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Silke Gorldt Foundation and Press Release

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Toby
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Postby Toby » Mon Jun 17, 2002 7:38 pm

The kitesurf community is in deep mourning for Silke Gorldt

A tragic accident overshadowed the German Kitesurf Tour at Fischland-Darss. Silke Gorldt, the best female German Kitesurfer, died on Friday 6-7-02. The autopsy showed that her dead was a result of her internal injuries. The Event organizer and Silkes relatives founded today, 6-11-02 the Silke Gorldt foundation to keep her spirit alive.

On Saturday evening before sunset, German and international kitersurfers came together on the beach in Wustrow for a memorial ceremony with the event organizers and Silkes relatives.
In deep mourning, they put flowers in the water and remembered a great personality in kiteboarding. We will never forget her. Silke was the best woman kitesurfer in Germany and a pioneer of the sport. The 26 year old from Bavaria was riding for the North Team and studied politics in Wilhelmshafen. Amongst her greatest success was her title as German national Champion and several top three places in World Cup Events. Silkes funeral will be held in Rupolding, Saturday 6-15-02.

The tragic accident happened in the last heat of the contest, on Friday afternoon 3 pm, at the beach in Zingst, Germany, Baltic Sea. The lines of two kiters accidentally tangled while passing each other on the water. While one kiter was able to use his safety system and let go of his bar, Silke couldn’t unhook her kite. His bar got stuck in her lines, in the way that the kite flew circles in the power zone, generating the most possible pull like this. As an effect of that Silke got pulled over the water with the power of two kites, hit a wooden fence and got dragged over the beach.

The rescue team of the ambulance, which was on standby, treated Silke with immediate first aid, 15 minutes later the helicopter arrived. Although there where no serious exterior injuries visible, Silke passed away in the hospital Kronenburg 4:55 pm, after all life-supporting measures failed. The autopsy showed, that Silkes dead was a result of her internal injuries, and not of her brain injury. Further, the doctor said, that as a result of the impact, Silke was unconscious as she arrived with the helicopter and didn’t felt any pain.

The tragic incident involving Silke Gorldt was a freak accident. The conditions with 15 to 20 knots of wind were perfect for a competition and according to many experts on the scene, it could have happened to any one of the competitors. The two kitesurfers involved were passing each other routinely on the water and inexplicably there lines became tangled. Further, the organizers, all experienced kitesurfers themselves, provided the most possible security for the event. How the tragedy unfolded that day remains a mystery and subject to further inquiry.

On the 11-6-02 the Organizers of the Fischland-Darss Tour, Silke’s family and Peter Sterling, the Kiteboarding Fotographer, founded the Silke Gorldt foundation. The idea is to organize a charitable foundation in Silke’s name to keep her spirit alive. Silke was a beautiful person with a lovely spirit and her family wishes to donate money to charities through her foundation to hopefully make the world a better place for years to come.

There will also come out a VHS video, originally planed as coverage of the event, now in memorial of Silke, showing Kiteboarding as it’s best, how Silke always loved it. The proceeds of the Video goes to the Silke Gorldt foundation.
The final results of the 6 day long contest were counted without the results of the last day. Most riders donated their prize money to the Gorldt family.

For information about the Silke Gorldt foundation and ways to become involved, you may contact:

Uwe Schröder, phone : 0049 171 65 424 38 kiteuwe@compuserve.com
or
Petra Goeschl and Harry Vogelezang : harrypet@hotmail.com

Bank contact, Silke Gorldt Foundation
Kreissparkasse Teltow-Fläming, Germany
Account number : 2525427648
Clearing number: 16052500

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