Kiteman (aka Eric fresh) was in the middle of cheney lake wednesday afternoon and not a boat anywhere. 28mph winds with gust to 40mph 1/2 mile+ from land and kiteman hears a faint moan. Kiteman turns around sees a head in the water.
The guy is so cold he can not hold on to Eric. So Eric put his kite leash on the guys lifejacket and tows the frozen guy a 1/2 mile+ to wichita point.
I was kiting down wind off of wichita point and thought eric had lost his board. So I went to help out a buddy.
When i saw that Eric was towing a man that was as white as a ghost I went for help back at kitebeach about a mile away . Mark was there giving a kite lesson on a jetski and went to help Eric.
The frozen guy was one of two fishermen in a small boat that sank on the south side of cheney lake. One man made it to shore and the other man floated in the water for 2-3 hours before Eric found him about a mile from where the boat sank.
Good job Kiteman aka Eric Fresh
Kiteman saves a man life
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Toby
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RickI
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Re: Kiteman saves a man life
Well done guys! Sounds like a great Way To Go account, would be good to get some more info. What would you guess the time of day and water temperature to have been? Just found the sailing clubs wx database for air temp and wind info. What part of the lake did Eric launch from, M&M Point and roughly where would you say he took the fisherman under tow? Any idea why the boat sank? Was there a search going on for the fisherman called in by the one that made it to shore? Did the rescued fisherman say anything to you guys assuming he was coherent by the time he made it to shore?
Thanks!
http://www.snyderscheneymarina.com/file ... neyMap.jpg
Thanks!
http://www.snyderscheneymarina.com/file ... neyMap.jpg
kiterjenx wrote:Kiteman (aka Eric fresh) was in the middle of cheney lake wednesday afternoon and not a boat anywhere. 28mph winds with gust to 40mph 1/2 mile+ from land and kiteman hears a faint moan. Kiteman turns around sees a head in the water.
The guy is so cold he can not hold on to Eric. So Eric put his kite leash on the guys lifejacket and tows the frozen guy a 1/2 mile+ to wichita point.
I was kiting down wind off of wichita point and thought eric had lost his board. So I went to help out a buddy.
When i saw that Eric was towing a man that was as white as a ghost I went for help back at kitebeach about a mile away . Mark was there giving a kite lesson on a jetski and went to help Eric.
The frozen guy was one of two fishermen in a small boat that sank on the south side of cheney lake. One man made it to shore and the other man floated in the water for 2-3 hours before Eric found him about a mile from where the boat sank.
Good job Kiteman aka Eric Fresh
Last edited by RickI on Thu Sep 23, 2010 2:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Younger
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Re: Kiteman saves a man life
Fantastic! Great to hear such good news - a wonderful change from all the unfortunate injuries/fatalities etc.
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longwhitecloud
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Re: Kiteman saves a man life
Awesome stuff. I understand the feint moaning - i have been a couple of km out to sea and thought it was voices in my head, ignored it but went back and found a screaming swimmer sucked out to sea by the estuary current that I towed back in!
There was a good story of a kiter that went out and rescued a broken downjetski in huge swells in NSW aussie also a year or 2 ago.
There was a good story of a kiter that went out and rescued a broken downjetski in huge swells in NSW aussie also a year or 2 ago.
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Feng
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Re: Kiteman saves a man life
How practically did you tow this guy ?longwhitecloud wrote:Awesome stuff. I understand the feint moaning - i have been a couple of km out to sea and thought it was voices in my head, ignored it but went back and found a screaming swimmer sucked out to sea by the estuary current that I towed back in!
Did you left your board, ask the guy to grab your harness handle and did you both body drag downwind pull by the kite ?
I am wondering what to do exactely in this situation.
I had the feeling that we should keep the board (that still can be usefull in case of current) for example attached with the kite leach through the foot strap and ask the guy to be saved to grap the harness handle.