He had a helmet on, but he still should have been looking around. There's a lot of traffic around there, some big fast moving boats, you got to be on the ball. He wasn't. Perhaps the skipper should have seen him too and they're both culpable, but at the end of the day, a kiter/windsurfer is much more vulnerable in a collision with a large boat and it's their responsibility to be extra vigilant.

Kiters not watching their backs is unfortunately quite common. many chaps here have been caught by "surprise" by thunderstorms with strong gusts, which clearly built during good part of an hour forming a huge cumulonimbus, rain curtains and everything. How could they not see it? They were looking left and right and downwind, not upwind.

Skippers not watching their path is unfortunately also quite common. Not talking about big cargo ships, they run on auto pilot anyways, but routine is a problem.

I often kite on light winds at Quinns, and am fully prepared with flares, personal GPS locator beacon and pfd. I accept that the winds are light and am fully able to self-rescue so present no problems to anyone else. I am equipped to call for assistance if I require it, however on the only two occasions that I am aware of in the last 24 months at Quinns no assistance was required or called for as a self-rescue was being carried out and progress back to the beach was being achieved without issue. Also there are always at least two of us out so one can call for help if deemed necessary.
Quinn SLS came out to offer assistance they were advised that when viewing downed kites from the shore with binoculars that they can check if the kiter is laying on the kite with wing tip raised if so they are carrying out a self-rescue, clearly if the kiter is being blown off shore then a rescue may be required (not the case here).
Self-rescues may become necessary for any number of reasons from broken equipment to being over/under powered and is a fundamental part of our sport. As a community kiters need to educate others more about recognition of self-rescue situations so that it is more easily understood by those that do not practise our sport and so prevent unnecessary use of valuable resources.
I fully respect and admire the SLS service they do a great job and deserve our full support.

I know I shouldn't comment but I can't resist even though it has nothing to do with the original post (or me really)but the fact that there is so many resources available to rescue kiters in the metro area seems to affect what people perceive as an acceptable risk.

On the bright side the time taken for the rescue boat to arrive after the accident must be a world record!

Nobs was being him self. Thus all our comments about him mum were removed.

Well to get his money back he will have to go to court? Hence why he may have asked for posts about his past rescues to be deleted to make him look like a responsible kiter. I liked the turn of events on this post. Much more drama and entertaining than home and away. Shame sensor ship was applied here even though there was no language/racism/feminism etc on most of them.

Jonopark said..

Well to get his money back he will have to go to court? Hence why he may have asked for posts about his past rescues to be deleted to make him look like a responsible kiter. I liked the turn of events on this post. Much more drama and entertaining than home and away. Shame sensor ship was applied here even though there was no language/racism/feminism etc on most of them.

He had a good old kook out moment with his test pilot noggin protector on...

He didn't hear the 40foot boat coming with it's diesels blasting because of his helmet.

He didn't see it becasue he neglected to be aware of his surroundings and look over his shoulder.

Why everyone is making a big hoo haar about it is beyond me..

He needs to put it down to stiff bikkies, learn from it and not do the same again..

That my friends is No BS.... hence my name..

Case closed with Dusta's final statement above.

The END

WeirdEd said..

NoBS said..

That my friends is No BS.... hence my name..

Oh dear...

What happened again to "Overtaking vessel keeps clear" and "Power gives way to sail"? Oh right, wearing a helmet revokes all right of way rules.
You got your name wrong, "ExclusivelyBS" fits much better.

How is the skipper supposed to give way when he didn't see him? And I think people have raised a relevant point in that you wear a helmet, one of your main senses is massively impaired so you ensure you are extra vigilant i.e you are constantly looking all around, ensuring there is nothing in the vicinity. The size of the rescue boat - he should have seen it a long time before the collision. The fact that he was completely unaware it was even there, demonstrates not only was he not looking around leading up to the collision, he wasn't looking around 3, 4, 5 minutes before the collision. If he was he would have spotted it in the distance & kept an eye on it it's progress. If we're going to apportion blame, well I would say they're both to blame really, but Pete the kiter more so. He should have spotted that rescue boat, end of story. The fact that the skipper didn't spot the kiter does not negate Pete's humungous f*ckup.

When rescue boats......................................................................







ATTACK!!!

After reading all the opinions and stories, Judge Judy would probably yell at both at them, split the damage bill between them, tell both of them to be more vigilant on the water at all times, and bang her gavel. How did the skipper not see the kiter, how did the kiter not see the rather large boat. Pretty ambigious to me. It did happen though. Lets not get like the US, Aussies shake hands when something like this occurs, go halves and get on with it...???

Personally Im just stoked that pete's OK.

Chris_M said..

Most censored thread in history.

This is what internet in North Korea must be like.........

speak to our leader, kim jong laurie

That's like saying in a car crash, where a pedestrian is run over on a zebra crossing, he didn't see the car, the car didn't see him so split the bill?

The rules of the water are absolutely clear. Power gives way to sail, the fact that the skipper who is supposed to be keeping a responsible lookout didn't see who he ran over is just why the accident occurred he must have been busy not steering to not see him out those windows!

Power boat is in the wrong and so is the cause of the accident.

The only possible scenario where the kiter may be partially at fault is if the kiter ran the boat down and rammed it without seeing it, while the captain didn't see anything, which we all know is impossible.