lutchi wrote:My appologies I was the starter.
My point of view was that unfortenly our comunity will see more things lik that if we don't take security for us and to the others riders with us that we know or not in consideration.
My appologies again to all, that knew the person and also to his family.
Since some months ago I passed to use always a helmet
Carlos Carvalheira
Hello Carlos,
I see no need for your apology as your comments dealt constructively with trying to resolve the question of improving rider safety. Thanks for your expression of sympathy all the same. I apologize to the family and friends of the man critically injured on Sal for bringing this up and in such a public way. Still if riders don't learn of these things they may yet be drawn into the same accidents again in the future.
It is good to hear about your use of a helmet. They aren't magic and won't protect you from some impacts but they can help. I heard about a serious head/torso impact on another forum thanks to a referral from Tom:
"my own fault,kite to big 10mtr,gusting 35-38knts,hightide- so not a lot of beach left,when the kite was first launched i lost 40ft of safe beach,should of pulled the pin then,but no i got the board on,took my eye off the kite which drifted over to 10.pulled the bar to correct and up i went,travelling at speed towards the sea wall board on feet,tried to crash on the sand resulting in a head first wall impact,bouncearound then head first again-result, open 2 bone ankle fracture torn ligaments,4 hours surgery,6 months off the water,could have been flowers at a grave but for 3 things-my hetmet-my crash jacket-and dave who was there to cut the lines before i flew over the houses,(i had a knife in my harness)lessons learned-better to go out slightly underpowered in silly wind,much more saftey margin req in silly winds,helmets are a must,impact vests a must(im black & blue on the unprotected bits) carry a knife,have a kiteing buddy close by."
From:
http://www.flexifoil.com/community/foru ... ge=1&pp=15
Two head first impacts but thanks to a bit of luck, a helmet, impact vest and some bystander help he made it through what easily could have been a terminal accident all be it with serious injuries. I hope to research this accident further and write a KSI account about it.