IMO is just a matter of time till you come unstuck, it takes a good 300 Mtrs of no structure to give a good flow of air, launching in a bowl effect where your lower than the flow of air is as scetchy as it gets

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freeride80 said..
I was waiting to be landed ,very crowded as one would expect on such a windy day, the bloke who had the accident was just getting launch by another guy. The rest as follows .. scream ... Kite loop.... tree...... kite loop.... ouch.

well if thats the case im pretty sure even padi teaches and enforces a launch the kite into the water/not into the trees/road policy. guess his mate that was launching him didnt want to get his boardies wet ay? without having been there but having known how all the schools operate in this spot im going to have to say it was just a major miscalculation by the poor bloke. if he had of got his mate to walk a few feet out into the water he just woulda got thrown and dragged out into the stingrays and jellys.

know if he had the bar in at all freeride? im finding freshly licenced students tend to whitenuckle there bars in on first few launches without supervision bit of a mental oh **** here we go this is it sort of yabba going on in there minds

From what i was told he had a 6 hour lesson (not sure how long ago) kite was brand new and might i add not a scratch on it after the incident. In my honest opinion it was a combination of inexperience and kite was to big for conditions 28knots ... Every one was out on 7, 8 and 9's
Simple as that.
Hope he makes a speedy recovery and if he ever does want to return to kiting I'll be the first to give him a few pointers of the fantastic addictive sport

Local shop has been in contact with him.
quote:
Latest updates: The injured person's name is Andrew. He borrowed his mate's Paul's kite on the day. Kite powered up on launch, slammed into first tree. Does not seem Andrew did or was able to punch out, kite powered up again and slammed him into secondtree. 7 broken ribs, punctured lung, internal contusions, spinal concerns too but no threat to ability to walk. Not life threatening so should recover in time.

scroll down and expand, conversation starts at 9:49pm 27th, including comments from a first responder - apparently he claimed to have 1yr experience.
www.facebook.com/Surf-Connect-Wind-Kitesurfing-School-111928692224719/

Here is a really good post from some time back, from the boys at Kite power.
Rings very true and when the winds really up read this before heading out!!

This is a public service announcement, brought to you by Kite power Australia…
When things get windy, like, REALLY windy. You should really have at least two things. The first, is a small kite.
This one’s non-negotiable. 25+ knots (even gusts over 25) mean that a 12m kite is simply too big. We don’t care how big you are, it’s just too big ok. When it hits 35 knots, you need a REALLY small kite, like a 6m or 7m. You might even need a 5.5m kite, yes, they make them that small. You also need some respect for what a kite can do.
A little respect goes a long way when it comes to the wind and ocean. Believe us, you’ll never win an argument with 40 knots of wind and a kite. Why are we telling you this? We saw some truly amazing things last Sunday.

When we cancelled our demo day due to excessive winds, (which were gusting up to 40 knots), we still went down to Brighton to see everyone and have a chat, and boy are we glad we did! There was all kinds of craziness going on, from kites in trees to people’s faces on footpaths, and everything in between.

Here’s two examples that could have easily been avoided. The first was old mate pumping up his 12m kite. Next to him on the beach, were two 5.5m kites, and a 7m. When asked why he was even pumping it up, we were met with a nervous reply of ‘it’s all I’ve got, and I’ll depower it’.
That’s silly. Downright silly. Have a look around and if your kite is not the same size as every other kite on the beach, you either need to come and buy a smaller one.
Or open up your camping chair and watch for the day. Otherwise you’ll be confined to that chair for 6 weeks or more while your bones heal. We also heard of a few guys on 10m kites too. They’re excuse was “Oh I was ok, full depower on but I didn’t get hurt”.

It’s very similar to driving your car really fast. Chances are you’ll be fine and NOT crash. But when you DO crash… It’s goanna be a lot messier than if you were driving normally. Example number two! Was old mate who crank launched his 8m and ended up on the footpath. What’s a crank launch I hear you ask? It’s where you send the kite through the window immediately after your launcher lets it go. And they hurt.

How can you stop it?
Two options. The first, is to not do it in the first place. Small kites are responsive, so when you launch them you need a feather light touch. Use your pinkie pressure to bring it slowly up the edge of the window to avoid being launched. Respect the kite, and the wind, and the beach, and the ocean and all that stuff. Because they can seriously rain on your parade if they want to.

If that fails, and you lose all respect for the sport you’re doing. There is always time to hit the safety. Usually about the right time is when your eyes widen to the size of dinner plates as your kite rotates and begins heading towards the power zone. That’s when I tend to think about reaching for the magic red handle.
You should too. So next time you see those green arrows over 25 knots.
Grab a small kite, grab your credit card, or grab a chair. One of those three, there is no option number 4.

I didn't even know QLD reached 25knots!!!

People think it's 25 but it's 18...

Sandgaters are used to 15 and kiting in warm brown water...

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RPM said..
I didn't even know QLD reached 25knots!!!

People think it's 25 but it's 18...

Sandgaters are used to 15 and kiting in warm brown water...

Haha hey what's wrong with brown water and a zillion Jelly's in a northerly.
busted ribs was the rumour for the poor newby christening his new kite.
i use the area from time to time visiting my folks never had a problem with the sandgate crew always found them real friendly.
shouldnt sledge the fella for using to big a kite these southerlies are really variable 12m would be perfect for most of the time.

Remember guys, complaints about a business, founded or unfounded, don't belong on Seabreeze forums. Let's focus on what happened to Andrew and wish him well in his recovery.

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GreenPat said...
Remember guys, complaints about a business, founded or unfounded, don't belong on Seabreeze forums. Let's focus on what happened to Andrew and wish him well in his recovery.

You bought a jeep

Hes ok .now lets get out there and smash a few sessions for him.thats what hed want.get well soon bro.

Things:

1. @RPM - Trolling is awesome, but not on threads about somebody who is potentially really hurt. Have some class and stick to bashing gumbies.

2. When I started kiting 11 or 12 years ago, you literally couldn't go out on a 12m in this kind of wind because you had no depower or safety. You'd have your friends holding you down on the beach if you wanted to go out overpowered and you could tell how dumb it was. I absolutely hate that modern kites allow people to "depower" enough to get out in high winds (especially on 12m for some reason?). I was out a couple of weeks ago in Sydney when it was 28 or so gusting to 35 and whilst I was doing pretty big megaloops on my 9m C kite there were a few very inexperienced kiters hanging on for dear life on 12s. That's how you get really, really hurt. I hope that everyone who is experienced on here really lays into people trying to do that at their local because otherwise this is how people die or we get spots shut down. We have to be self policing.

3. If you have any sort of room down wind and the wind picks up like crazy, never be scared to put your kite a meter or two above the beach and pull your safety to self land (make sure flag out line is on the top). See McTools post on how to do this. I land by myself most of the time as I don't like to launch and land from the hot spots and this is how I land my kite 90% of the time and it is perfectly safe. Self landing was pretty much a no go when I started as you had to do the "grab one front line method" (I have 3 friends missing parts of their fingers from kiting so I don't like touching lines) but now that safeties actually work.. practice this! I will be making a video soon of how to do it.

To extend on Drury's point 3, with a bit of thought at setup time you can plan to have the flagout on the top for landing. I launch and land away from the crowds a lot too, often I need to self land in knee deep water due to mangroves, I like to land with the kite between me and the beach, in some spots this also puts the kite in a wind shadow (behind headland/trees) when it drops.
I know that on my bar/line setup the flag line will be on the top during a S/SE when I return (if the wind is cross/on from the right looking to sea). So I swap the front lines (pigtails are colour coded) if I'm going out in N/NE.