I have recently taken a near knock out crash after catching an edge on a landing and this has me thinking a helmet may not be a bad choice.

Just wondered if anyone have tried helmets such as the sandbox helmet and if they provide any protection when hitting the water.
I am thing the force would just get transferred through the helmet anyway and not really decrease the impact?
And would only really offer protection against hard objects hitting your head.

Anyone with any experience with this?

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doonut said..
I have recently taken a near knock out crash after catching an edge on a landing and this has me thinking a helmet may not be a bad choice.

Just wondered if anyone have tried helmets such as the sandbox helmet and if they provide any protection when hitting the water.
I am thing the force would just get transferred through the helmet anyway and not really decrease the impact?
And would only really offer protection against hard objects hitting your head.

Anyone with any experience with this?

Hi. I messed up really badly on a boost a while back and I then looped the kite at low level and hit the water incredibly hard (so hard that my sternum area was sore for 3 weeks). I had a NP helmet on and it has high density foam inside that absorbs a lot of impact (I have crash tested it multiple times whilst learning how to foil). your other option may be to get a sailing helmet - Forward WIP - or something similar.
what I am not sure about is whether the increased surface area loads up your neck more when you crash.

Hi
Im one of the rare ones who wears a helmet, not sure if it stops you being knocked out as its your brain hitting inside your skull ,but for sure keeps sun off and wind out of your ears during winter and stops outside impact.
One or 2 I have is a Garth ,very basic construction.
2nd one is white river Kayak helmet which has heaps of padding and looks better.
Tried the Garth with pull down face visor which lasted 6 months before acrylic was frosted from salt.
Water water helmet I got from site in USA.

If your hitting kickers or sliders go a helmet definitely as your speed is not that fast but chance of hitting kicker and sliding out or the sliders rail is high.
But if your laying down freestyle tricks in big winds you have higher speeds and amplitude.
The surface area of a helmet will actually contribute to the knockout neck injury.
Gath helmets are for surfing if you pull into a close out get skull dragged along bottom blah blah.
But there not designed for high impact hits that kiteboarding exerts.
Wakeboarding helmets are same seen so many unconscious crew going for a slim chance.

The proper kayak helmets, not cheapo ones - have the right padding for impact.

Most helmets just have standard polystyrene crap.

Gath have very loud wind noise but still save your ear drums and board hits...

Hmmm doesn't seem it'll help much going by the comments.

I'll just have to try to not eat it so much

I am used to slamming hard on a kite... went to cable, wore helmet hitting kicker, got concussion... never got it kiting.. well not like that anyway ( falling over about an hour later room spinning.)

I would be asking many super experienced wakeboarders cos its not super clear to me but do know a kiter that hit very hard a kl3 and the helmet jammed in back of neck.. temporarily paralysed them and they were very lucky not to drown.

I recently burst my eardrum when my foil board smacked into my ear pretty hard after a crash. The missus got me a rugby helmet that works really well if you put a cheap cap under it.

Decathlon already make a water specific version of that:
decathlon.com.au/products/kids-adult-soft-surfing-helmet-170083?

I usually wear a Mystic helmet when 30kn+ with a camera so I can record my own death, or a kitemare for maximum youtube subscriptions

If you hit your head on something hard it's going to do something to stop the skull from cracking and potential concussion

And note water is as hard has concrete when you hit it at speed

Depends what you value more, your brain or your discs

A young guy had a very nasty kitemare launch in gusty wind down here a few weeks ago, dragged onto road. He was wearing an unknown helmet and it actually cracked on the outside behind the ear area so it probably saved him from a serious head injury.

I dont wear one but just bought an ION to learn foiling.

Bought a WIP helmet for foiling and it is comfortable and designed for water sports like high speed foiling cat sailing. Not cheap, but does the job and comes with ear protectors if needed. I popped an ear drum in the surf a little while back too...
boatcrewgear.com/helmets/

I use a Gath (no visor), and it is very light and close-fitting so would not contribute to likelihood of neck injury. Pretty sure it'll protect against board-strike injuries as well as eardrum damage. But I also found wind noise annoying when foiling until I taped over all the vents... worst factor In creating the whistling sound was a tiny drainhole on top!

