I agree. Helmets have saved my life 5 times over the years.... Once while kiting.

Helmet wearing is up to the individual.Australia's leading neurosurgeon said on national TV a helmet reduces impact by less than 30%.You will still get knocked out.It will reduce superficial wounding.Helmets have been popular at Perisher ski resort for 15years,yet most injuries are non-head.Ski-ing deaths tend to be ruptured internal organs.Pushbike helmets are poorly designed and should be full faced but once again most injuries are non -head on a biketrack,hit by a car is different .I never wore a helmet on a pushy in the 60s as a kid ,why wear one now?Wearing a helmet skiing to me is not warranted,kiting at Mambo 95%don't wear a helmet.But as I said its up to the individual.

Yes i did just a minor issue to me,still no helmet .What hurt was the $758.40 ambulance ride for 6 kilometres to Wollongong hospital .A cab is only $20.

towradgi said..

Yes i did just a minor issue to me,still no helmet .What hurt was the $758.40 ambulance ride for 6 kilometres to Wollongong hospital .A cab is only $20.

But you can probably trust the ambulance to take you the most direct route.

Fine
Just don't legislate it please,
Stay out of gusty conditions
Or stay away from the beach when gusting onshore
We are all going to die
Tragically for each of us

I think most people take the approach of "i'm a good rider and i'm taking it easy today so don't need a helmet today". I ride a motorbike and push bikes and have also raced cars in the past - all activities where helmets are a requirement now days and in the case of the motorbike and pushbike I have had a helmet save my life on a number of occasions, in most cases through direct fault of my own but I have had times in all three activities where someone else's actions have caused me to be a passenger in someone else's crash.

Helmets don't just save you from your own actions, they also save you from the actions of others on the water - whilst you may be cruising and underpowered just taking it easy, there could be someone else out near you who has decided to push the limits or are a learner and it only takes a split second for them to do something wrong for you to wear their board in the back of the head, or be run into and lose control so you end up on the rocks - all through no fault of your own.

For me, wearing a helmet and being alive is heaps "cooler" than being dead or a vegetable and not messing up my hair with a helmet. It is also not just about reducing the impact by say 30% - yes, your brain will still get rattled with a helmet on, but you wont end up with your brains spilt on the ground with a helmet on - a much more difficult predicament for a neurosurgeon to fix than trying to sort out some swelling.

towradgi said..
Yes i did just a minor issue to me,still no helmet .What hurt was the $758.40 ambulance ride for 6 kilometres to Wollongong hospital .A cab is only $20.

That's what insurance is for, and a cab doesn't have $1000's worth of life saving gear, or highly trained professions operating it, or access to support systems, or pretty lights and annoying sirens to get you to hospital quicker etc etc etc etc etc etc

kitebt said..
.... i don't wear a helmet on a flat bike path .....

Problem with this is you set a bad example for kids. We parents then have to explain why the guy (it's always a guy) is an idiot for both disobeying the law and not being safe..........and no you can't take your helmet off too....if he jumped of a bridge would you do that too. I don't actually say that but you get my point.

I don't see the point in trying to regulate helmet use. How would you police it? People need to wear helmets because they want to. not because they have too.

The helmets are uncool thing can squarely be pointed at manufactures and magizines. If these companies insisted their pro riders wear a helmet or they don't get sponsered/ appear in magazines then we wouldn't have a problem.

As an example. Len10 not wearing a helmet doing a mega loop 20 meters in the air with the kite bellow him with a gopro pole mount strapped to his back is one massive example to the "cool" crowd and the kids that helmets are not required.

If all the sponsered guys led by example, set the standard for helmet use then we would have more people wearing helmets and less death and serious injury.

Ultimately it is about perceived risk verses actual risk. In most cased i believe kitesurfers don't think they need a helmet because they kite on the water. The percieved risk is low. The actual risk is higher. Because 99.9% of us launch and land on land. Most of the accidents occur on land. The need for a helmet at minimum for launch and land is underated.

Psss. I think Seinfeld sums it up...

I don't think it has anything to do with coolness. The vast majority of kiteboarders are older males. Most of us are beyond caring about cool.

Every other sport that uses helmets has purpose built helmets for that sport, with standards to ensure they are fit for purpose.

The vast majority of helmets used in kiteboarding are adapted from other sports and are not really fit for purpose. They're all too big, too heavy, have too much drag, and too much wind noise. They greatly contribute to the possibility of neck injuries and they're ridiculously uncomfortable.

