waveslave said..

dusta said..


If you can believe the words of a man in shock, he steered his kite towards the tree rather than the road and released his safety just before hitting the tree.

He should have let go of the bar totally ... not steered the kite anywhere.

But he knows that.

What sort of novice advice is that.? Do you not know how to fly kites during a jump?

He obviously looked at his sorroundings and flew the kite towards the trees on purpose as they may have been the best option for survival.

The Best thing to do in a lofting (if you are experienced) is actively fly the kite to give you the best chance for a soft landing and lack of injury.

waveslave said..

Plummet said..

waveslave said..

dusta said..


If you can believe the words of a man in shock, he steered his kite towards the tree rather than the road and released his safety just before hitting the tree.

He should have let go of the bar totally ... not steered the kite anywhere.

But he knows that.

What sort of novice advice is that.? Do you not know how to fly kites during a jump?

He obviously looked at his sorroundings and flew the kite towards the trees on purpose as they may have been the best option for survival.

The Best thing to do in a lofting (if you are experienced) is actively fly the kite to give you the best chance for a soft landing and lack of injury.

Jump ?? ^^^

lol.

Maybe he could have chucked in a megaloop for good measure too.

It would have all happened in a heartbeat, dude.

There would have been no time to 'look around at your surroundings' and decide on a landing spot.

It was kite goes zoooom, then it was boooom.

Get well soon, Johnno.

Don't you fly high aspect foils? Don't you do jumps on land close to buildings and trees? Doesn't seem like you know what your talking about.
You go up. Then you glide..... glide.... glide...... close to buildings and trees can get you hovering like a paraglider.

So when you are up there you have a chance to fly the kite for a better result. Do i fly it towards the power lines? or the cars drive on the road or the houses or the trees?

When you get lofted on the water do you fly the kite actively like a jump or do you dead sailor it and hope for the best?

Over land you must land smoothly and softly. If you deadsailor on land you are bound for injuries. If you keep a cool head and fly the kite for a soft landing that will give you the best result.

Plummet said...

Don't you do jumps on land close to buildings and trees? Doesn't seem like you know what your talking about.
You go up. Then you glide..... glide.... glide...... close to buildings and trees can get you hovering like a paraglider.

Nah, that's not my scene. ^^^

lol.

I just kite waves, dude.

scubaste said..
I have just taken my own advice and checked my clamcleat........it has a crack in the centre of the pic

This is a catalogue item from CamCleat (http://www.clamcleat.com/cleats/cleat_details.asp?theid2=177), the latest version has a moulding for a ring to secure the safety line...

I purchased a couple of these about 12months ago, will check if they have the moulding line as pictured tonight.

Get well soon...

Man that Sux, just shows it can happen to the best of us.

Speedy recovery Jonno

DM

Chris6791 said..

I've never kited there Plums but the location and Johnno's kite they showed on the news was a beach barely a few metres wide before there trees and road.

onshore wind.....broken clamcleat which according to ben turned the 19m foil kite into a paraglider......then stand with it at zenith infront of a tree/obstacles.......

this is the exact scenario every paraglider uses to do coastal soaring/flying

jono i dont know you but if you had any fun at all give old mate down in albany a bell and pick up your pg licence :P

Plummet said..

Don't you fly high aspect foils? Don't you do jumps on land close to buildings and trees? Doesn't seem like you know what your talking about.
You go up. Then you glide..... glide.... glide...... close to buildings and trees can get you hovering like a paraglider.

So when you are up there you have a chance to fly the kite for a better result. Do i fly it towards the power lines? or the cars drive on the road or the houses or the trees?

plummet this is pretty much how wide the beach is for about a kilometre

dusta said..

Plummet said..

Don't you fly high aspect foils? Don't you do jumps on land close to buildings and trees? Doesn't seem like you know what your talking about.
You go up. Then you glide..... glide.... glide...... close to buildings and trees can get you hovering like a paraglider.

So when you are up there you have a chance to fly the kite for a better result. Do i fly it towards the power lines? or the cars drive on the road or the houses or the trees?

plummet this is pretty much how wide the beach is for about a kilometre

Yeah. That's a tight spot man. I can see how the accident is possible.

dusta said...

