Dear all,

Long story short: there is a lot of silt in the Swan River water at the moment that has managed to hide many of the usually, easy to see rocks @ Point Walter. I happened to land on my right foot, quite heavily, on one of these hidden nasties.

I thought at worst, i'd bruised a bone, maybe some muscular damage...the small graze that I got didn't look so bad...BUT within 2 days I was on crutches & the doctor spent an hour y'day digging sand, rock & other assorted shizel out of my foot. An entirely unpleasant experience i can assure you. The infection was quite severe and hugely uncomfortable.

My message comes in 3 parts:
1) take a very good look at where the rocks are & stay the **** away from them;
2) if you get a cut foot in the Swan River, get it attended to - don't ignore it. If i'd paid more attention, maybe I wouldn't have had to watch the puss come out of my foot y'day...the doctor indicated it was as bad as any coral cut he's seen.
3) booties...i'm out to buy some this w/end...any suggestions as to a make good for kiting???

Yours for a limp free future.

Juddy

Hey Everybody,

I just warn everybody about the dangers of kiting at pt walter in the river. Since we have been getting so many crazy easterlies these days, pt walter is the busies spot in Perth. And for those that haven't riden there much, please take these comments into consideration:

Rocks - There are lots of sharp, deadly rocks on both sides of the ridding/launching area. Don't try anything where people are setting up and try to walk a ways down the point before getting on your board....your board with thank you later.

Jumping - The big sand-spit is great fun to jump, but don't even considered if unless you are 100% on your boosts and willing to risk very serious injury. Landing on the spit can mean a destroyed board as a minimum, destroyed ankles are more likely though.

If you do jump the spit and think your going to land on the sand, roller over and take it on the butt. Don't try to kick off your board (theres no telling where it will go) and don't try and land on your feet (as i said before, broken ankles).

Also, you can only jump from the onshore side to the off shore side. Trust me on this, i have tried...many times. No matter how much speed you think you have, you can NOT jump from the off shore side to the on shore side, the wind pushes you down wind....surprising i know

Kiting around the point - Be very careful doing this, the wind gets really sketchy the further you go down the spit. Try to stay somewhere in the middle of the spit on the onshore side as the water is deepest and the wind is best.

Shallow Water - Today was especially bad for kiting in the shallows as the tide was way out. Now i know the water is flattest in the shallows, but please, for the love of your body and board, don't try anything when the water is only 10 cm deep. This is the reason for my message today as did a very, very dumb thing this morning. I tried a really big dangle pass in water i thought was deep enough....but wasn't. I came down from about 4m up, unhooked, and landed straight on my forehead. I knocked myself out and spent the rest of the day getting my neck and spine x-rayed. Luckily, and i mean very luckily, i escape with only a very stiff neck and back.....but i could of very easily had the last kite of my life today.

Anyway, i'll be back on the water in a week or so so no permanent harm done. I am just very bothered by my complete lack of judgment doing such a committing move in such a dangerous spot. For those that head down tomorrow, i'll be the guy landing and launching kites, making sure you know not to be stupid like me.