Hey Everybody,

I just warn everybody about the dangers of kiting at pt walter in the river. Since we have been getting so many crazy easterlies these days, pt walter is the busies spot in Perth. And for those that haven't riden there much, please take these comments into consideration:

Rocks - There are lots of sharp, deadly rocks on both sides of the ridding/launching area. Don't try anything where people are setting up and try to walk a ways down the point before getting on your board....your board with thank you later.

Jumping - The big sand-spit is great fun to jump, but don't even considered if unless you are 100% on your boosts and willing to risk very serious injury. Landing on the spit can mean a destroyed board as a minimum, destroyed ankles are more likely though.

If you do jump the spit and think your going to land on the sand, roller over and take it on the butt. Don't try to kick off your board (theres no telling where it will go) and don't try and land on your feet (as i said before, broken ankles).

Also, you can only jump from the onshore side to the off shore side. Trust me on this, i have tried...many times. No matter how much speed you think you have, you can NOT jump from the off shore side to the on shore side, the wind pushes you down wind....surprising i know

Kiting around the point - Be very careful doing this, the wind gets really sketchy the further you go down the spit. Try to stay somewhere in the middle of the spit on the onshore side as the water is deepest and the wind is best.

Shallow Water - Today was especially bad for kiting in the shallows as the tide was way out. Now i know the water is flattest in the shallows, but please, for the love of your body and board, don't try anything when the water is only 10 cm deep. This is the reason for my message today as did a very, very dumb thing this morning. I tried a really big dangle pass in water i thought was deep enough....but wasn't. I came down from about 4m up, unhooked, and landed straight on my forehead. I knocked myself out and spent the rest of the day getting my neck and spine x-rayed. Luckily, and i mean very luckily, i escape with only a very stiff neck and back.....but i could of very easily had the last kite of my life today.

Anyway, i'll be back on the water in a week or so so no permanent harm done. I am just very bothered by my complete lack of judgment doing such a committing move in such a dangerous spot. For those that head down tomorrow, i'll be the guy landing and launching kites, making sure you know not to be stupid like me.

LOL I saw that, grey and yellow fuel? Try 1.5m up, nice stack though. Hope you feel better soon.

Yep good sesh there today, if only i had a camera i could have made cash on funiest home video!!!!

Someone launched is mate on the spit in a full down wind position[}:)]
Someone else trying to launch his mate with the kite upwind from the man at the end of the lines

Someone ask me to launch him while holding his bar the wrong way
Overall, it made me fee good because i may be new to the sport but i understand wind and will never be caught doing one of the above
Glad to hear you didn't hurt yourself to bad mate.

Saw a guy on a pink and grey flying Mcdonalds hit the spit at full speed. I dont think he even attempted to jump. Counted 50 kites there in the morning.

1 other piece of advice..... Launch way down the spit. The 2 pine trees on the point disturb the wind and create a dangerous situation as your kite will probably fall out of the sky or pull you into the submerged rocks.

50 kites at the spit......fk. Thats incredible.
All of a sudden Easterlies are so unappealing.

dont know if anyone saw yesterday arvo was heading out maybe 200m out and to my left about 20m away i saw three fins heading my way. didnt get a good look as i headed straight for shore. on my next few runs i only headed out approx 50m or so until i thought they may have passed. hoping someone saw them and can advise they were dolphins. they didnt look like dolphins just the way the fins slowly disappeared under underwater and normally when i see a fin i can recognise it straight away. dont know if it was due to the water but they looked yellow/brown and i thought only dolphins cruised side by side. hope it was you flipper and not bruce.

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poor relative said...

50 kites at the spit......fk. Thats incredible.
All of a sudden Easterlies are so unappealing.

all of a sudden?

what is wrong with you.

Marco, good idea to know the location you are kiting before heading out...ask people and check out the WAKSA location guide........and remember the acronym CLEAR.

Had a great session at Attadale this morning...dont' head to the spit much these days as I hate crowds and rocks.

If one kites upwind from Attadale you will find 1 Sqm Km of the flatest water, no rocks, but shallow........the biggest downside is that there is no spit to jump and no spectators cheering your great abilities on.

now for brunch.........got to love WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Golf is also good in this weather.

Another day another broken body. Just returned from a nice session at PW. A guy smashed his legs trying to jump the spit and was laid out waiting for an ambulance for an hour.He was carried out on a spinal board and some seriously mangled knees. Its not dangerous there if you exercise caution - If you want to be the hero and jump the spit - Expect to get fkd!

it's a painful way to discover your not nearly as good as you think yourself to be

Oh ya, i forgot to mention all the sharks and dolphins that like to hang-out there. 99.99% of the time when you see a fin its a dolphin, especially if there is a group of them but i have seen the odd shark.

One time i saw a shark trying to attack one of the smaller dolphins of a group about 20m off the offshore side...in water about knee deep. It was a real sight, the pack of dolphins kicked the **** out of the shark when it started trying to attack. Since the water was so shallow you could see all the fins, flippers and teeth flying all over the place. Great sight!!!

In the end, the dolphins won hands down....although now i'm a little more scared of dolphins.

Cool sighting Marco....lost my board near the channel today and there were some big mother dolphins checking me out...better them than a blind sharkie.

Hope the laid out dude recovers fully.....but already 2 less to kite the spit...soon summer will be over and many will leave for warmer weather.

I was out today and yesterday, saw the pack of Dolphins yesterday..went straight past them...pretty cool, not sure how you could mistake them for sharks? I Was out there also to hear the guy with the legs wailing in agony for an hour waiting for the Ambo....poor bastard!