Plummet said..

Don't you fly high aspect foils? Don't you do jumps on land close to buildings and trees? Doesn't seem like you know what your talking about.
You go up. Then you glide..... glide.... glide...... close to buildings and trees can get you hovering like a paraglider.

So when you are up there you have a chance to fly the kite for a better result. Do i fly it towards the power lines? or the cars drive on the road or the houses or the trees?

plummet this is pretty much how wide the beach is for about a kilometre

How old is that photo? Looks a lot different to when I was there last. There's about 3 times as much room as there used to be.

Just had a chat to Mr keys on the phone . He is in good spirits . No damage to his back or spine . Just has a few broken ribs and punctured lung along with a broken right upper right arm .

Spoke to him about what happened and it was simply a gust that lofted him and not gear failure . He said wind was 8-10 knots .Put up his 19 like we all do everytime we go out foiling in 10ish knots . A little gust came through so he sheeted in and got a little lift . Then another gust came through and just picked him straight up . As a foil is soo efficient he just kept going up . Was heading towards the road so steered away from it towards the trees and as it got closer he dropped down due to wind dropping off . The tree he hit was a paperbark so if your going to hit a tree then a soft tree like the paperbark is probably a better option than the road .


All in all from his account apart from it being directly onshore it was no different to the 100 other days at melville we kite in light winds .

Funny end to the story turns out he is in the trauma ward with another kiter . This accident was kept quiet but a guy named Dalton bray i think it was from dampier before christmas got lofted on his 17m . Johnno and Dalton are sharing a room haha .

Even Johnno is laughing about that.

If anyone was thinking of popping in to see him he said he would prefer to just chill at the moment and will let everyone know when he feels up for visitors .

Thanks for that Dusta. Do you know if is injuries are because he hit the tree before landing or because he cam in hot and fast? or both?


I think i can offer some expertise in this area. As I regularly jump the chrono on land on my landboard close to buildings and trees. In fact when its 12 or so knots i use the extra ridge lift supplied by those structures to get extra height on marginal days. Occasionally there's more ridge lift than i expect or a gust hits and i get punted a lot higher than expected. Some times i even hover for a while without coming down.

So for guys who find them selves high about land on a high aspect foil like a Chrono.

Get the kite to the zenith.
Let the bar out completely. Hold the bar out as you come down.
Yourl come down fast. But thats ok. Your speeding the kite up.
A couple of meters before landing bar in hard and redirect like you would a jump.
That will give you a nice flair out and soft landing even if the wind has dropped out.

The worst thing you can do on a high aspect kite when lofted is hold the bar in on the way down. That will stall the kite drop you fast and you wont have the kite speed or flair out to soften things when you land. It will be a hard landing.

Plummet said...


I think i can offer some expertise in this area. As I regularly jump the chrono on land on my landboard close to buildings and trees.

That's gold ... pure gold. ^^

lol.

waveslave said..

Plummet said...


I think i can offer some expertise in this area. As I regularly jump the chrono on land on my landboard close to buildings and trees.

That's gold ... pure gold. ^^

lol.

? sounds like fun to me......
why wouldnt you want to hear from someone useing simular equipment to do all this in a controlled manner ?

cheers for the advice plum...... when you going to give dennis green from the taranaki free flyers a yell ay? your basicly there if your soaring structures anyways and its much easier with a pg wing and shorter lines

no idea why i got red thumbed for telling old mate that had the accident to contact jiri in albany about gliding if you get reasonably confident with all your canopy sports your understanding and safety really increases.

waveslave said..

dusta said..

Spoke to him about what happened and it was simply a gust that lofted him and not gear failure .

So what's the back-story on the broken cleat....VVV

have to wait until johnno is well enough to post , all i know is i asked him this morning if gear failure was the cause and he said no . From what he recalls the cleat gave way when he was already lofted but i'll let him post if and when he wants to .

Kozzie said..

cheers for the advice plum...... when you going to give dennis green from the taranaki free flyers a yell ay? your basicly there if your soaring structures anyways and its much easier with a pg wing and shorter lines

Its on the cards man. But not at the moment. I have too many sports, young family and not enough time or money at the moment. Maybe when the kids start leaving home in 5-10 years time?