To the guy who drifted all the way to the runway today (20/04/13 5pm). We called 000 once u were in the middle of the bay still going towards the airport, after the wind died and turned more offshore.
I saw the water police with flashing lights later near the runway, hope they picked you up and brought you home safe, must have been a pretty long body drag..

We tried the marine rescue number but it was out of office hour, i.e leave a voice mail ;) so 000 was the only other option.

The wind died and turned cross offshore, other kiters swam in or relaunched in a gust, he was on a 12 but not sure why he couldnt get it relaunched or out of the wind window.

I saw the kite near the tip of the runway, couldn't quite make out what it was at the time but called the police later when I saw the boat looking around the runway.

Looks like the kite drifted in between the two runways as I lost site of it from Kyeemagh. The police were looking on the western side of the runway so I suggested they look on the other side.

It was getting dark when they headed back - hope whoever it was is ok.

GalahOnTheBay said...
Yikes - looks like the wind dies out - not a whitecap anywhere.

Good work on alerting the police via 000, the other option is Botany Water Police (I don't have the number handy though)

Did the wind swing cross off / offshore?

Yes it swung quite a bit to the west, and dropped off too, most of us got in. Those with kites that went down in the drink self rescued back to the beach no problem.

I hope the guys ok.

It is a good lesson to beginners and inexperienced riders. What happened out there today was very serious a kiter heading onto the runway (the consequences for all Sydney kiters doesn't need spelling out)
Beginners and inexperienced riders should NOT kite at first car park in those conditions (or any southerly conditions) if they cannot confidently kite, stay upwind, self rescue, etc. You are better off at Cronulla or Dolls Point.

Wind was SE and blowing cross on shore at Dolls point this morning at 8:30am.
I went out for a bit but soon packed it up as the conditions were really sh!t.

I've experienced what this bloke has just gone through first hand and have learnt that you never overstep your skills ability. I drifted from Dolls point to the runway in similar conditions than today and felt pretty helpless as I couldn't self rescue back to the beach and had no other means of communicating with people - Fortunately, I was picked up 150m from the runway by the Water Police after drifting for one and a half hours.

My advice for beginners is don't go to far out from the beach and build your confidence and skills up steadily and most importantly, learn to pack your kite up in the water and swim!

I hope this person is ok!

There were four of us kiting in Jervis Bay yesterday late morning, into the afternoon. We were riding a nice right hander and all was sweet until the wind dropped and swung off shore (sw). It had been reasonable steady in the 20 knots south southeast. I was on a long tack out to get back into the lineup, and when I turned around I did't see any kites up. I had that "oh ****, here we go" moment. Seconds later I felt the wind die. I was on a 9 mt kite. I made a quick decision to do a full packdown, one I have never had to do before. I have practiced this in my head many times. I flagged the kite, and tied it off to my surfboard, then pulled the kite toward me as I wrapped the lines. I did not try and wrap them neatly, my goal was to get the air out of the main bladder asap. Once I had the kite rolled up and secure I began the long paddle back. I was approximately 1 nautical mile out according to police.
Now because the waves were pretty good size in the bay, there were many people watching from the bluff and it became a little bit of a circus show. As soon as the wind had swung to the west surfers were back in the lineup.
I checked my watch as I started my way back. The other three were within 300 meters of shore, one guy made it back into the impact zone after about 25 minutes, and he then went back and got a bigger surfboard to lend a hand to one of the other guys, it took them forty minutes. Meanwhile the guy that was closest to shore when the kites went down did NOT pack down and was being blown out to sea and downwind. He was making little headway. At 25 minutes I passed him though he was still upwind a fair way. I skirted around the point and paddled in 50 minutes later, there were some friends watching from the point who helped drag my gear off the reef. I was pretty tired, but felt I could have gone another 45 minutes easy if I had to. Meanwhile the other guy was going nowhere. The police asked again if he needed assistance to which we replied he did. The navy helicopter was dispatched and got there before the coast guard boat, and they just kept an eye on him. Meanwhile, some dude on a sup went out to make sure he was okay, and stayed with him until the boat arrived. He was then transported to the naval base at Cresswell.
When asked by my friend why he didn't pack down, his answer was he didn't want to wash up on the reef or get hit by the waves breaking on the bombie. Lucky this story ends well, but it shows you two different scenarios on what can happen in this situation.
Moral of the story: prepare for packdown, do it quickly, don't panic, and start paddling or swimming. If the gear is dragging you down, ditch it and swim in and start making phone calls when you get in to let others know you are okay and a kite is out on the water.

One thing beginners need to do is not only learn the pack down self rescue, but practice it too until it becomes instinctive so you are not left scratching your head in an awkward situation which can lead to panic. I have been in that situation where I tried to pack down out on the water after the wind died and I was being pulled helplessly towards some old jetty footings. Not wanting to deal with a birds nest in my lines I decided to try wrapping the lines around the bar, but as I had not practiced since my first lesson I forgot how much line I needed to pull in before I started wrapping all the lines. Next thing I know the wind is back, my kite and myself are flying again, and my now wife is super pissed because I just lost the end of my ring finger a couple of months before the wedding (still didn't get me out of it!)
When the kite took off the lines around the bar pulled tight and sliced through my finger, bone and all. Nearly lost my pinky finger too but the doc managed to sew it back. Its taken a long time to get my confidence back on the water and slowed progression alot all because when I learnt to kite all I wanted to do was fly instead of practice the important bits!

OMH,
I left the struts inflated for extra float and to stop the kite from sinking in case it washed off the board. I spun my harness around and put the kite between my chest and my board. The paddling was too awkward(and my kite specific surfboard does not paddle well) so I just held the nose and kicked my way back, nice steady pace.
I have had to self rescue in the past, and I don't mind swimming if I have to ditch in the surf, but when the wind goes off shore it's a different game and time is not your friend. I guess if you are a committed kiter you are bound to eventually have to go through such procedures sooner or later. All part of the fun and games...
And yes, a good outcome down here....

Shame to hear that windchaser - thanks for having a go at addressing the situation before if became a problem for our kite community !

I have windsufed Botany (Dolls Pt - years ago) but not kited - I hear that the regulations say we cant kite within a kilometer of an airport, is this the case?

Did this dude technically cross over the line (OK the kite was on the water) ?

How well known is the airport boundary rule ?

For those new to wind and water sports, her is a good site with wind, pressure, swell graphs. And anything surfing related for that matter and a lot of the info applies to kiters. Just select your location then observer it and study it for a while. You'll get the hang of it. You can animate it over a week and see the trend for the next day.
magicseaweed.com/South-Australia-Surf-Chart/35/

www.bom.gov.au/marine/index.shtml is a great source too of course and has a lot of information across the site.