Hmmmm , so what happened to the guy and is he ok?

isnt that the usual at pelli point?
one reason why i stopped going there.

over new years we were at a central west spot where 4 deckies had bought kites and decided to start kiting. they surf and a bit of windsurf, how hard can it be.

day 1 - saw a guy in 25-30 knots trying to body drag get unhooked, do a wicked s bend without the board as the kite wend into a big powered loop towards the moored cray boat before he let go to the 5th line.

day2 - first my mate saw a guy trying to launch but it didnt wanna go up, later to reveal the front lines were on the back and visa versa. oops he said, i couldnt remember, knew it was one way or the other. (again this is in about 25 knots)

i then see someone downwind with their kite half pumped and another character directly downwind ready to throw it up for him. so i had to sprint down and then save these 2. his comments were, havent done it in ages, last time i broke my collar bone getting dragged up the sand.

we advised them of maybe a lesson or so but they recon they havent got time to go to perth.
so we stopped helping them or launching them and told em they were on their own.
scary.

I heard about this from another concerned local the other day, he never knew the facts but mentioned that there had been an accident.

So being a local at Safety Bay I think it would be best to try and use this post to educate others about the enviroment down there. I'm relativly new to the sport compared to most user's, but know enough about the area to advise some safety considerations.

What I can say is that to often I observe blowins that come down and see the pond and think WOW flat water, that will be cool for learning, theres no chop to have to deal with. WRONG, this area is congested by freestyle kiters and windsurfers. By trying to learn on the east side of the point your putting everyone at risk.

Added this pic to show what I mean, although the ridge is hard to see from the aerial pic.
The kiter in question here was doing the right thing to a certain extent. He was on the west side of the point, but unfortunately it sounds like he didn't take the extra time to walk out on the sand bar 100m to waist deep water then proceed.

The main dangers with this location are that it's onshore, also the beach has a 50m stretch where there is a 4-6 foot ridge, which would be like hitting a brick wall. For these reasons learners really need to walk their kite out about 100m, that way you can get up go downwind stack it then body drag back to the point and walk out again avoiding the dangers.

So the point is, if your a learner and come to Safety Bay please still go to the west side of the point but walk out 100m. Don't continue trying to get up once you are within 50m of the beach. Drag back to the point and walk out again, don't be lazy it could save your life. Those that know the area will understand what I'm saying.

Oh about the lessons, it's fair enough telling someone to get lessons. But the lesson I recieved was extremely sub standard, from what I've observed the school hasn't improved over a year. I've seen some students come back after the lesson to the grass and not even know how to hold and handle the kite. I wonder if they even get shown how to self rescue after witnessing that, I've never seen it being rhersed once. I think the advice should be GET LESSONS FROM AN IKO affilated school, that way you know that instructor has actually been accredited to a standard. It also gives you the an organisation to contact if your not happy with what you recieved.

this guy wasn't original on the west side of the spit, he was first trying to learn on the east in the ankle deep area at the front, we told him it was safer around the other side. obviously not.

Betcha he didnt get afree chopper ride through IKO?

and the rest for the meat wagon to come get you 300$$ wont even get you in the door moral of the story get lessons

siwalker said...

why the F@%# don't learners go ride pengos, less than 5 mins away!!!? It's one of the safest beach to learn on, that you'll find. No matter what the drama, you'll always wash into the horse shoe shaped bay.

Besides the shallow water, learners end up going downwind through the busy pond area, dodging the kiters, and the increasinly pissed off windsurfers, and then have to contend with washing up on the onshore beach in front of large trees, road, power lines, pedestrians.....etc.

If you ask me it's a dumb ass spot to learn, when 500m away it truly is safety bay!

Agreed, that is why the only official IKO school in the area run lessons there a majority of the time. It's a long beach, the lessons are conducted from the pengo's carpark. So go to the next carpark north, that way the people crossing the sandbar to the island are safe and the people spending money to get proper lessons with the school don't have to worry about you taking them out from up wind of them. Also that carpark has plenty of parking and showers to wash all the sand and weed off from being dragged down the beach, then when you finally give up there's a bottle shop within 100m to drown your sorry arse.

siwalker said...

why the F@%# don't learners go ride pengos, less than 5 mins away!!!? It's one of the safest beach to learn on, that you'll find. No matter what the drama, you'll always wash into the horse shoe shaped bay.

