Yeah, bay winds were gusting up to 50 knots. It must have been around 2pm when the 50 knot gust hit. The poor guy wouldn't have seen it coming as the winds at South Channel looked pretty consistent prior to that but Fawkner and the rest of the beacons were spiking badly.



Does anyone know who it was?

I was expecting this post to get pulled after reading that heading

www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/strong-wind-brings-down-powerlines-in-victoria/news-story/0b9647733964730da283b2f1f6bbb08f

Obviously didn't worry about the impending severe storm and destructive gale warning?

Commonsense??

Sorry he got hurt, but people should consider their limits, abilities and mother nature..

I regularly kite in winter and have been out in well over 40, I usually watch at least a couple of hours before hand and check the warnings on the Bom before I ride.

Thing is weather prediction isn't an exact science and sh!t happens hell I almost kited in the Perth storm a couple years ago when winds got to 65 kts ( glad I didn't after reading the warnings) you never know what's going to come through, just make sure you always have a contingency plan, and look at what weathers coming your way.

Hope he makes a quick recovery.

Rose-leaf eh, dicing with disaster............

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rose%20leaf

I'll apologise in advance.

I was in Rosebud from 7.30 to about 12.00 but pulled out at 10.30 because after 3 hrs riding in a nice wind. I was getting tired and my 12 was far to overpowering. At about 12 the guys were flying on 8 or 7 but I thing the wind was not to strong. Quite gusty some time.
The wind was almost full onshore an the guys were pulling big airs and tricks a bit to close to shore...to my taste....anyway they seem to be pretty advanced.
Well I think he was just unlucky to be picked up by that gust.
It sucks but it could be far worst as there is a concrete wall infront of the car park

..Get well soon.....anybody knows who it was?

CS

id love to be out in those kinda winds again, roll on the fronts

That westerly came out of nowhere- I wasn't kiting today so I was on my iPhone every 15 mins checking wind. It was about 25-30kts Nrthly at Rosebud beach when suddenly Point Wilson was showing 42 kts West. 15-20mins later, with no visual cues in sky or water the Westerly hit like a ****a.

On these days it's very important for experienced kiters to speak up, and TELL novice "know it alls" or novice "eager beavers" to put kite down. If they don't smack themselves they could smack you.

Ive seen a lady hit by a 12m kite in 10kts of wind, when wind dropped right off kite dropped out of sky, hit her in side of head- she was out unconscious and off to the Alfred. That was in 10kts of wind

Don't let novices kite close to beach around families, spectators - especially small children. If you're experienced- speak up, take action before it's too late.



Many were lucky it went W and not SW - if you're out in water much deeper than your waist you'll be dragged into deeper water until you can't touch bottom then ....out you go..off shore. Better hope you can release and swim

lostinlondon said...

Melbourne summer cool changes are pretty predictable in their behaviour - and the forecast was pretty spot on. The temperature and humidity, along with the northerly was steadily building all day. The bigger the northerly builds, the bigger the switch to the south will be.

It's just not worth venturing out in, and the best time to get out there is after the change once the front has gone through...

Two fractured ankles - that will be an annoying recovery!

Spot on.

NickT said...

I regularly kite in winter and have been out in well over 40, I usually watch at least a couple of hours before hand and check the warnings on the Bom before I ride.

Thing is weather prediction isn't an exact science and sh!t happens hell I almost kited in the Perth storm a couple years ago when winds got to 65 kts ( glad I didn't after reading the warnings) you never know what's going to come through, just make sure you always have a contingency plan, and look at what weathers coming your way.

Hope he makes a quick recovery.

you're da man

The northerly had some very big gusts up to 45 knots. The westerly was forecast and came in strong on time. The wind charts looked fairly steady but the BOM radar showed massive rain fronts so we decided not to go out.

Hope he recovers quickly.

There was a wind forecast that put the westerly change at around 3pm, it came at 2pm, as you can see from this South Channel wind plot. The gust recorded there was around 55 knots.

Kiter blown on beach by a man wearing shorts over his wetsuit.

I'm surprised that there weren't more accidents that day. I kited from around 9am till 10.30am on 9m bit further up. I got off the water after it first spiked to over 30. After my session I went to watch the other guys. Most were on 9s and 10s at that time yet a few noobs learning in the shallows were on 12m kites. Fully depowered and sheeted out and still getting lofted.

Anyway, awesome day on the right size kite.

This was mentioned on the ABC radio news in Melbourne with Rosebud as the location of the accident. The news report cited possible spinal damage too.

After 6 years of questions from friends, family and acquaintances such as "is kitesurfing really safe" to which I answer "yes, if you get instruction, use the right gear and make the right decisions", it looks like I will get another round of these questions.