In just the last month 2 kitesurfers died in Europe (UK and France)

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2986625/Former-soldier-drowns-freak-kitesurfing-accident-dragged-water-20mph-winds-crowded-Norfolk-beach-warmest-day-year-far.html

http://www.languedocliving.com/kite-surfer-suffers-fatal-accident-in-barcars-news-2859.html

These horrible accidents are a good reminder of how dangerous our sport can be. A timely reminder for us, as dangerous kiting conditions are just around the corner with frontal conditions already starting to come.

We need to look out for each other and educate other kiters around us... I find myself warning many under-trained newbies each year that are trying to go out in frontal conditions without properly understanding/assessing the risks. They are usually kiters with a single size of kite who don't understand fundamental concepts of types of wind (frontal vs thermal), wind strength, wind direction and wind effects....concepts like these are unfortunately very rarely covered in lessons Some students have even had lessons in on-shore winds and/or in frontal conditions so they think it's safe...

When looking back at all the bad injuries and deaths in our sport, it's pretty clear that most of these occurred in frontal, on-shore gusty winds.

What's also pretty clear to me is the importance of practicing releasing our safety systems quickly and checking that they are operating smoothly every time before we go out.

thanks for reading,

Christian

In fact there has been 3.

The first 2 you mention appear to be oversized kites flown in gusty conditions leading to loss of control of the kite. These 2 deaths could have been entirely preventable with correct kite selection.

The last one it seems that the guy was hit by a stingray and bleed out in a remote area location before help could arrive. This appears to be a freak accident.

All deaths are a tragic waste of life.

kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2388485&p=882888

I agree that a firm knowledge of weather phenomenon is a huge help in assessing risk.
Speaking to more experienced kiters at the beach and observing how the conditions are out on the water, what size kite they fly, etc.
If everyone kites back to the beach there is usually a reason and it's best to do the same.

As with everything, kiting can be a very safe sport in my opinion if you assess risk correctly.
If in doubt stay out.

Pulling safety early and practicing self rescue are also vital skills IMO.
This is what I have learned so far based on my limited experience...

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Plummet said..
In fact there has been 3.

The first 2 you mention appear to be oversized kites flown in gusty conditions leading to loss of control of the kite. These 2 deaths could have been entirely preventable with correct kite selection.

The last one it seems that the guy was hit by a stingray and bleed out in a remote area location before help could arrive. This appears to be a freak accident.

All deaths are a tragic waste of life.

kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2388485&p=882888

You are right Plummet, there is a lot to consider when choosing the right size.

One of the accident happened on my home spot where I learned to kite. The winds in south of France called Tramontana and Mistral are really unpredictable. The gust can reach 100% increase in few seconds ... means going from 25knots average to 50knots gusts.

I dont know much about the accident as the official report is not available yet.

The danger is for kiters visiting those regions for holiday. They are not use to gusty wind.
I learned there and we use to wait for hours for the right conditions. (kiting with old C-shape at the time)

Most of experienced riders ride on the sea side which is off shore wind. It's not a dangerous practice if you know what you are doing and of course you are ready to lose your gear in case of release. The good thing is that it's deep water and no obstacle facing you.

The intermediate riders are usually going on the inside lagunes (where the accident happened). The lagunes are not safer than off shore wind. Of course you can release your kite and not lose it, but the water is usually really shallow, the wind even more gusty, crowded spots and the shore is not far when s**t happen. So many people crashes into cars, trees, rocks ...

In those conditions, the locals are usually riding smaller kites. In 25 knots they will be on 5/6/7 but not more, there is a reason why. We saw too many people rigging their 12m kites in those conditions thinking they will be ok with the bull**** 100% depower ... well not in 40/50 knots gust.

Always talk to the locals, even more if you are travelling.

Stay safe!

Ben

as ben mentioned its quite hard to predict wind in certain spots in Europe, the bksa or british kite sports give constant reminders to kiters , the better winds tend to be driven by frontals, so a bit like kiting our nwesters, rarely are they blessed with what we regard as a constant seabreeze, spent a fair few years around frejus , st Raphael , st maxime, on the cote d azur, a good reminder to us as our first nwester arrives on Friday, with a solid swell, my favourite conditions , enjoy but know your limits,

I may be opening a can of worms and it may not necessarily have changed the outcome of those unfortunate deaths, but I have to say that I am surprised how few kitesurfers wear helmets. I know it feels/looks nicer not to wear one but with everyone doing massive jumps and how hard it is when you hit the water surface, no matter how experienced one is, it's very easy to bash your head.

Personally as an intermediate kiter, I've hit my head hard twice with jumps gone wrong and was glad to have the helmet on.

Do kiters not like wearing one because it tags them as a beginner ?

A helmet also protects your scalp from sun burns

The best girl at my local wears a skid lid and no one is going to tag her as a beginner - plus who really cares what people think?