Besides the shallow water, learners end up going downwind through the busy pond area, dodging the kiters, and the increasinly pissed off windsurfers, and then have to contend with washing up on the onshore beach in front of large trees, road, power lines, pedestrians.....etc.

If you ask me it's a dumb ass spot to learn, when 500m away it truly is safety bay!

Spot on. But they always seam to go where the others kiters are. Possibly a safety feeling. If they do get cleaned up that someone will help or call the unnecessary services.

I heard some news back about the accident through someone my wife works with. It was the husband of someone he knows, so I'm sure it's reliable. He has apparently broken his neck, to what extent he couldn't say. I will try and get some more accurate info on what happened and the extent of the injury.

so how do you regulate the second hand market?

Blaster said...

I heard some news back about the accident through someone my wife works with. It was the husband of someone he knows, so I'm sure it's reliable.

Your wife is a 'he'? Kinky.

So how is the second hand scuba gear market regulated? Is it?

lol the diving licence is as much of a joke as a kiting licence would be. If you walk into a dive shop with gear they ask no questions. I've done it for my dad a couple times cus he pays the bills and has better stuff to do than get his tank filled and ive never been asked for it.

Aciiiiid said...

I don't get it. I went into kiting simply because i love wakeboarding and wanted to change to sumthin that allowed me more freedom, no petrol, no rego, no insurance and you dont need 2 other people to come with you just so you can ride. I'm the first to admit that when I held the bar of a traction kite for the first time I was nervous as hell just from the power of it, that and Im 65kgs and it felt like the kite was set on breaking my ****. I've never once set up without asking other kiters if its going to be safe to do so, never got my gear out in conditions that I knew were to heavy for me and always made sure that I wasnt going to be in the way, if a place packed up I set my gear down (keeping in mind I'm only learning so im getting ready to give the board a crack) The only reason Im still just bodydragging is becasue I want my kite control skills locked so if something does go wrong I can react quickly and safely, and I'm broke and cant afford a board (damn Bills and Christmas).

But my main point is, when I started to look into it I spoke to the boys at Narranbeen's store in Sydney, they were awesome and will always be greatful for the advice they gave. They sat me down and told me how dangerous this was, how all the gear worked and mostly, refused to sell me ANYTHING untill I'd arranged lessons AND had done at least 2 or 3 of them with an IKO instructor, I distinctly remember them having a card they gave you as proof that you did lessons, only then would they sell me equipment. I did my lessons, got my gear then did a few more with the gear I bought. Yet people who know nothing buy gear, then take it out and try use it, and its usually where other kiters mite be learning to so theyre at risk as well.

There needs to be a way to make it safer, these idiots endanger everyone not just themselves, like giving a 5yr old a loaded gun.

no lessons = no gear

U probably spoke to andrius, yeh he's a good bloke I'm guessing balmoral boards?

Yeh man, I agree, I did exactly that, I had a protracted session of bodydragging and thank god, it really does help when getting up on the board and having to do two things at once!

You dont need a license to drive a car. Any idiot can drive, same with flying a kite.

Its not just newbies that have accidents. Bad things do happen. Two years two weeks post accident for me and haven't seen my kites since (and don't want to) I should dig them out and sell them i suppose.

The five years i had were great and now i have moved on. I hope this guy recovers well.

E

elsurfs said...

You dont need a license to drive a car. Any idiot can drive, same with flying a kite.

Its not just newbies that have accidents. Bad things do happen. Two years two weeks post accident for me and haven't seen my kites since (and don't want to) I should dig them out and sell them i suppose.

The five years i had were great and now i have moved on. I hope this guy recovers well.

E

Get back out there! Go on. You only live once, may as well enjoy it. Most experienced/trained people dont have accidents that are serious(as in accidents, not jumping and breaking stuff), and its an unlucky thing.
You need a license to drive on public roads. I think the ocean is public. Sure on your own private lake/beach where kiting wont be banned go for you life, i couldnt care less.
I hope he recovers as well, but i hope he never does anything that requires an iq of +60 ever again.