"SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, SC (WCSC)- When the wind is howling and the waves are breaking, kiteboarders storm station 28 1/2 on Sullivan's Island. On Memorial Day, the conditions were perfect but instead of catching air a group of local kiteboarders were saving lives.

"It was nuts," said Erik Spencer, owner of Windymoose kiteboarding supplies. "It was like zero to sixty in no time." Spencer and another local kiteboarder Chris Bible watched from the beach as their friend James Hodge was gliding through the water.

"Hodge was kiting by and it looked like a woman grabbed him," said Spencer, who became alarmed. "It immediately looked like it was trouble." 20 yards out there was trouble. Spencer says a woman could barely keep her head above water and was floundering trying to swim back to shore. In the water, Hodge had to turn his kite around to get back to the swimmer."


More including video and additional still shots at: http://sullivansiop.live5news.com/


Thanks to Robertr for passing this story along. Looking at ikitesurf for the area, looks like winds were easterly, 20 mph and dropping through the day. The 0 to 60 comment dealt with the events not the weather I think. Way to go guys. I can recall Dan with Olinah also in SC telling me stories of similar rescues further offshore on the sand bars around the cuts. It is easy to walk out to the bar and then have trouble getting back plus issues with rips. There can be few to no lifeguards so it can fall to others in the area to help out. Kiters and SUP's can be good to have around when you need a hand.

Between myself and my friends we have rescued 3 people just in the last month. Riptides and strong onshore wind gets inexperienced swimmers swept out and even the lifeguards had issues hauling people in. 2-3 loops of the kite and were back on the beach even with someone dangling off our back lol..

Glad to hear about it dyyylan. We have had some good wind and rips on and off. People will set themselves up and off they go. Our rip currents in southeast Florida are much lighter than the monsters they have in other unprotected areas with long period waves coming in. Despite that there are still problems and drownings, it doesn't take much to put folks into life threatening circumstances at times.

Way to go!

What other rescues have kiters made out there? Stories of some past notable saves appear

HERE

We were fortunate to have our local photographers capture the entire rescue, the pictures really show the intensity of the situation.

Pictures and news clip:

http://windymoose.com/kiteboarders-prevent-memorial-day-drownings/

Nice job guys! We had the same thing happen on our coast (Tampa) - we have pulled several people out in the last few months at Honeymoon Island. Very strong rip currents. Nice to see the positive side of kite access at our local beaches!

Tony

NICE!

Nice job, especially kicking into action right away!

Guys this is great but please be careful when trying to rescue someone. Make sure you don't become a victim yourself. People in fear for their lives will hold on and pull on anything, out of desperation, to stay above water and can easily pull you under with them. It is much better to throw them your board or life jacket instead of coming too close and becoming a casualty. Let them calm down before approaching them. We have the power of the kite to pull us up but please be smart. These guys did a great thing, and was very smart to recruit help from multiple people. Thank goodness everyone was ok.

Excellent points. People in such situations can easily harm the rescuer. Stopping a distance away, passing some flotation to them or something to hang on to and speaking with them to calm them down seems to be indicated. I understand that if the people are flailing around there is a chance they could knock the rescuer out. If they start to pull their way to the rescuer by what you have passed them, they say to drop off, move away and resume once the person calms down again.

You don't want two or more dead people and yet ignoring people in need is a very hard thing to do if there are no trained lifeguards nearby. I guess we have to accept anytime we go to rescue someone we might be harmed ourselves. What other advice would you offer?

awesome! i thought i was hearing things 1km out to sea and came across a panicked swimmer sucked out in estuary rip, chilled them out (ie don't try and drown me, listen carefully, do absolutely everything i say etc...) then dragged them in

"Make sure you don't become a victim yourself." These are the wisest words you will ever hear, stats on drowned rescuers are horrific.