Think back over the years and think of how many times you've crashed and whiplashed your head vs the number of impacts to your head you've had.

I have owned most of the popular brands and styles (Gath, various Protec) and they are not good for kiting.

The other issue is availability, which I guess really reflects on commitment from the industry. You can go to a board store and try out any number of snowboard helmets. If you're lucky they might have a few sizes of Gath helmets or the odd skateboarding or snowboarding helmet.

Comparing kiteboarding to cycling is not even remotely valid. According to Sandringham Hospital 85% of cycling injuries come from cyclists riding into stationary obstacles such as parked cars, posts and traffic signs. The ,majority of those injuries are to arms but the chances of your head impacting the obstacle are huge, especially if you riding head forward on a road bike. Last time I looked all the posts and signs in the sea and on the beach were easily avoided by just moving somewhere else.

Saffer said..

...

Why wouldn't wakeboarding helmets work? They have the same issues with landing in water at high speed?

In my opinion they're too heavy and too bucket shaped. I don't know what the design criteria is for a wakeboard helmet. Perhaps they're designed for going over sliders where the most likely injury is impacting the slider. I would have thought a helmet would be not much use at all if you're just riding around on a wakeboard and doing hops off the wake. There's nothing hard to hit.

That's the thing about helmet design. They are designed for surviving the most likely type of incident. Motorcycle helmets are heavy and can contribute to neck injuries. That's why neck braces are becoming more common. The helmets are designed for the highly likely accident where you head butt a tree or the side of a car.

My worst ever crash was with a Protec Ace Wake when I was teaching myself back roll kite loops. I thought I would be a good little kiteboarder and wear a helmet so I could go for it. The whiplash and subsequent bucketing nearly tore my head off. The adjustment strap veritably exploded and the helmet was rammed down over my face.

I accept that a helmet would save me if my board hit me in the head, but that's never happened.

I believe that a helmet would make whiplash injuries much worse, and they happen all the time.

I suspect a helmet will do not much good at all if I head butt a sea wall or a sign, but I always ride with two lines lengths clearance from downwind obstacles to reduce the risk.

PS The watersports standard is based on kayaking. The tests simulate knocking your head in a glancing blow, similar to hitting your head on a rock as you go down a rapid. A closer approximation to kiteboarding would be going over a waterfall and skipping of hard stuff on the way down. They don't test for that.

Hey Ive been watching the Americas Cup yacht racing on the TV - bloody amazing!! When did they change from mono hulls to the foiled cats???
Ok a bit off topic but those boats absolutely fly and EVERONE on board is wearing a helmet - thats got to be a first for international yachting!!

Just have a look at these things!! and yes Id be pulling on a lid if asked to jump on board!!
http://www.americascup.com/en/news/3/news/18387/day-13-preview-challenger-and-defender-desperate-for-a-victory

Lambie said..

Hey Ive been watching the Americas Cup yacht racing on the TV - bloody amazing!! When did they change from mono hulls to the foiled cats???
Ok a bit off topic but those boats absolutely fly and EVERONE on board is wearing a helmet - thats got to be a first for international yachting!!

Just have a look at these things!! and yes Id be pulling on a lid if asked to jump on board!!
http://www.americascup.com/en/news/3/news/18387/day-13-preview-challenger-and-defender-desperate-for-a-victory

Those yachts are regularly doing 80 km/hr. And if they put a hull down they go from 80 - 0 pretty much instantly. You'd be mad not to.

Anyway, as to the "cool factor" who cares? I'm 500 m off shore most of the time and nobody can see me - I'm wearing a wetsuit with no boardies on and playing with a kite - a helmet isn't going to take it much further down from that!

Sorry to go against the trend but I don't want to wear a helmet.

Freak accidents will always happen and helmet would not make any difference in 95% of case.

How many kiters have died from head injuries???? probably on par with kiters who died by shark attack and no-one questioned my choice to get out on the water despite living in great white territory.

I respect your choice to wear one so allow me the same respect if I choose not to.

Plummet - I agree with you there - people not wearing a helmet in kiting is not due to "coolness" but due to a perception that since they are over water, it won't make a big difference. Kids wear helmets all the time for everything these days and I don't think they think twice about it on a skateboard/bike/snowboard.

But, as you stated, it's the times when you launch and land that are the greatest risk. And then there are those times when you come in to shore because it's come up too windy and you need to extricate yourself from it.