Good job Melissa (cool tats) and bad luck Bille. I seem to recall this happening to you before, am I right?

I myself am an below elbow amputee and this might sound as as shameless plugging but you should check out Ossur Prosthetics http://www.ossur.com/?PageID=12705. What they have is this silicone liner that rolls on to the stump and sticks on there by vacuum. I don't have any affiliation (any more) but during my athletics days I tried it out for weight lifting as part of my training and managed to pull up to 85 kg on a barbell with it. Just enough for a photoshoot or two. Eventually I just went back to my trusty old straps to pull up even more weights. But that stuff really stuck on there with just vacuum.

It's an Icelandic company but also based in the US. All of my leg amputee friends overhere use them, aswell as some known athletes like that S-African guy, Pistorius, double leg amputee that just ran in the Olympics two days ago.

From what I've read from you it sounds like you've gotten every angle covered, but just wanted to point out this possible solution to your 'problem'

Geir

AND... Fokiten... No disrespect here... but WOW...

Yes, Billie lost his legs ORIGINALLY doing something HE LOVED... and then 2 days ago got excited and went out without putting the safety's on... I suppose that it was wrong... and I also suppose that WE HAVE ALL missed something we should have or shouldn't have done when those endorphin's get flowing.

I give Billie props... he lost his legs just 4 (or so) years ago and 2 1/2 years ago he was right back up kiting and Hang-gliding again... HOW MANY PEOPLE out there that you or I know can we say this about?? If I lost my legs... I would want to die. (THERE... I said it) But Billie drives on and doesn't let it stop him from doing the things that he loves to do! HUGE KUDO'S for BILLIE!!!

I am not a very good kiter YET... but I am a good (GREAT) diver and I happened to have the day off... It was actually VERY cool diving at Lake Mojave and I am grateful that I could help and was able to find the leg...I have dove oceans all over the world but never a lake...NOW I know that Mojave is LOADED with 2-3 foot Striped Bass... I SAW EM... next time I'm bringing a spear!

We all need to turn up the kindness... and stop judging anybody. It is not our place here on Earth to be ANYTHING BUT GOOD to others and pay it forward WITH LOVE. THAT'S what life is ALL about. We are here a short time and truly need to TURN UP our frequencies and be better than we have been. Namaste.

Well said Meli! Couldn't agree more.

And everyone who comes on here with a negative attitude...be happy you are healthy!!!

Respect Bille and keep going for it!

I beg your pardon....?

I'll give props when props are due...

That Billie could have died doing something he loved is not much of an endorsement of what he did...

It's like your saying he missed his chance and is now chasing the Reaper so give him a break..

Jason Died doing something he loved, ask his wife and daughter how special that made his death...

That Billie continues not to give his gear the respect it deserves after losing a leg to the very same sort negligence is what's the defining point to be seen here.

When i kited Mohave, back in the day, we--the old crew--- had a most likely to die list...

Billie is on top of that list Today, you cannot in good conscience encourage someone who outwardly demonstrates a lack of respect for the very fundamentals-- pre-fight all your gear before you launch for example...

what's he looking for here? Advice? try the Ginkgo was my reply...seemed helpful to me... ??

would it help? I doubt it

...of a sport that has taken so many innocents and pros alike---this sport is as insidious in its simplicity
as it is horrific in its lack of mercy when it, or you go wrong...

No, I don't see Billie as someone who should be looked up to, I see him as an example of what to avoid.

e.g. getting so wrapped up with yourself that you get stupid...

Jason broke the rules, no kiting Mohave on the week-ends, too many RVs to launch safely...

But O' yeah, he died doing something he loved...

I don't feel like giving props to anymore rule breakers...

Check your gear for the sport's sake...

Ask Darren to give you a break down of the rules, they are for the good of the spot and you...

Best Regards
fokiten

PS. keep an eye on Billie for me...thanks

I'm here for you Toby...

Care to discuss it??

thanks
fo

PPS>

spear fishing is illegal in Nevada

you really should learn the rules now that you're a local kiter...

Ask Darren, he's my Proxy

Cheers, and welcome to the show...
fo

I think we all need friends like Melissa!

And Melissa...don't get sucked in to Fokiten's charm. He trolls. Don't bite.

I LOVE Darren and Judy! He has given me a lesson as well... and I'll be back for more! He is BY FAR one of the best kiters I have ever witnessed watching. And in that regard... you are correct... I have also taken lessons from Bart from Cali-Kiting and he's taught me lots... going back for another in the next month or two.

