Saw an older bloke practicing flying his new kite around on a low tide at the pond in the winter months last year snap his leg in half.. If it wasn't for us he would have been alone and it would have been a very painfully crawl back to the car to call an ambulance!

Not sure if it was the morphine the medic supplied or the realisation that kiting can hurt but my mate managed to pick up a pretty new kite setup off of him for cheap as he was being stretchered away :)

I still giggle to my self everytime when I see rookies send their kites up powered off of a beach launch to "test" the wind power and get a little air off of the sand.. The first few seconds your kite spends in the air should be to check your chicken loop is properly secured and your larks head knots are holding BOTH of which I have seen instantly fail, luckily to no injury.

Yes its a very sad story!
Dicks who hang around beaches with kites bouncing up and down are asking for a good teabag!

Don't want to start a poo fight here ,but Dickin around on the beach ,or any hard surface with a power kite is potentially deadly , at the start of the year within one week one poor guy paid the ultimate price up here in Redcliffe Brisbane , and another ended up in intensive care in a coma in Melbourne . Another one I witnessed saw one poor chap get lifted then smashed into a rock groin ,let's put it this way ,where he landed is where the ambulance picked him up.

So to answer your question on injuries caused by being lofted , i'f you get badly lifted and are able to walk away uninjured you are fortunate , go a buy yourself a lotto ticket.

laurie, an experienced kiter from aspendale, was lofted into the stone seawall at gnotuk beach a few years ago. he was kiting a fair way out in a westerly and was picked up by a gust. he ended up with serious head injuries, and i think was in a coma for a bit.

stamp said...

laurie, an experienced kiter from aspendale, was lofted into the stone seawall at gnotuk beach a few years ago. he was kiting a fair way out in a westerly and was picked up by a gust. he ended up with serious head injuries, and i think was in a coma for a bit.

Laurie was in hospital for many, many months, 12 months later he could only walk about 10m. After many operations to fix all the broken bits it took about 4 years before Laurie was able to return to full time work in his chosen career as a paramedic (a little ironic).

Laurie was hit by a front when the wind spiked from about 18knts to over 40knts. He was about 100m offshore and carried all the way in.

Laurie's mental attitude remained positive through the whole thing and was inspirational to say the least. It was also inspirational to see his friends rally around him and his family. Hats off to Kaos who started a support fund which received a lot of support from all the Seabreezers of the day.

Back un 2007 I got lofted into a fence. The lines then wrapped around a post and sent the kite into the powerzone which promptly snapped the 4" post like a carrot and it center punched me in the forehead. Luckily i was wearing a helmet. The post smashed my helmet flat and still had enough power to split my head open.
Blood started gushing into my eyes and i started getting electric shocks.

yes people i had landed in an electric fence!!!..

The helmet saved my life that day. I wont kite without one~

fellodawind said...

damn dude u just got a scratch.... just harden up and get the F out on the water again.. pansies r for the weak.. grow some balls and stop wining like a bitch... damnnnnn

You are a moron !

There's legitimately being 'lofted' by huge gust where you are totally out of control of the situation, and then there's those pulling tricks too close to terra firma. If you're the latter then don't bother with the 'poor me' comments, just take your medicine.

Burls said...

There's legitimately being 'lofted' by huge gust where you are totally out of control of the situation, and then there's those pulling tricks too close to terra firma. If you're the latter then don't bother with the 'poor me' comments, just take your medicine.

In who's comment are they suggesting "poor me"?