Hi all,

For anyone likely to be involved with rescuing kitesurfers by boat this summer, we will be holding an indoor presentation this Tuesday 1st of October. Please find more details below and if you are interested in attending, please email Philip Martin (President Fremantle Volunteer Sea Rescue Group) president(at)searescue.com.au before Tuesday 10AM. Other stakeholders who have been invited are the local Surf Life Saving Groups and the Water Police.

Hi All,
Due to the increasing number of kite-surf related Search and Rescue incidents in the Perth Metro area, Fremantle Sea Rescue are looking to develop a best practice procedure for the recovery of kite-surfers into a rescue vessel. This is with an emphasis on learning:

- when/how it is best to approach a kite-surfer in the water
- when/how it is better to approach the kite itself and use that as a recovery aid
- how to control, deflate or detach a kite and its lines from a kite-surfer
- what instructions to give to the kite-surfer if any
- what sort of kite-surf specific injuries may be expected

Often there are times when a kite-surfer may not be able to jettison their own equipment (e.g. tangled lines or unconsciousness) so it is important that rescuers know what to do in these situations without endangering themselves or compromising the rescue vessel. The fatality of a kite-surfer on the beach in Cottesloe last week demonstrates the potential danger, even to experienced kite-surfers.
Fremantle Sea Rescue are hosting a presentation by Christian Bulota from Action Sports WA this Tuesday 1st October at East Fremantle Yacht Club at 7pm sharp. Christian is the school manager and senior instructor at Actions Sports. He runs the rescue training and revalidation programme for their own kite-surf instructors; he has been personally involved with at least 15 kite-surf rescues over the last three years in the Perth area. Action Sports have developed their own best practices which they are kindly offering to pass on to us. This is with a view to getting the discussion started and then formalising the practice for our rescue crew.
The presentation will be from 7pm to 7.40pm followed by a Q&A. There will be a practical on-water follow-up session with a kite-surfer and rescue vessel within a few weeks. You are welcome to join the crew from Fremantle Sea Rescue in the Yacht Club bar from 6/6.30pm onwards.
If you wish to attend please advise me by email by 10am Tuesday so I can pass numbers onto the yacht club. I apologise for the very short notice, however this Tuesday is the last opportunity to get the Fremantle Sea Rescue crew and Christian together prior to the season, and still have time to implement the practice. Please circulate this invite to anyone who may be interested to attend.

Kind regards
Phil

Any chance that this presentation could be video'ed? That way we can add it to the new KA website and share with all State Assocs to assist all lifeguards and volunteer coast guards, water police etc??

Yeah KP we should be able to do that and probably upload to vimeo, KA can link to that!
Toddy

I wrote up information on boat rescues for kitesurfers when we did our Bay Crossing last year here: kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/safety/rescue-and-handling-kites

There is information on how to approach kiters in the water, what they should do and what the people on the boat should do.

Feel free to use any of this content

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Peterc150 said..

I wrote up information on boat rescues for kitesurfers when we did our Bay Crossing last year here: kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/safety/rescue-and-handling-kites

There is information on how to approach kiters in the water, what they should do and what the people on the boat should do.

Feel free to use any of this content

Thanks for that Peter, Some good ideas in your guide.

With no official protocol on boat rescues and with the wide variety of potential scenarios involving rescuing a kitesurfer, boat rescue methods are still open for debate and I am open for suggestions so please continue to share ideas.

In my opinion the training of non-kitesurfer rescue parties (SLSC, Sea Rescue, Water Police, etc.) should differ from kitesurfing instructor boat-rescue training. It should aim towards a simple, fast and universal approach involving the least amount of risk possible even in the worst case scenarios.

Number of rescue scenarios are likely to involve one (or more) tangled and powered up kites or kites that are likely to power up at any time. In WA, these rescues also typically involve strong winds and heavy chop. I believe the best course of action is to encourage the kitesurfer(s) to release the kite completely before the rescue party can attend to them.

In case of an unconscious kitesurfer, rescue parties should be trained to release safety systems or CUT LINES.

I believe grabbing hold a kitesurfer who is still attached to a kite and pulling the kite in afterwards from the lines is a recipe for disaster, especially for non-kitsurfers, even if the kite appears depowered. This goes against any boat rescue training I had and I think it should be removed from your guide. I wouldn't attempt this myself as the majority of rescue scenarios involve tangled lines and the potential for the kite to power up at any time even if the chicken loop has been released!

I think there is also too much risk involved in a non-kitesurfer handling a kite that is still attached to a stranded kitesurfer.

Unless the kitesurfer who needs to be rescued is already in a process of self-rescue or has a deflated kite, I would advise non-kitesurfer rescue parties to avoid touching kites or lines and only attend to the kitesurfer once the kite is completely released.

The second part of training non-kitesurfer rescue parties could be about retrieving runaway kites. But then again I have been involved in retrieving tangled runaway kites that were powered up in a death loop and this has to be by far the most dangerous kite rescue I have ever done! Too much can go wrong there as well so in some cases it's probably best to leave the kite(s) runaway or find a way to deflate the kite from a distance (shoot at it!?!).

