It took 2 days for the saudis to figure out they had the wrong format GPS, and even then they couldn't figure it out on their own, someone had to tell them.

I think the biggest lesson here is if he had been able to protect his kite from sharks he would have gotten back to land quicker by waiting out the 2 days of no wind and kiting it in.

And he himself said that the only reason the sharks attacked his kite was because it was a color they liked.

Notice this chart:



I'm thinking maybe he could have kited back on his own if only he had a solid gray kite. Dull, boring gray.

Whatever else the case, this was a great chance to learn more about what can go wrong even on our little downwinders, how likely someone is to find us, problems with relying on the GPS, and what sharks crave (they crave brightly colored kites).

LOL .....what a scream!!! but heres the kicker...roll with me on this....

All we need here to make the complete stooges production is...

"he wouldnt have floated on a foil..." brigade

"what can we learn from this..." brigade

"take it from me, I'm an instructor...." brigade

And RickI telling us to be more wary of gusts than sharks and etc etc....

And a thread offering condolences to friends and family etc. when he is clearly alive!!!


Toby, dont be so negative. Read the above and rejoice in your creation. This guy is an idiot, but hes a lucky living idiot!

Act like idiot...get called idiot....whats the problem? (Forum)
This is just pure comedy now.

ROFPMWL

Carry on....

Probably not a good call.

You want the brightest fabric possible so that a rescuer can see you. If he blended into the sea (kite and dark colored suit) he'd probably still be out there.

Yes, has to solve the shark problem with better/quicker support or something, but camoflage kites are not the answer...

Who the fuk you think you are? Really?

A rolled up kite for flotation....

Even coming in to land where I am at 1500 ft or thereabouts the flying kites are pretty small looking,the boards wake is more prominant if they are moving and the kiters are practically invisible in black wetsuits.

Someone on one rolled up ....lucky!!


LOL....is someone taking themselves a bit too seriously above??....I think they are!

hahahahahahahahaha ROFPMWL!!

hahahahahahahahahaa

check yourself in dude you need professional help

Yeah great plan. Just push the responsibility onto somebody else, the Saudi SAR in this case.

When I call for a water taxi to take me to a local kitespot the driver takes me the 1km across the water in his little boat and then charges me $10.00. I wonder what a pick-up from the middle of the Red Sea would cost these days?

First, I'm really, really glad that there was a happy ending to this, and I do have a certain admiration for the guy's courage.

But, if the backup plan was simply to "send SOS"... FFS!

Maybe the people who market these emergency GPS beacons are partly to blame - the marketing seems to say "press this button and the cavalry will come". Maybe that's true in North America or Europe, but it's not going to be true in the Red Sea. Do you really expect quality SAR service between Egypt and Saudi?

Was there anyone waiting to meet him in Saudi? Did anyone figure out how to contact the Saudi authorities if something went wrong, before he set off... or was the assumption that you "press the SOS button and it will be OK"?