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Alysum said..
I may be opening a can of worms and it may not necessarily have changed the outcome of those unfortunate deaths, but I have to say that I am surprised how few kitesurfers wear helmets. I know it feels/looks nicer not to wear one but with everyone doing massive jumps and how hard it is when you hit the water surface, no matter how experienced one is, it's very easy to bash your head.

Personally as an intermediate kiter, I've hit my head hard twice with jumps gone wrong and was glad to have the helmet on.

Do kiters not like wearing one because it tags them as a beginner ?

A helmet also protects your scalp from sun burns

In these particular cases a helmet may not have helped.

But there have been many deaths that could have been prevented if a helmet was worn. Most people think because they kite over water they do not need a helmet. However most accidents happen on or close to land and these people choosing not to wear a helmet die because of it.

Another argument is that the helmet makes your head diameter bigger and therefore more prone to whiplash damage during crashing into the water. I have not seen a death where this has been stated to be the primary case of injury. This argument I think is moot.

The reality is that if you wear a helmet you will be safer than if you do not wear one.

There will be many people extolling the virtues of why they don't wear a helmet. You can place all these people into 3 groups. 1) It's inconvenient and or 2) It's uncool, and or 3) ignorance.

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cbulota said..
In just the last month 2 kitesurfers died in Europe (UK and France)

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2986625/Former-soldier-drowns-freak-kitesurfing-accident-dragged-water-20mph-winds-crowded-Norfolk-beach-warmest-day-year-far.html

www.languedocliving.com/kite-surfer-suffers-fatal-accident-in-barcars-news-2859.html

These horrible accidents are a good reminder of how dangerous our sport can be. A timely reminder for us, as dangerous kiting conditions are just around the corner with frontal conditions already starting to come.

We need to look out for each other and educate other kiters around us... I find myself warning many under-trained newbies each year that are trying to go out in frontal conditions without properly understanding/assessing the risks. They are usually kiters with a single size of kite who don't understand fundamental concepts of types of wind (frontal vs thermal), wind strength, wind direction and wind effects....concepts like these are unfortunately very rarely covered in lessons Some students have even had lessons in on-shore winds and/or in frontal conditions so they think it's safe...

When looking back at all the bad injuries and deaths in our sport, it's pretty clear that most of these occurred in frontal, on-shore gusty winds.

What's also pretty clear to me is the importance of practicing releasing our safety systems quickly and checking that they are operating smoothly every time before we go out.

thanks for reading,

Christian

Good post Mate and my thoughts to the relos of the deceased, With out trying to hy jack or better your post Christian, in the last year at my local I have witnessed 2 broken arms , busted elbow, 2 or 3 kites in the bushes at Alva, I think what you have said rings true , we should take the time and have the need to look out for each other and educate other kiters around us.
Mick

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Plummet said..
...
Another argument is that the helmet makes your head diameter bigger and therefore more prone to whiplash damage during crashing into the water. I have not seen a death where this has been stated to be the primary case of injury. This argument I think is moot.
....

Plummet, please don't take it personal, but you obviously have never suffered a whiplash... sometime the pain is such as you wish you were dead and it often lasts for years or ... forever...
The other thing is that you do not read headlines on xyz got a whiplash, but you always read (how ofter really) if someone dies. And even those deaths were not really shown to have been preventable by a helmet.
...a Nanny state, though, will make it compulsory soon alongside floating west and diapers...

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Andrash said..

Plummet said..
...
Another argument is that the helmet makes your head diameter bigger and therefore more prone to whiplash damage during crashing into the water. I have not seen a death where this has been stated to be the primary case of injury. This argument I think is moot.
....

Plummet, please don't take it personal, but you obviously have never suffered a whiplash... sometime the pain is such as you wish you were dead and it often lasts for years or ... forever...
The other thing is that you do not read headlines on xyz got a whiplash, but you always read (how ofter really) if someone dies. And even those deaths were not really shown to have been preventable by a helmet.
...a Nanny state, though, will make it compulsory soon alongside floating west and diapers...

I believe Plummet was refering to death due to whiplash while kiting on water, not whiplash in general. I must admit I've never heard of anyone actually dying due to whiplash but happy to be corrected.

For my part I wear a helmet regularly. I've had some awesome crashes but yet to experience any whiplash caused or exacerbated by the helmet.

A would add common sense to wearing a helmet..

stable/thermal predictable winds, flat water, just cruising around.. helmet is kind over kill sometimes.. but in second maybe you can had bad landing and hit board or even worse fin with head.. not good

i do not live in area with great conditions, or great spots. usually very gusty winds. and i bought helmet. hopefully had no head injuries yet but i can say that comfortable helmet gets me feeling more secure i and kind enjoy wearing it when conditions are ruff. plus it's another layer of wind protection over my head witch i found that prevents headacke after a cold wind session.

