Rescued Kiteboarder Saved by Sea Plane

Airnsails · Since 22 Jun 2005 104 Posts Hood River, OR Stoked

My pilot friend in Alaska got a call that a kiteboarder was being swept out to sea in Alaska and 20 minutes later, he found him and rescued him in gnarley conditions. This is the same pilot that flew us around for the snowkiting feature in the January issue of Kiteboarding Magazine.

Here is the link to the news report.

http://www.ktuu.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?clipId1=3749647&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Stranded+kite+boarder+gets+aerial+rescue&d1=155367&redirUrl=www.ktuu.com&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=flv&rnd=2097900

Sol-flyer · Wed May 13, 09 6:26 pm

wow two rescues by floating seaplanes! what a coeincidence!

http://nwkite.com/forums/t-13110.html

pkh · Since 27 Feb 2005 6549 Posts Couve / Hood Honored Founder

That inlet is incredibly dangerous when the tide changes, I have heard of a lot of people dying in there.

Sol-flyer · Wed May 13, 09 10:17 pm

not trying to be disrespectful, I think that it's a part of the price if your going to go out in these types of conditions. I would not consider alaska to be a very friendly place to kite. Much respect for those who brave the frigid waters and are willing to pay the ultimate price. & Props to the pilot for taking action and saving a life.

bulae99 · Since 12 Jul 2006 1692 Posts XTreme Poster

I have cousin's that live in Alaska and it affects your judgment, trust me. People who deal with Moose in the yard rather than mice and wolves instead of coyotes and polar bears instead of pit bulls are different.
Small single prop planes are the life blood of far off residents.

The really cool thing for women is the 30 to 1 man to woman ratio. It makes for several good opportunities to save no.

Landing a plane on a moving river is really high risk stuff. Kiting in the rip ass moving tide and dumping your kite must be like rufus on a light wind day, big kite, with the damn full open.

Perspective along with conditions and desire tend to dictate how high a person set's their risk threshold! Mine is high in my mind, but I'll bet if I were from Alaska it would be much different.

Very Happy