Billie started teaching me in the park last July... and he has MORE respect for my safety than his own...(which to me is crazy but Billie IS Billie) I can't count how many times last year that I went to the lake and we practiced... and the wind was either too light or 'wrong' or too much and he said you'll have to sit this one out Meli... He KNOWS what he's doing, he KNOWS the wind very well. More so than MOST because of his flying experience. And in THIS regard I trust him completely because I know that knowing what he knows will eventually keep me safe... so I listen and learn from him, from Brian Holgate, from Ramona Nelson, from Darren, Kevin and more about the winds and watch the lines, the gusts, the thermals, etc... they are tricky at Mojave... and YES, they do and have killed people including Jason... and it's sad and it's a shame. I have heard the story from everybody that was there... the winds changed, they got out of the water, told him not to go and he launched his kite from the wrong area of the beach at the wrong time and the mistake killed him. My heart breaks for his family, truly... he was a gifted athlete (in MANY arenas) who made a terrible mistake that cost him his life. And IT SUCKS.

BUT... Billie forgetting his strap and him losing his leg would NOT have killed him... he can swim LONG distances even WITHOUT HIS LEGS... I WATCHED HIM DO IT YESTERDAY when I told him to create a grid on top of the water, drag a line that I could follow and go back and forth across the grid with 5 foot increments so that I wouldn't miss anything... and with 800 left in my first tank, we hit pay-dirt! THE very FACT that he wiped bad enough to lose the leg and STILL have the smarts to regain immediate control of the kite, check and record the last area he was in and was able to swim over it back and forth tells me that he knows something about the wind and water direction...THAT, is pretty cool!!

When I hooked up my dive gear yesterday, I checked and double, triple checked EVERYTHING because NO AIR equals death FOR SURE... falling while kiting on the water doesn't USUALLY equal death ... maybe a bruise on your ego... I have LOTS of them...LOL...maybe a twisted and sore body, maybe even a broken bone... but I will keep up the good fight and continue trying until I get it right. Might be a year or more before I'm out there all the time but I shall not give up. But I am VERY new at this sport and I do treat it with the respect it deserves... and the people around me PUT ME in check the second that I am out of that integrity... that would and HAS included Billie and the above mentioned OTHER names. Love them all for that and for just being who they are. Pretty blessed to have such amazing and GIVING people out there who LOVE the sport and care enough about it to bring in a person like me and show me ALL the ropes. I THINK that THAT is pretty AWESOME.


Spear fishing is illegal (YOU'RE RIGHT!)... but FISHING isn't... so I'll buy a pole and grab me a license... and then I'LL dive down and find GRANDPA and tell my whoever's on the surface to drop the line HERE... kinda cheating but striped bass is yummy. LOL... !!! Yes indeed!

Try to be nice... nice is JUST so much better and positive is so much nicer. WHAT really is accomplished with anything or words that are mean or angry? You will suffer more holding ALL that venom inside of you in your energy; than the person you THINK you're directing to... we are in fact mirror images of one another... and what we see wrong in other people usually indicates a deficiency in ourselves. Life 101.

Meli

FoKitten. You are the biggest dick I have ever had the miss fortune to come across. Everything I have read of yours or heard written about you suggests that you are nothing but a spiteful prick. It angers me that you have angered me this much that I felt I had to post the fact that I think you are a dick.

And please don't start your usual rapour of how you have won due to getting under my skin or post some bullshit poetry the you think you understand, as its obvious to everyone that you don't.

You are everything I hate about Internet forums. A prick of the highest order.

Bille sorry to hijack your post and to everyone else sorry for my profanity.

Yours

Paul

I think trolling gear with a down rigger is what it takes to find the big ones this late in the year...they tend to run deep.

I do not strive to be nice when it comes to topics like this, I prefer to be helpful...

In my own inimitable way.... It's less prissy that way...

Looks like there's plenty room for some pool noodles on those stilts---

cut um. wrap them round then glue them closed...

I'm thinking this is bound to happen again given the history...

Bye the Bye,

You know the importance of checking your gear, seems you're in an excellent position to see that Billie ties his shoes as it were before flinging himself into the fray...next time.

He needs some looking after it seems.

It's all about giving back, so will you do that for me...?

Thanks, say Hey to the Crew for me----

Cheers
fo