This may sound a strange question but what have others done to educate themselves on winds & weather, short of being a meteorologist? I've done a bit to learn about cloud patterns but when it comes to actual wind and wind changes, I haven't seen much other than "check the forecast." For instance, thermal vs frontal winds has been mentioned earlier, I know about thermals but that's the first time I've heard the term frontal wind.Any of the more experienced/knowledgeable guys able to draw up a simple list of topics that they think should at least be covered in lessons as a starting point for myself and other new guys?

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Freddofrog said..

Andrash said..

Plummet said..
...
Another argument is that the helmet makes your head diameter bigger and therefore more prone to whiplash damage during crashing into the water. I have not seen a death where this has been stated to be the primary case of injury. This argument I think is moot.
....

Plummet, please don't take it personal, but you obviously have never suffered a whiplash... sometime the pain is such as you wish you were dead and it often lasts for years or ... forever...
The other thing is that you do not read headlines on xyz got a whiplash, but you always read (how ofter really) if someone dies. And even those deaths were not really shown to have been preventable by a helmet.
...a Nanny state, though, will make it compulsory soon alongside floating west and diapers...

I believe Plummet was refering to death due to whiplash while kiting on water, not whiplash in general. I must admit I've never heard of anyone actually dying due to whiplash but happy to be corrected.

For my part I wear a helmet regularly. I've had some awesome crashes but yet to experience any whiplash caused or exacerbated by the helmet.

Yeah. What i was trying to get across is that if you don't wear a helmet to do the possibility of whiplash you are infact putting yourself in greater danger than if you wore a helmet. Its percieved risk verses actual risk.

For the record I have suffered whiplash in a car crash. I agree it is not enjoyable at all. I have never come close to whiplash crashing in the water. But I have been saved twice kiting wearing a helmet. Once when the board smacked me in the back of the head crashing in heavy surf. And another time land kiting when i was lofted into a fence.

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PommyMike said..
This may sound a strange question but what have others done to educate themselves on winds & weather, short of being a meteorologist? I've done a bit to learn about cloud patterns but when it comes to actual wind and wind changes, I haven't seen much other than "check the forecast." For instance, thermal vs frontal winds has been mentioned earlier, I know about thermals but that's the first time I've heard the term frontal wind.Any of the more experienced/knowledgeable guys able to draw up a simple list of topics that they think should at least be covered in lessons as a starting point for myself and other new guys?

I think the main thing to understand is how weather patterns affect the wind. There are general rules to look for and then local conditions that need to be considered.


For example winter kiting here in nz brings frontal driven winds. That means the wind is driven not by a seabreeze convection which is typically smooth clean wind. It is driven my weather fronts moving either out of the tropics or down from south. It gusty wind, cloud/rain formations that have a heavy effect on the wind. When a rain sqaull goes through it can change the wind considerably. How it changes it depends on the weather pattern occuring at the time. Sometimes there is little change other times there is significant change.

So understanding how the weather affects your local is critical to staying safe.

I personally check several weather forecast web sites. Then i check local live weather station wind readings. I also check rain radar on those days that rain/squalls may occur. On rainy squally days you can track the squalls on the rain radar, compare the effect with live weather stations and the upcoming forecast. By the time you hit the beach you have a good idea what the weather is going to do. Then its a visual check to confirm or adjust my thoughts. Seeing what other kite sizes are already out. Getting any info from guys who have just been out... then making a decision about what to fly.........

What happens in the United Arab Emirates? I have no idea what the main issues are? The variables there could be completely different.

Not a lot happens here in all honesty, we're lucky if we get over 12 knots and it's blue skies and sunshine 350 days a year. I guess that's why our instructors don't go into too much detail on weather as it is fairly predictable. I'm looking at moving down under in a few months so that's why I've started taking an interest of what happens over there

Thanks for the info

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Good post Mate (that was cblota) my thoughts to the relos of the deceased, With out trying to hy jack or better your post Christian, in the last year at my local I have witnessed 2 broken arms , busted elbow, 2 or 3 kites in the bushes at Alva, I think what you have said rings true , we should take the time and have the need to look out for each other and educate other kiters around us.
Mick

One simple rule.
QUICK RELEASE - 1ST RESPONSE NOT A LAST RESORT.
Dont fool yourself into thinking "I can sort this". You may well if nothing else goes wrong - but its when the 2nd complication hits that you are in trouble.
This is a good rule for all the time - an essential one in Perth winter conditions.

Another one we have taught in our school (since Sproddys very avoidable death).
With an assisted landing - hit your QR as soon as youre sure your mate has the kite secure.
ie rather than running towards them or unhooking.
This has you working your QR every time you go kiting. Keeps it front & centre in your mind & becomes 2nd nature.
It also means you need to rebuild every time - no hassle but a good skill to have as 2nd nature when you need to do it in washing machine conditions.

IMO these 2 rules should be mandatory in every school.