Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Early Season Accidents ...

Forum for kitesurfers
User avatar
RickI
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 9118
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2002 1:00 am
Local Beach: SE Florida
Gear: Cabrinha
Brand Affiliation: Cabrinha
Location: Florida
Has thanked: 88 times
Been thanked: 102 times

Early Season Accidents ...

Postby RickI » Thu Apr 17, 2003 11:11 am

I was wondering what folks have been seeing at their local launches in the way of early season incidents and accidents. This would apply to the more temperate areas where many riders have taken the winter off and now are just returning to the water.

Such incidents and accidents can be caused by gear damage from last year or that happened in storage and wasn't caught or fixed during preflighting.

Not being really fresh on techniques and procedures honed by regular riding last season could also account for some other events.

Then there are the kiteboarder incidents and accidents born out of lack of awareness and/or appreciation of hazards and how to go about avoiding them and others ...

A comment by Dènis out of Holland got me thinking about this. Our accident experience last November was severe at best. It would be nice to take steps to try to avoid repeats. Having local get togethers at the beach or even over drinks and talking about local riding issues, coming events, gear for sale and hitting rider safety issues could help... Local Safety Meetings. Talking to riders at your local launch casually could also help when you see a need. Promoting the "Ten Ideas" document might help as well.

The season is here, lets go out and get all we can of the fun parts and dodge the more avoidable painful bits.

Guest
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Postby Guest » Thu Apr 17, 2003 1:09 pm

I know there were a couple at the SA Champs in Durban, but not sure of the details on them. Mainly some head injuries from boards but nothing life threatening.

EdDy_DiFfUsIvItY
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 2832
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2002 1:00 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Postby EdDy_DiFfUsIvItY » Thu Apr 17, 2003 2:27 pm

Hi Rick, had mine butalready covered by another topic. But I'll put it in here too.

accident - launching, left my kite in self launch while launching a buddy, came back, visualy looked at lines from the bar, launched and was whooped goodstylee as lnes had tangled on one side of the ite from the wind.

lesson learnt - QR wasnt Q enough, never leave kite in self launch and then not recheck every cm of line by walking the lines. always self launch with hand on QR.

All the best.

Ron.

User avatar
RickI
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 9118
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2002 1:00 am
Local Beach: SE Florida
Gear: Cabrinha
Brand Affiliation: Cabrinha
Location: Florida
Has thanked: 88 times
Been thanked: 102 times

Postby RickI » Thu Apr 17, 2003 5:22 pm

Thanks for the input guys. For once I wasn't so much looking for specific details although they are welcome. I was interested if you are seeing any trends in accidents at the start of this season. Simple things and basic information may stop many of these accidents and incidents from ever happening.

The sport really took a hard series of impacts last year through accidents and fatalities. If we are effective in getting the word out there through the shops, the media, instructors and at your local launches, this year's experience should be better than that of 2002. Thanks again to all the magazines that published the "Ten Ideas" document.

No one wants to have their area recognized for spectacular accidents, serious incidents or God forbid, fatalities. So get plugged in and look out for your fellow riders and try to influence responsible riding when and where you can. At the same time you will be working to preserve access for us all.

Thanks!

Guest
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Postby Guest » Thu Apr 17, 2003 8:01 pm

I heard a rider in Caberate suffered a compound fracture to his femur on this last Tuesday during a launch in which he had hooked his lines up incorrectly.

On a good note: I see that X3 now have a "kook proof" line hook up system.

User avatar
Peter_Frank
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 12735
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2002 1:00 am
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Denmark
Has thanked: 1007 times
Been thanked: 1187 times

Postby Peter_Frank » Thu Apr 17, 2003 9:01 pm

Anonymous wrote:I heard a rider in Caberate suffered a compound fracture to his femur on this last Tuesday during a launch in which he had hooked his lines up incorrectly.

On a good note: I see that X3 now have a "kook proof" line hook up system.
How many have this today ?

I know that:

All 2003 Takoon kites
All 2003 North kites
and Naish X3

has kook proof line hook ups (mated front/rear connections and colour coding) - but there must be others too, or ?

Guest
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Postby Guest » Thu Apr 17, 2003 9:06 pm

Cabrinha 2004 also

Guest
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Postby Guest » Fri Apr 18, 2003 1:28 am

slingshot 2003 also

Guest
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Polar or "Kook Proof" Kite Line Connectors - GREAT

Postby Guest » Fri Apr 18, 2003 1:34 am

Peter_Frank wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I heard a rider in Caberate suffered a compound fracture to his femur on this last Tuesday during a launch in which he had hooked his lines up incorrectly.

On a good note: I see that X3 now have a "kook proof" line hook up system.
How many have this today ?

I know that:

All 2003 Takoon kites
All 2003 North kites
and Naish X3

has kook proof line hook ups (mated front/rear connections and colour coding) - but there must be others too, or ?
That is OUTSTANDING! I was hoping that the industry would go to "polar connectors" and it sounds like they have in a big way. I wanted to upload some images and links to various polar or "Kook Proof" connectors but have come up dry so far. Could folks upload or privately email some of the links to me?

Thanks!

User avatar
RickI
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 9118
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2002 1:00 am
Local Beach: SE Florida
Gear: Cabrinha
Brand Affiliation: Cabrinha
Location: Florida
Has thanked: 88 times
Been thanked: 102 times

Postby RickI » Mon Mar 22, 2004 12:36 pm

This is a post from last year at about this time. It seems like we are more vulnerable to accidents in early and late season particularly in temperate latitudes. Some of the reasons are explored above. Coming out of winter is no minor thing with lots of powerful late winter and early spring storms flowing through bringing wind and in some cases some substantial hazards. The late season, say around November is also accompanied by similar strong, unstable weather systems.

Many of us suffer from wind lust and after a long involuntary break through the winter we are anxious to get back out and have at it. Some of the hazards of kiteboarding are becoming more widely known, due in part to the occurrance of sad accidents. So, study launch, weather, gear and related conditions, balanced with your experience, use safety gear and make a careful judgment about how, when and where to ride. Some ideas along these lines appear at:

phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2300704

Have a care out there.


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: ak200, alekbelia, alford, droffats, elrizo, funalex, knotwindy, lifeinthehood, Pitu, purdyd, suisd12, Windigo1, Xtream, zegermans and 535 guests