Kite wars - bring it on, last kite flying wins

I hurt my ribs from laughing too much the last time I saw a Cab crash into a tree. Does that count?

I have had a flap of skin detached from a finger after grabbing the front line at the wrong time. Conditions were extreme and it was a dumb thing to do at the time.

A mate says his brother de-gloved a finger (ie. tore all the flesh off) in what sounds like a minor oops that went seriously wrong. I cannot vouch for the truth of that but I don't think the mate is lying. It's a ghastly story but no different to what happens to people getting a finger crushed in a door or something similar.

So sh.t can happen, but mostly doesn't.

The dangers of kiting is pretty much irrelevant. The main issue is that people have a right to relax on the beach without getting bonked by a stray kite.

Similarly, kiters have a right to enjoy what is mainly a healthy and safe sport.

The solution is to mark designated kite launching and landing areas with signage so kiters can launch and land safely. It is not reasonable that beach goers can monopolise the whole strip of sand by the water on a hot day, just as it is unreasonable for kiters to impose themselves on all other beach users.

The anti-kiting sentiment from some windsurfers is just the usual internet self-convincing political crap. A few guys decide they don't like something so they spin themselves a story and convince themselves it is a fact and reinforce it by posting stuff on the net.

I agree Gorgo, but a degloved finger would be from the line wrapping around then kite relaunching.

That can only happen to yourself as a flying kite with tense lines is not going to wrap around someone else's body part.

I think we are all aware of the grunt of a kite and willing to accept the risk to ourselves.

I was trying to find out more specifically about third party being hit by kites or lines and any subsequent damage.

As for getting hit by the board, anyone who surfs would have had some nasty encounter with a stray board (your own quite often) so I wouldn't count that as a kite specific injury (unless if you have a leash to your board in which case you pay the self inflected consequences of your actions).

I don't know of any serious injuries, but there's been a few members of the public that have taken a good whack & enough close calls for it to be an issue.

I can see how it could give you a decent wack

You're obviously a bit of a tough guy & can handle a decent whack, but imagine a young kid or elderly person getting hit?

I would feel like inflicting a serious injury on any kiter who hit or came close to hitting my little daughter playing on the beach!

Almost had my ear severed.......ended up with 13 stitches.........

Was kiting at Phillip island whilst a mate was setting up on the beach... I noticed he was having trouble self launching... so I came in to assist.... I put my kite out on the edge of the wind window ( wingtip on the water ) and began moving my mates kite around a bunch of seaweed so he could launch once it was in position I yelled out wait wait until im out of the way to which he nodded and waved as soon as I turned to walk back into the water he launched and hit me square in the side of the head .... I was knocked out and ended up facedown in the shorebreak but luckily another mate who was taking photos heard the hit and saw me go down he pulled me up within 10 seconds, unfortunately my ear was now hanging and split in half

I dont know if it was the impact of the leading edge and stitching or the bridal that did the damage but I spent the rest of Cup Day 09 in the Wonthaggi hospital getting put back together.

I was more pi$$ed off about missing the rest of what was shaping as a ripper session.

are you trying to give the opposition something to use in the battle?? We were up against local community and they scourered seabreeze and WAKSA

What about emotional scars? Many years ago when I’d just got my first Bow kite I was doing the walk of shame due to super light winds. There was a 50+ German woman sun baking topless in just a fluro yellow thong. I’d been commenting on places to park my bike etc. then on the last walk back the kite dropped from the sky and got stuck in the tree she was lying under (it was a naish not a cab sorry). I spent the next two hours with her climbing the tree helping me get the kite unstuck - you cannot imagine the view. I would have given anything to be somewhere else on that day – I still have that kite but it hasn’t been out of the bag since.

no, i think greenpeace came by later and rolled her back in the water

Copped a looping cab in the face once just managed to spot it at the last second and slide down on the board but took the brunt of the lines across my face cut through my neck, jaw,cheek and side of my nose ,was a bit scabby for a few weeks but nothin serious ,although gave a few a scare while i was still riding for the next hour while still bleeding,got a few funny looks.

beefarmer said...

maybe a little off the topic seb was after but a friend of mine got clipped in the face by a stray bar from a trainer kite. several stitches and a scar on her face to remember it by, she wasn't happy and nor would anybody else be.

I'd hate to think what a bar attached to a powered up full-sized kite would've done.

Hey Nick,
That incident went to court and she received 10,000. (I dont think that was enough)
She wasn't clipped it was pegged at her head.
That was one of the saddest days to see my xgirlfriends face get smashed open. She has never been the same since. Completely unnecessary and a dangerous stunt done by a well known xshop owner on this forum .

Ya sebol good post... Ive been kiting for a few years and ive seen some poor displays of kitemanship(is that a word?) But some how in any incident, be it a kite crashing onto the beach or a kiter bein lofted into a building, Ive never heard of a civilian being caught up in the carnage...
Me I like that kiting isnt very safe, actually it isnt very safe at all....
Attatching 65-100 kilos of human to 9-12 metres of kite in 15-30 knots of wind is not smart, but **** me is it fun..
Im a fatalist and loathe the insurance agencies that pray on our fears of financial destruction through stupidity.......

Just because you haven't heard about them doesn't mean they don't happen. WA doesn't have the crowds on the beaches that the east coast has. There have been several incidences. Why do you think AKSA insurance premiums went up?

It's really important to have some kind of insurance. Court costs and medical bills alone are enough without compensation.

If you want official records, I'm sure they are documented somewhere.

If all you read is seabreeze then you won't hear of many incidences.

I've never been in a car crash. I still wear a seatbelt.

I've never crashed my kite into someone or lost control of it on the land. I still take care to be a decent distance from anyone downwind.

By definition, a kite that may crash into someone is out of control.
By definition, an out of control kite is moving fast (or hindenberging with slack lines).
By definition, a kite that crashes while moving fast is pointed downwards (or else it wouldn't crash).
So, with the hindenberg exception, a crashing kite is out of control and moving fast with some part of the leafing edge (or lines) being the first point of contact.

Sebol asked for actual incidents and I don't have one, but I'm pretty sure that if I dive my fully powered kite from 12 o'clock straight down and clocked someone's head with the middle of the firmly inflated leading edge then there would be several busted vertebrae and possibly a severed spinal cord.

The chances of it happening are small. Still, anything you can do to further diminish the odds has to be worth doing.