Windsurfer hit and killed by kiter

www.varmatin.com/faits-divers/un-veliplanchiste-decede-apres-une-collision-avec-un-kitesurf-333138

happened at l'Almanarre (France), windsurfer got hit by a kiter. A mate sailing with him jumped in the water to hold his head out while another kitesurfer went to the beach to call rescue.
Couldn't be saved despite emergency crews trying for over an hour.

Poor guy had just retired, was enjoying his home spot.

And worst off all, the kiter did a hit and run.

Police are still looking for him.

quick translation :

Accident happened late afternoon on the Almanarre beach. Windsurfers and kiters have packed their gear and handed back the bay to the strong wind which had set on the spot, one of France’s most famous ones. But a drama had just happened, a drama that some could feel coming for a few months now. A collision happened around 4 pm between a kitesurf and a windsurf. In a couple of seconds, faster than the wind, a windsurfer was in the water, shellshocked.

The Kitesurfer turned away. Not far, a friend of the victim, on a windsurf too, rushes to rescue him, keeps his head out of the water. But it’s another kitesurfer that rushes to the beach to call for help. A young local asks for a dinghy and urgently goes to the rescue of the two windsurfers in the bay. The rest of the story is sadly usual. The fire brigade and rescue team arrive, close to Robinson? And then begin long minutes of resuscitation. At a distance, the locals are worried, talk about the difficult cohabitation between kites and w/surfers on windy days. But for this Bandol citizen, addicted to windsurf for 30 years, fun turned into drama. Despite the rescue team’s long effort, the w/surfer, retired from work for just 6 month has died; A victim’s friend, patiently waiting for the verdict says : “I don’t see a solution. A part from banning kitsurfing like at “six fours”. My friend was an experienced sailor, he came here for the easterly; He would never take inconsiderate risks”

Shocked : On the beach, pascal Boulanger, who runs the windsurf school, doesn’t want to point the finger at kitersurf. “What really shocks me is that the guy just went away like that, without rescuing the windsurfer. I’m really shocked, I can’t understand. Sportsmen don’t behave like that” The debate is open, install stricter rules, or ban this sport, synonym of freedom and fun for those who do it? Have a license to kitesurf ? After the doubts, the pain and the questions, it’s time to bring the right answers.

Aside from what caused the incident, the hit and run part is what concerns me. How low does a human have to stoop to leave someone injured and do a runner. I hope they catch him and I hope they throw every piece of the law they can at him. Accidents happen but there is no excuse to run and try not to take responsibility for your actions. Whoever this is, they are a disgrace of a human being, the lowest of the low and I hope kharma pays them a visit soon.

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pierrec45 said..

I can read froggy a bit - lo and behold, and comments I've read in the news (those within the news Web pages, haven't read fora yet) are out of this world.

"yeah but most of us are OK", "still a safe sport" (still trying to convince themselves it's a sport), "it's the first accident ever", "the windsurfer must have done something wrong" - the latter seen many times, "isolated incident", "out of proportion".

One of the news feeds is getting a lot of flak simply for reporting - "blown out of proportion", "sensationalism" and "not fair" - the latter a fair bit.

that's an appropriate and helpful post pierre. a great contribution

condolences to family & friends. hopefully there's an innocent explanation- i'd hate to think anyone would deliberately leave a person in the water without checking with them after a collision.

Fleeing (as it is being reported) is a dog act and I'd assume every kiter on here agrees. It is a reflection on the individual's lack of morals, not his chosen sport.

RIP.

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ggh said..

Witnessed a head on at Shearwater a couple of weeks ago . A combination of indecision lead to a very dangerous stack . Leaving the WS in the water daized and confused and I got taken out by the dropped kite lines .
WE never got to speak or find out what happened to the KS as he just pised off . ( not saying he was inconsiderate good chance he was seeing stars as well ).

It really brought home the risk and what a combined collision speed of approx 50 knots looks like . I rememeber being a little shocked and thinking "fck you could kill someone " . So sad it happened to some poor buger in france . JUst retired probably looking fwd to years of WS everyday of the week .

Lets not turn this into some bull**** KS v WS the quicker we start referring to each other as fellow board sailors and start communicating a little better that at least will be a step in the right direction to the right Answer .

Hey ggh

You should get your facts right before you spin such bull****!

I was the kite surfer run down by the sailboarder at shearwater.

I was on a starboard tack out from the beach when I realized the guy coming at me ( with 2 others sailboarders beside & downwind of him) was not going to give way I turned downwind only for him to do the same and run over the top of me.

And no I didn't piss off you f#ckwit. I copped the full brunt of his board in my thigh, spent next 5 minutes trying to compose myself, 10 minutes body dragging around trying to find my board ( which I eventually found on the beach with a 2' gash in it) and then hobbled to my car to get 2 weeks of physio.

And no you didn't speak to me at the time, you didn't bother to ask if I was ok and you didnt bother to help me. In fact you are completely full of **** because if you cared to check you would have seen me lying on my back in the water for quite some time letting the shock wash off and trying to check if the bone was sticking out of my leg somewhere. You also didn't mention that the first thing I did was check on the windsurfer and ask if he was ok before I even checked on myself. I know you didn't even bother because I was lying right behind you watching you.

So get off your soapbox, spreading bull**** and making out like youre some sort of ****ing holier than thou!!

Mainy, maybe go eat a Snickers before you post again. From one kiter to another that post is not cool. Nor is trying to dig up some support by reposting in the kite general forum.

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Chris6791 said..

Mainy, maybe go eat a Snickers before you post again. From one kiter to another that post is not cool. Nor is trying to dig up some support by reposting in the kite general forum.