Christian

BRILLIANT

so long over due! I asked a surf lifesaver on the beach a couple of seasons back if he'd been taught kite safety and how to deal with the lines etc. I was stunned when he said they'd been taught nothing about kites!
He had no idea about safety systems, how to release, dealing with over 100 m of kite lines floating in the water, how to grab a kite safely, use of a hook knife etc
I hope your boat safety also extends to helping a downed Kiter in the shallows which is the place most things go awry and if not quickly dealt with can pose a danger to the general public

( if I'm tangled in my lines and being swamped by waves 10 m from shore please feel free to cut all my lines and stab my kite. I'll happily pay the couple of hundred bucks for repairs if it means I get to safely go home to my kids)

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daggy said..

BRILLIANT

so long over due! I asked a surf lifesaver on the beach a couple of seasons back if he'd been taught kite safety and how to deal with the lines etc. I was stunned when he said they'd been taught nothing about kites!
He had no idea about safety systems, how to release, dealing with over 100 m of kite lines floating in the water, how to grab a kite safely, use of a hook knife etc
I hope your boat safety also extends to helping a downed Kiter in the shallows which is the place most things go awry and if not quickly dealt with can pose a danger to the general public

( if I'm tangled in my lines and being swamped by waves 10 m from shore please feel free to cut all my lines and stab my kite. I'll happily pay the couple of hundred bucks for repairs if it means I get to safely go home to my kids)

My kids are all Surf Lifesavers, and the local beach that they patrol is also a very popular kitesurfing area. As part of their training they have had to study similar presentations to these. I had always assumed that it was a national training program, but possibly not.

www.surflifesaving.net.au/pdf/rescue_services/kitesurf.pdf

http://www.lifesaving.com.au/downloads/Policies/MEMBERS%20HUB%20P%20LS11%20-%20Kite%20Surfing%20Management%20Guidlines.pdf

Hi all,

thanks for sharing information and documents. The presentation took place last night in a crowded room filled with members of Sea Rescue, SLSC, water police and more. I was astonished by everyone's level of attention and interest. The presentation was followed by a half-hour Q&A session during which excellent questions and concerns were brought up.

We are currently working on an online video presentation which will be shared later. Due to various technical reasons, the footage from last night's presentation isn't the greatest so we will most likely have to re-record it, please give us a few days.

In the meantime, you can view, download and share the PDF of the presentation from the following link: lifeundersky.com/

Bare in mind that the boat rescue procedures suggested in this presentation have been adapted and targeted for non-kitesurfer rescue parties.

Feel free to share this document and please continue to share your feed-back.

many thanks,

Christian

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ActionSportsWA said..
Hi all,

For anyone likely to be involved with rescuing kitesurfers by boat this summer, we will be holding an indoor presentation this Tuesday 1st of October. Please find more details below and if you are interested in attending, please email Philip Martin (President Fremantle Volunteer Sea Rescue Group) president(at)searescue.com.au before Tuesday 10AM. Other stakeholders who have been invited are the local Surf Life Saving Groups and the Water Police.

Hi All,

Due to the increasing number of kite-surf related Search and Rescue incidents in the Perth Metro area, Fremantle Sea Rescue are looking to develop a best practice procedure for the recovery of kite-surfers into a rescue vessel. This is with an emphasis on learning:

- when/how it is best to approach a kite-surfer in the water

- when/how it is better to approach the kite itself and use that as a recovery aid

- how to control, deflate or detach a kite and its lines from a kite-surfer

- what instructions to give to the kite-surfer if any

- what sort of kite-surf specific injuries may be expected

Often there are times when a kite-surfer may not be able to jettison their own equipment (e.g. tangled lines or unconsciousness) so it is important that rescuers know what to do in these situations without endangering themselves or compromising the rescue vessel. The fatality of a kite-surfer on the beach in Cottesloe last week demonstrates the potential danger, even to experienced kite-surfers.

Fremantle Sea Rescue are hosting a presentation by Christian Bulota from Action Sports WA this Tuesday 1st October at East Fremantle Yacht Club at 7pm sharp. Christian is the school manager and senior instructor at Actions Sports. He runs the rescue training and revalidation programme for their own kite-surf instructors; he has been personally involved with at least 15 kite-surf rescues over the last three years in the Perth area. Action Sports have developed their own best practices which they are kindly offering to pass on to us. This is with a view to getting the discussion started and then formalising the practice for our rescue crew.

The presentation will be from 7pm to 7.40pm followed by a Q&A. There will be a practical on-water follow-up session with a kite-surfer and rescue vessel within a few weeks. You are welcome to join the crew from Fremantle Sea Rescue in the Yacht Club bar from 6/6.30pm onwards.

If you wish to attend please advise me by email by 10am Tuesday so I can pass numbers onto the yacht club. I apologise for the very short notice, however this Tuesday is the last opportunity to get the Fremantle Sea Rescue crew and Christian together prior to the season, and still have time to implement the practice. Please circulate this invite to anyone who may be interested to attend.

Kind regardsPhil

Genius. A big thanks for this. Are the yacht clubs, Surf Lifesaving WA and the kite shops in the loop? But the first rule should still be that a kiter is primarily responsible for his or her safety: know the weather, label all gear with your name and phone number so rescuers with your lost kite are not searching when you are safe on dry land, keep an eye out for each other at all times and wear a lifejacket if more than 500m offshore.

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Genius. A big thanks for this. Are the yacht clubs, Surf Lifesaving WA and the kite shops in the loop?

Yes they are, some of their members were there during the presentation. The presentation will be shared to all once we finish working on an online version.

thanks.