True story, no distortion, judgement. I will leave that to you all to consider. My friend paid for a 3 night stay at Waterman's retreat. (Not cheap) I realize that this does not entitle you to the world, but when he had a BAD crash at Planet of the Apes, we kited back to Real and asked for assistance. He could not kite out, was able to walk/move all limbs, kite down/lines tangled. Ths spot is about the worst on the island. You CANNOT, and I tried, to walk out to road. Neck deep black mud awaits, snakes, killer mosquitoes.
Long story short. REAL said, "We can't send a jetski (all he needed) due to insurance reasons." It was a 10 min jetski ride to him. I mentioned he was a guest there, had the red band to launch and land there. I get liability. I get it. STILL, somewhere, HUMANITY, DECENCY, a kiter's code to help in times of distress, and this truly was, has to take priority. I pleaded with them to make an exception in this case to no avail. I reminded them that he was not just any kiter but a paying guest of the resort. No was all I heard.
I spent alot of money there over the years. I won't anymore. The vibe, the business...it just makes me sick.
My friend got out. It was not easy. It could have been ALOT worse.

You have to give some more details on his injuries here.

Was his kite just tangled up or did he have injuries you were concerned about? Did you take him to the hospital?

Many people have walked out of there. It's a pain in the ass, but if you walk along the shore instead of trying to get up to the road its not that hard, it's just a long walk. I never heard of anyone encountering neck deep mud, although you have to float across the occasional canal.

It sounds like you guys all figured a way out of there. Luckily you had multiple kiters. Another option is to just body drag with him downwind to SDA, which is very close to the planet slick (if that's where you were).

If his injuries were severe, I'm sure Real would have made a 911 call for you to get proper medical evac. support. I mean, if he is *really* injured, they can't take the chance of parallizing him by throwing him on a jet ski when he has a cracked back.

Now, if you're just saying they should help a brother out, yeah, that would be nice. Agreed. It'd go a long way in customer service. I would love that help if I got stuck up there. It'd even gladly pay them for that ride back! You do, however, take these risks into account when you do these long downwinders. You have to be able to get yourself out or be willing to call in emergency support.

Anyway, I'm glad you made it out and your friend sounds like he is okay. It must have been pretty scary to be in a remote location with an injured friend. At least he wasn't alone, which is the most important thing on that stretch.

Although if I was the one stuck I would be very upset I can see where REAL is coming from. I know a few doctors that won't step in to assist in certain injuries because if they paralyze someone helping they will get sued and the party is over.

If he was truly injured, just call in the troops (medical response). That is what they are for. If not, just offer REAL $500 to borrow their ski or a skiff and go get him yourself.

Like I said, could walk and eventually as sun was setting and darkness arrived he was forced to walk out to Salvo. (Which was closed) It is a pain to get out of there. I explained to an employee on the grass launch, not a rider, who went to ask management re action. NO offer was made to contact emergency services which were not needed IMHO. I work in a world with the highest possible liability/lawsuits. That said, do you know how often guys who teach on the water in boats on Pamlico help distressed kiters? ALL THE TIME. No questions asked. See if Ty or Jay would cruise past a dude and say, "Sorry man, insurance."
He didn't need a backboard. He was just spent, tweaked, and could have used a ride. I know they can say no, I know ALL of the coming responses RE protocol, liability, etc. It'd have taken 20 minutes. We offered to pay for the time on the water. Its bad kharma, it's a message, it's a theme, it's doing a fellow kiter wrong. He wasn't a fellow kiter to Real, he was a non-paying nuisance to them.
If you don't know what I mean you haven't been there.
Money talks, all else walks.
And if you walk after working there, you'll get sued.

Self Rescue? Untangle the lines and relaunch the kite? It sounds like you were perfectly capable of getting out yourself. Dealing with situations like these are part of the learning experience. I've had to self rescue from a couple miles out a few times, it is an important thing to be able to do and takes almost no physical effort.

It would have been cool of Real to help you out though.

If you weren't willing to take responsibility for the risks involved in downwinders with less than optimal access/exit points and adding oncoming darkness as an additional factor, then you should not have done it.

No one was hurt. Tough it out. Take responsibility for your own choices.

It would nave been nice if Real helped , but, if i had a successful business like Real I would not have stepped outside what was allowable through my insurance coverage. There are too many monkeys that will sue for anything. It is no coincidence that there is positive correlation between an increasingly litigious society in the US and an increase in people not willing to accept the consequences of their own decisions.

Next time plan and pay for your own support.



been there

Couldn't agree more.

Done that run many times. We tell anyone new that if you are not willing to walk out then don't go. That is the reason it is called "Planet of the Apes." Because you are in the middle of nowhere.

Been lucky and never had to walk out myself but have had several friends do it. I'm sure my turn is coming if I keep riding there.

Yeah that sucks you and your buddy had to hump out. I've done that downwinder several times and thank God I haven't had to walk out. A few years ago we were doing a downwinder from the Salvo day use area. The wind was really light. I made a couple tacks out and decided it was too light. I bagged it. The other 4 guys still went. 1 ended up walking out. I felt bad for him.

As much as I hate wearing booties, they are a pretty good idea for marginal downwind conditions.


As for Real, I have actually seen them go pick people up that were not students or renters at Waterman's. They went and found my buddies board that he lost on a downwinder too.

I suppose it's all who you end up with on the phone sometimes. I think they should have helped you, but it's their call and unfortunately the lawyers have everyone paranoid to even lend a hand. It sucks.

I hear where your coming from bro but your asking way too much out of Real. And mentioning this on here is making you look naive. I'm not the biggest fan of Real bc all they do is push for sales but I agree with them on this.

Myself and other riders have been caught in the middle of no where out there but never thought of calling real (we were staying there). If there was immediate danger then call 911 for a rescue. From the sound of it, your friend was not in a dangerous situation, just a shitty situation.

If you wanted real to rescue your friend, you should have paid them for a supervised downwinder. Real as no obligation to someone off their property nor does it matter if you stay at watermans or not.

While I agree that it is not REAL's resposibility to help your friend out, it would have been nice if they could. Ive had friends get stuck in those places too. It sucks, but you get out. Kiteboarding is a dangerous sport and NOONE should be held resposible for dragging your friends butt out after making such a dumb mistake. KNOW YOUR LIMITS!!!!! REAL still sucks though cuz theyre only about sales. Lame....