Not interested in your support Chris

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Main said..

ggh said..

Witnessed a head on at Shearwater a couple of weeks ago . A combination of indecision lead to a very dangerous stack . Leaving the WS in the water daized and confused and I got taken out by the dropped kite lines .
WE never got to speak or find out what happened to the KS as he just pised off . ( not saying he was inconsiderate good chance he was seeing stars as well ).

It really brought home the risk and what a combined collision speed of approx 50 knots looks like . I rememeber being a little shocked and thinking "fck you could kill someone " . So sad it happened to some poor buger in france . JUst retired probably looking fwd to years of WS everyday of the week .

Lets not turn this into some bull**** KS v WS the quicker we start referring to each other as fellow board sailors and start communicating a little better that at least will be a step in the right direction to the right Answer .

.

Hey ggh

You should get your facts right before you spin such bull****!

I was the kite surfer run down by the sailboarder at shearwater.

I was on a starboard tack out from the beach when I realized the guy coming at me ( with 2 others sailboarders beside & downwind of him) was not going to give way I turned downwind only for him to do the same and run over the top of me.

And no I didn't piss off you f#ckwit. I copped the full brunt of his board in my thigh, spent next 5 minutes trying to compose myself, 10 minutes body dragging around trying to find my board ( which I eventually found on the beach with a 2' gash in it) and then hobbled to my car to get 2 weeks of physio.

And no you didn't speak to me at the time, you didn't bother to ask if I was ok and you didnt bother to help me. In fact you are completely full of **** because if you cared to check you would have seen me lying on my back in the water for quite some time letting the shock wash off and trying to check if the bone was sticking out of my leg somewhere. You also didn't mention that the first thing I did was check on the windsurfer and ask if he was ok before I even checked on myself. I know you didn't even bother because I was lying right behind you watching you.

So get off your soapbox, spreading bull**** and making out like youre some sort of ****ing holier than thou!!

You obviously didnt read " not saying he was inconsiderate good chance he was seeing stars as well " And who in my comment have i layed blame . Nobody . I suggest you have another look at my commment and maybe read the intent not what you perceive as some holy than thou attach on you .

And for the record I was screaming at you to see if you were ok followed by looking for you on the beach .

Condolences to his family. The day I retire (a fair way away yet), I'll also be looking forward to windsurfing/SUPing/fishing every day - sad that his r&r was cut short.

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stehsegler said..

I thought the rule was kiters always go down wind of another water user due to their lines and if they go upwind they should keep at least 1 1/2 line lengths distance to who ever is down wind.

nope in qld.

kiter on starboard tack has right of way. ie. windsurfers need to give them right of way.

when passing you must pass port to port. **(seems this is where it went wrong)**
when overtaking upwind vessel must give way

A speed limit of 6 knots:
within 30m of boats anchored, moored to the shore or aground
a jetty, wharf, pontoon or boat ramp and within 30m of people in the water

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ggh said..

Lets not turn this into some bull**** KS v WS the quicker we start referring to each other as fellow board sailors and start communicating a little better that at least will be a step in the right direction to the right Answer .

Here Here!

Shearwater is my local spot, have been kiting there for the last three years and have only ever had a problem with ignorant jet skiers and boaties!
Have always got on well with the poleys, in fact, I'm the one you will hear whooping when one of you does a backroll (looks insane by the way).

I agree 100% with the post above. It sounds to me like a little bit of inexperience on the kiters behalf as I believe this collision could have been avoided by either doing a quick sliding transition or pull a jump which would get you downwind and out of the way very quickly. I am not blaming anyone here, just saying that a kiter should be able to get out of the way quicker than a windsurfer. I would also like to point out that a WS would not have the clear vision that we have, (I am only assuming because I have never windsurfed) due to the sail and pole. Lets keep it safe guys otherwise we are going to see all sorts of restrictions put in place by the nannys

Peace out and Good Winds

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Mark _australia said..

Whoever gave me a red thumb when I said essentially the same as everyone else - wanna explain??? Or prefer to be anonymous?

I gave you a green thumb for having a winge about the red

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Main said..

Chris6791 said..

Mainy, maybe go eat a Snickers before you post again. From one kiter to another that post is not cool. Nor is trying to dig up some support by reposting in the kite general forum.

Not interested in your support Chris

I wasn't offering it.

If you take out the language and ranting in your account, and 'as he just pissed off' (which he quantifies in brackets right after) from ggh's account there are no real discrepancies between both your posts. They complement each other and fill in the blanks on each other's.

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Kazza said..
Kiters stay downwind of windsurfers so that when they jump or drop their kite and are out of control we don't get tangled up in their lines or end up like the poor guy in France. Common sense needs to be used more

+1
We are not really free to choose our own path or speed unlike power boats and even bigger sail boats.
Commonsense and general courtesy on the water plus observation of all other user behavior may help us more then strictly sticking to "right of way rules".
Sincere condolences to family of that killed windsurfer

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Chris6791 said..
Expecting kiters to stay downwind of poleys won't work, we are then limited to the water downwind of your weakest sailor. As I said kiters and poles can safely pass quite close to each other if each know the existing rules and comply with them. The 1.5 x line length is applicable to a kiter about to boost or do a flicky spinny thingy, but the onus is on the kiter to make sure downwind at that moment is clear and safe.

Its a shame this has turned into somewhat of a Kiter v Poley debate without a decent eyewitness account properly translated being put forward.

Exactly.

At a wave break we are all mixed in together so the rules that have existed for donkey's years should be obeyed, not fiddled with. You can't relegate kites to downwind. On a flatwater spot or long beach yes stay downwind, but in many cases it can't work.