Always practice safety first...

Onad · Wed Jun 24, 09 7:20 am **Always practice safety first...**

Another tragic reminder of how quickly your life can change (forever)…

Condolences to family and friends. ~Dano

Report from Italian news service

dangerD · Since 27 Jun 2005 223 Posts Bingen Heights Stoked

IKO does a great job of spewing the goo here
hoping "the other kiters will make a full recovery" what happen???
"accencional wind gust" Is that the Up Elevator?
but this is the best, so thats why they typed it bold..
"Even while speaking on the beach, do not fly your kite in zenith."
Zenith is a suburb of Carthage, right?
Condolences to the family, community, and sport. But I think the IKO do a little better. We're supposed to respect them
What happen???[/b]

forrest · Wed Jun 24, 09 7:42 am

This one too:

Sad News from Las Vegas, Nevada
http://www.kiteus.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8034

jcohenx · Since 28 Aug 2007 250 Posts Portland Obsessed

KyleK wrote;

"geez, there have been 6 or 7 brothers go down in the last month. We say it all the time "safe" but there is so much that can go wrong out there. and we all get too comfortable."

6 or 7 kiters injured in one month, that's pretty severe. I hope that the injuries are not all at the same spot.

jcohenx · Since 28 Aug 2007 250 Posts Portland Obsessed

I think this is the best recap of what happened w/o going to the Italian language news sites.

Here are the main points of the voice over from the Italian video:

One rider was lofted and slammed very hard into the front of the car.
Another rider was lofted and initially appeared to get things under control again when he was lofted agian and ended up crashing into a building 800m from the beach.
A third rider was lucky and somehow was not hurt.

Apparently they were out for a while and had come in to rest a bit and were on their way going back out on the water again when a massive gust hit.

A witness said that the rider was lofted flying almost horizontally, legs flaying behind him.
It looked like the worst was over and the rider was at that point coming down with the kite overhead when suddenly a second gust came through throwing him and incredible 800m downwind into a wall and was killed.
(800m sounds like an exageration, but the closest houses to the beach are 400m away).
He was an instructor and had just got married a month before.

The injured rider is at the Policlinico Gemmelli. His condition is extremely serious.

From another video a lady said that the rider who was not injured had managed to "unhook his kite" when the gust hit.

The kind of gust that the various people described is a "Tromba D'Aria".. sort of a small tornado.

I searched for weather related stories in the area:

In the nearby city of Cerveteri, a strong whirlwind damaged the roofs of buildings, destroyed a playground and uprooted trees, blocking streets.

In Rome itself, a storm led to flooding in the streets and disrupted train services.

Summer storms had been forcast in the area.

I found another report that says that the injured kiter is very serious, but Doctors say he will pull through.

FrostyOne · Since 31 Jan 2007 178 Posts PDX Stoked

Let's be safe, please all be safe......

Gman · Since 11 Feb 2006 4911 Posts Portland Unstrapped

just terrible - that spot near Vegas in known for sketchy desert wind

you would think the Italian kiters would have seen something like a mini-tornado bearing down

But be careful out there - in the gorge we have had days were the wind will spike from 15mph to over 50+ with no super-obvious visual clues (pay attention to forecasts for unstable weather)

$ociopath · Since 28 Nov 2007 523 Posts Twilight Zone Addicted

I started thinking about the safety system on my kite after reading this post. The obvious is test your equipment every once in a while, to before every ride. Long story short a lot of new harnesses come with secondary leash releases, but this release is is the leash release. Is there a bar that has two releases? For example I have slingy bars and they have a red pull knob which i position on my right side, it releases the chicken loop from the right. Why not have a release on both sides? 1 more tip is I have been riding with a skate helmet lately super small,light,cheap and it saves my face from the slap of the water. Any way I didn't mean to make light the real tragedy in this thread. The name of the thread was put safety first though and I am just trying to share some maybe useful info.

FlyDunes · Since 09 Oct 2007 1034 Posts Aloha XTreme Poster

The "ascencional gust of wind of unbelievable force" reported in the IKO bulletin has got to be ROTOR. Maybe you've heard me whine about this before?

Rotor in light winds is more of an annoyance than an issue. When wind speeds pick up, rotor can fuck you up quicker than you can react to it no matter what position your kite is in (although high in the window would be the worst position). I'm willing to bet that most of the incidents that we read about where folks are mysteriously killed while kiting on the beach are just that. People were kiting in a combination of place and conditions where they should NOT have been kiting.

fredf · Since 10 Jan 2009 80 Posts Eugene. Or Â

I'm thinking no matter how many safety releases you have and how many times you have practiced with them in a situation like this/these it won't matter because during the first micro second you are trying to decide how best to react and then, wham, it is too late to do anything as you are being dragged at 40mph. Hopefully technology will come up with a better way to achieve an immediate release/depower in "unusual" circumstances..

jack · Since 12 Mar 2006 215 Posts Stoked

the better hope is for people to stop being idiots and pay attention to the conditions they are about to go out in. it would appear the vast majority of these "accidents" have one thing in common and that is stupidity... tragic losses all, but more than likely very preventable

Sella · Thu Jun 25, 09 12:40 pm

Kodiak · Since 01 Aug 2005 1114 Posts Slidey

jack · Since 12 Mar 2006 215 Posts Stoked

"People were kiting in a combination of place and conditions where they should NOT have been kiting."

I equate the above with stupidity...

" I'm also starting to finally understand Dunes point about rotor impact if your kite is at 12:00 and something hard is downwind of you....like a car or bathroom wall. Not good. "

what is hard to understand about kiting in front of something hard downwind of you? rotor or no rotor it does not take much sense to realize if something hard is directly down wind of you, you might be taking a risk?

i really don't understand how this could possibly take "starting to understand", which brings me back to my original thought that the only hope is that people stop acting stupid not rely the industry to idiot proof the whole experience.

Sella · Thu Jun 25, 09 3:34 pm

J.P. · Since 10 Mar 2005 638 Posts Addicted

jack · Since 12 Mar 2006 215 Posts Stoked

Good point and well put...