Say ... WHAT???!

[RickI]

You are about to have an assisted launch but your partner releases your kite too soon, WHOOPS! ... resulting in your being dragged at speed down the beach, getting banged up and almost sent to the hospital,

and

You are coming into shore quickly, the wind is honking, the waves large and you don't have a lot of time to land. You get the attention of an assistant, who manages bungle the landing and to get wrapped up in the line ... before the kite relauches and powers backup causing a nasty cut. It turns out the guy ONLY LOOKED like he knew what he was doing,

and

You are swimming into shore with a flat leading edge bladder, for the last 1/4 mile you have company from a lifeguard on a paddle board. He came out because he thought you were in trouble and needed help,

The examples go on and on as do some accidents related to this issue in the KSI, the issue is effective COMMUNICATION!

Divers, wakeboarders, airline pilots and even drivers use them ... HAND AND AUDIBLE SIGNALS!

A suggested set of visual hand, verbal and whistle signals appear with photo illustrations in the draft documents located at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kitesurf/ ... EFERENCES/

under:

7. Kiteboarding Signals
Universal signals to be used to coordinate launching, landing and rescues.

Two files are included to aid speed of downloading. Both are Word files, I apologize but making a functioning web file or properly formated pdf file have evaded my considerable efforts to this point.

Key hand signals are recommended to be backed up by verbal commands as well. If high or unstable winds prohibit using hand signals or if the background noise is too great, suggested whistle signals are also included. Example dialogs are given including one intended to avoid premature launches and another to verify the person about to help you land your kite has a clue about how to safely do so.

We should talk about this and make some accepted universal signal conventions. I am interested in what people think about this. Once these signals have been finalized I will upload them for reference in the KSR. I would also encourage others to upload this content to their websites once we have agreed on the final format.

[RickI]

If any good is to come from this it is going to take relatively common acceptance of these signal conventions. Some launch areas already have a set of signals commonly in use, although many do not. I don't think that there is widespread acceptance of any common set. If we don't undertake something like this, there will be more avoidable incidents and some accidents.

So, look it over and tell us what you think.

[Toby]

I agree, we should have one language for all to avoid misunderstandings, since many kiters will travel.

[RickI]

Hello Toby,

Good point. It also cuts down the need for fluency in foreign languages to some degree. Then again I see major differences in just one part of Florida to the next.

Rick Iossi