Yeah I was a bit late getting down there today, arrived to seeing the ambo's taking a very grey faced dude with them, almost put me off getting on the water .
It was almost as busy on the water as at Kitestock, but somehow felt more crowded, due I think to the few guys acting like they own the place- please be polite and stick to the give way rules guys, especially in light winds! Doesnt take much effort and makes it a lot more fun for everyone else out there.
In the meantime, when you are all at school and work tommorrow morning, it's me who will be out there having a blast at last!

Kite amiogs - I just returned from Pt Walter and was involved in treating the guy who broke his femur. The guy was taking a lesson from his son and they were working in the shallows on the north side of the sand bar about 200m down the bar when it happened. Apparently he dipped the kite through the power window and got yanked forward landing awkwardly on his leg. I'm not sure if he was actually on his board when it happened.

The really disturbing thing was we waited for 45 minutes before the paramedics arrived from Freo. The poor bloke was going into shock and was really in a bad kind of way by the time they arrived. Does anyone work in the Perth medical community and know what is a reasonable expectation in terms of ambulance service times? This was just dreadful watching this guy suffer as we could almost see the hospital.

On the positive side there were a number of guys who immediately laid their kites down on the sand bar and attended to this guy. One bloke who's name I've forgotten sat the whole time in 8" of water holding this guy in an awkward position trying his best to comfort him as we waited for the ambulance. Good job dude.

I sure hope this guy is ok. If anyone knows him or his son's ask them to drop me an email.

-Mike

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scalleywags said...
One bloke who's name I've forgotten sat the whole time in 8" of water holding this guy in an awkward position trying his best to comfort him as we waited for the ambulance. Good job dude.

Hmmm...
I wonder why the victim wasn't carried to dry land to await the ambulance ?

Dont move a person with a suspected spinal injury, thats why........

A broken leg isnt really a life threatening injury. Sure it will hurt a lot. But survival is likely. Ambos might have been attending more serious stuff.
And yes, never move a person with suspected spinal, unless they arnt breathing. Wait for ambos. But if they arnt breathing they have to be moved to clear the airways and possible cpr.

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scalleywags said...

The really disturbing thing was we waited for 45 minutes before the paramedics arrived from Freo. The poor bloke was going into shock and was really in a bad kind of way by the time they arrived. Does anyone work in the Perth medical community and know what is a reasonable expectation in terms of ambulance service times? This was just dreadful watching this guy suffer as we could almost see the hospital.

Hey, i'm an ambo.. Not that it will help much now, but FYI the job would prob have come in as a priority 2, depending on what info was given by the caller... This would be based on it being a trauma, but the patient was conscious and no life threatening injuries.
When dispatched the ambulance would leave immediately (no lights or sirens) but if a priority 1 came through and they were closest would have to be deferred. If the wait was 45 mins it prob meant there werent many crews around or that crews had had to respond to more urgent calls. Disappointing when someone is obviously in urgent need of help, and we go to lots of calls when ppl dont need us at all.
Great to hear how many ppl lent a hand, and was prob the right thing not to move him till the ambos got there.
Hope the guy is ok and makes a full recovery.
Cheers

You can die if you broke a leg, we have the Femoral artery in the leg any problem with this artery and you can die.
Good advice take lessons
Hope the guy is ok

Good winds

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Unhook679 said...

You can die if you broke a leg, we have the Femoral artery in the leg any problem with this artery and you can die.
Good advice take lessons
Hope the guy is ok

Good winds

Not probable though. As Breezy (ambo) said, from info given minimum risk of death.

Bizarre place to have lessons. Speedy recovery

"Bizarre place to have lessons". Speedy recovery

that's why 2 schools were teaching there on saturday......
sometimes the $ is more important??????

Sometimes you have to wonder.
I really do hope he recovers fine.
Lets hope he doesnt try again.

Waiting for the ambo to arrive...




Help arrives...


The infamous wally point rocks...
PS. Waded out toget this shot



Busy day at the river




Few more pics in the gallery

dude - nice camera.

Hey what camera do you have.

cheers

My tupence having kited at Point Walter for the last few days. What a lovely spot - real nice flat water.

I sat on the beach and watched incident after incident after incident. Mostly bad launches and mostly people launching either directly downwind, holding the kite the wrong way around and standing in between the lines (!) or with the kite in the wind shadow created by the trees/ land on the mainland. Why do people do this? Is the thrill of a luffing kite (into people and parked kites) directly downwind really that worth it?

Edit: Also I should add what a pleasure to watch some of the good riders. Best HP Nemi rider doing massive kiteloops, couple of Vegas riders, Pulse 2 rider doing backloop kiteloops on a surf board (albeit thin one) and orange cabrinha dude doing some good stuff as well. All in excellent!

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Wookster said...

My tupence having kited at Point Walter for the last few days. What a lovely spot - real nice flat water.

I sat on the beach and watched incident after incident after incident. Mostly bad launches and mostly people launching either directly downwind, holding the kite the wrong way around and standing in between the lines (!) or with the kite in the wind shadow created by the trees/ land on the mainland. Why do people do this? Is the thrill of a luffing kite (into people and parked kites) directly downwind really that worth it?

Yeah saw all of that too!

My theory: all the noobs are used to launching at their regular in a prevailing SSW wind. They come down to Point Walter and everythings "arse about". Wind is from a foreign direction, have to setup lines across the wind, limited space etc. etc.

Result is setups are wrong and launches go bad

And you can't see the rocks unless you have kitecam

Everywhere on the river is chaos now.
Melville, Pelli and more recently The spit.
What i cant believe is that there were lessons being give there.

Roll up roll up...... lol

Personally i dont do easterlies until the temp drops to 5deg, the wind is +20 knots and its pre 8am......bring on winter