Hi

Does anyone know what happened at Brighton today. Saw someone (not sure if it was kiter) being put into ambulance today when I was driving past to go kiting at Sandgate.

Hope whoever it was is ok?

Cheers

stupid is as stupid does.

body drag out and stay off shore.

then all will be ok and no need for medicare cards and ambo's!

NoBS said...

stupid is as stupid does.

body drag out and stay off shore.

then all will be ok and no need for medicare cards and ambo's!

lol, might find it a bit hard to body drag in an inch of water... But hey, l'd say a bit of sand rash would be less painful than that nasty looking rock wall.

Must be in the water but we have had a few very new kiters turn up lately, forget to mention to anyone they have no idea what they are doing and upon launching, the rest of us go WTF... here we go.

Not saying the poor dude discussed above is a noob, don't know wasn't there but please people, tell the person you ask to launch you if you're unsure of launch angles or more importantly if you have no idea and haven't had lessons. A few more of these incidents and the wello fines will probably start to migrate north.

my two cents :)

I'm beginning to think wtf are some of these kite instructors teaching these students? .busy beach people launching and landing all the time , new face will turn up (brand new gear , or worse 5year old crap they just got of eBay) .they don't sit ther for half an hour and watch what's going on ( beach etiquette /launch angles ect ) they don't come any ask ,is there anything I should be careful of eg rocks/reefs ect.
Can't tell you how many times I have politely steeped in and said what the he'll are you doing it's to dangerous for beginners. Certain tides and wind directions are defiantly not for beginners full stop.
One time I come in ,I have been kiting for 5 years ,it was soild 35kts and gusting higher I am 115 kg and I was struggling to walk in on a 9 m , these 2 clowns were just about to launch a mate about 70 kg on a 2008 12 m rebel .I am in no doubt that dude would have been fatally injured 30 sec later i'f I had not been there to stop them.
Frightens me when people have absolutely no idea of launch angles ,or their cross armed holding the bar .there's public / kids / onlookers around ,all it's going to take is one of these stray kites to clobber someone and it's going to be game over.
Saying this I am very proud from what I have seen over the years with the local crew stopping some of these incidents happening . Unfortunately we don't have a full time designated beach officer to police the beach so unfortunately we couldn't step in for the above accident,you can't be everywhere at once ,and some people appear to be in control knowing what they are doing but have no idea, not even sure if it was user error or gear malfunction?

Wish the dude all the best whoever he is anywhy ?

Jay.

I dont think it matters what you do when it comes to ignorance. I launched a guy at Sandgate a couple of weeks ago and after asking him if he was able to kite in the 25 to 30 knot wind that was blowing he said sure i can and looked at me like i was an idiot. After putting up his kite, he uncontrollably dragged himself towards the rock wall and then released his safety. There was nothing wrong with his kite or anything other than the fact he was mixing his expectations up with his capabilities. An hour after this incident another guy had his kite launched. I had my back to this but knew something was wrong when he went past me and my kite on the grass on his stomach being dragged towards the wall. It is up to all of us to make a decision when someone new comes along to ask a few questions about there ability and if you have the slightest dought they are not capable of flying there kite then don't launch them. If they signal for a launch in the wrong part of the window or play around with there bar and lines allot more than necessary before there kite is in the air then put there kite down and ask a bit about where they had lessons and how long they have been kiting etc to determine weather this person is about to put there's and everyone else's life at danger. I know i don't want to be the guy that launched the guy that seriously injures a kid walking along the bike path just because i assumed he knew what he was doing.

NoBS said...

take a sixer down the beach on a extremely windy day and watch the carnage unfold before your eyes.

Believe me if it wasn't so serious or dangerous I would not hesitate sitting down the beach with half a carton of rum cans and a video camera laughing at the carnage