Anyone know how to remove noise(turbulence) from frwd wip helmet?.. wind plus speed makes it very uncomfortable . Tnks

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Bazinga said..
I recently burst my eardrum when my foil board smacked into my ear pretty hard after a crash. The missus got me a rugby helmet that works really well if you put a cheap cap under it.

She's got taste

Rideengine have this one coming soon

Back on topic... soft helmets for light wind foiling are not gonna do much in a big stack

Bit tired of my oversized Mystic head bucket, and looking at maybe a gath so I can use for prone surfing also, would like to know peeps experiences on these, they don's seem to be as popular as they were 20-30 years ago.

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carlosiberia said..
Anyone know how to remove noise(turbulence) from frwd wip helmet?.. wind plus speed makes it very uncomfortable . Tnks

Ear seals stop everything. Being able to hear is preferable but you get used to it. Ear infections and trapped water are zero.

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Peahi said..
... and looking at maybe a gath so I can use for prone surfing also, would like to know peeps experiences on these, they don's seem to be as popular as they were 20-30 years ago.

I have a Gath convertible. It's ok. Certainly better than the other helmets I've tried (various Protec and NP). It's comfortable enough. It protects from minor board/foil impacts. It would do nothing if you headbutted a rock (but no helmet will help you with that). The wind noise sucks.

I wear it wing foiling. Wing foiling is slow so the risk of neck injuries from high speed crashes is low. But you're attached to the board and the wing so bumps from both of them are common. The speed is so slow that wind noise is not such a problem unless you're jamming upwind.

It's highly unlikely I would wear any helmet for kite boarding or kite foiling. I have finally recovered from the neck injuries from the early days of kite foiling and the general trauma from learning powered kite loops.

The adjustment system on the Gath is adhesive rubber strips. The glue doesn't work. They peel off on the first use. I worked around that by wearing a cap or beanie or wetsuit hood underneath. That works fine. Other people use permanent glues but I didn't want to do that.

The adjustment system is critical on a helmet. If the helmet gets loose then it can "explode" in a crash. There is nothing worse than having the helmet pushed down over your face or pulled back off your head with all the damage the hard edges can cause. Think of skin scraped off your nose or neck strain or choking. Add sunglasses and things can get ugly. Those dial/ratchet/buckle adjusters are total crap. They literally burst open on a hard crash.

I am a noob just starting out and got my hands on a Pro-Tec helmet. I also have very short hair so this helps with the sunburn. Haven't had a real heavy stack yet, so cannot comment on that side of things.

protecbrand.com.au/collections/water-helmets

We have a had a bit of experience with helmets, through the kite school initially and then later on with kite foiling, wind winging and foil racing.
There are a couple of options with the soft helmets, like Horey69 suggested we have some of the Ride Engine softies coming, we also have the DMC Fins Surf hat.
On the hard hat front we have moved away from the Protec Ace Wake and Ace Water, neither were particularly comfortable unless you had a cone head!
Most recently we have been using the Triple 8 Water and the super lightweight Forward WIp Proflex, which features and expanding shell so one size really does fits all.

Toddy ASWA

projectsurfhelmet.com/reviews/gamebreaker-pro-d3o/

15 years and ive always worn a helmet which wont stop you getting knocked out only stop full contact injuries.
For me it keeps my head warm in winter and sun off in summer. i got white water rafting helmet from USA,more padding and carbon shell.
Had and still do have Gath which are not cheap but quite basic in padding and design. tried face sheild on garth which lasts 6 months then salt frosted so useless.

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surfguy said..
15 years and ive always worn a helmet which wont stop you getting knocked out only stop full contact injuries.
For me it keeps my head warm in winter and sun off in summer. i got white water rafting helmet from USA,more padding and carbon shell.
Had and still do have Gath which are not cheap but quite basic in padding and design. tried face sheild on garth which lasts 6 months then salt frosted so useless.

Gath face shield is useless IMO as it gets scratched and frosted but basic Gath is my preferred option as it's light and protects from elements but of course not from headfirst to a wall...in the end, all helmets are a compromise and you need to figure out what's important