I would also like to thank Fred. Im the yellow kite guy who attempted the first rescue and just ended up with a nice swim.
Bascially the guy on the red kite crashed in a kite loop off swannie. His chicken loop came off the bar and he was attached only by the saftey. As unlucky as it sounds the saftey got caught around the bar and was balanced enough to stop the saftey for pulling the kite only on one line - thus the kite continued to fly, looping out to sea. He was too far from the bar to reach it as the kite was smashing and dragging him so rapidly. Also he could not cut the lines as the only line he could reach was the safety (too thick). I tried to crash my kite into his to tangle them up and stop his looping so badly. This kinda worked but it was not until his line snapped when fred rocked up that he could wreasle his way out of his harness. THANKS again fred. By this stage he could not swim and had a few broken ribs. The only thing that would have saved this situation would be if the red kiter had a harness with a second release on the bar (common in one brand). There was nothing else this guy could do.
We were the two at Charlies, red kiter is sore but will kite again after ribs repair.
As far as chipping in for a kite - very nice offer but unnecessary. I would also like to thank all the crew who saw this happen and called the appropriate people etc.. you guys have just made me feel far better about this incident. The fact that clubbies and police were all notified is a great relief. I have been thinking about what could have happebed without fred as red kite could not swim. But know I know that he would have been good with the arrivial of boats etc..
Thanks again to all of you.
Sime

Its sounds surprising that he couldn't release his leash. I thought all kites had quick releases on the leash as well or have I misunderstood the situation?

I am the guy on the red best waroo kite, a bit bruised and battered but happpy to be sitting here writing. Firstly thankyou to Fred for dragging me into Floreat after a pretty Torid downwinder from Swanbourne and Thankyou to the guy who gave us a lift to Swanny, and finally thankyou to my mate Sime (yellow Kite) for sacrificing kite and almost dog to try and rescue me. Thankyou to anyone else who called for help....

Just to clarify the incident and hopefully take some learning from it. It started with my chicken loop coming out of my harness, instead of depowering on my emergency my kite instantly went into strong loops (5) followed by a crash in the water and then lopping, this continued all of the way down the beach, slightly to the left of the window pulling me further offshore (the least of my worries). I had a small harness knife but was not in a position to reach it or cut my lines as I was at this stage connected by my emergency only and could not pull up the line to either grab my tangled bar an/or lines. I was in serious trouble effectively in survival mode trying to relax and keep my head above water. I tried to undo my harness but was too powered to attempt much and worried I would start submerging. My mate Sime (yellow kite) came along and tried to lend a hand, the only solution in my head was to pop my kite (looping viviously) or get a big knife or boat to help. Sime tried to stop my kite with his which failed and he disconnected when they became tangled, his kite did slow me down for while as I grabbed the inflated edge to keep above water and then when I could not hold it acted as a sea anchor with me in the middle of two tangled kites. just offshore Floreat Fred came along on his kite and handed me a knife, again this was of no use as it was very small and would have struggled to cut the emergency line, however as fate would have it one of my lines then broke (from the 30 minutes of pounding) and I was depowered. I then got out of my harness and grabbed an exhausted Fred who body dragged me in to shore from where another good samaritan gave me a lift to Swanny and then a long night in emergency treating broken ribs and saltwater in my lungs.

My learnings

- Have disconnect between your emergency and harness mine was looped around a ring with no vecro or release.
- Have an emergency disconnect on the front of your harness as it is impossible to undoo when fully powered and being whipped out of the water.
- Always kite with a mate.
- Should kiters have better access to surfclub and emergency numbers? these things happen quickly and a rubber ducky would have been handy from Flozza?

Thanks and happy kiting.

PS If anyone finds a yellow and red waroo bars and a harness give me a hoy.

Pat

Scary Stuff! Good to hear nobody got to badly hurt.

Not sure if many people use these or not? A guy told me to get one for safety as a backup release, when I first started kiting.
You can get these at most boating/marine supply shops.
Mine cost about $15.

You pull the little ring to release the shackle, and it opens up. (Ive got a small peice of line with a toggle attached to mine so its easy to grap)

Ive got mine between my safety leash - connecting to my harness so you can ditch the lot in these sorts of situations. (thats the theory anyway.... it may be a little harder to grab when your getting flung around like a rag doll!)

Squinty ..... there are many different types of these quick releases available. Many of which are hard to impossible to release under HEAVY LOAD. I bought some for the same reason but when I tested them under load .....

Regarding the pix that SKWINTY posted, that is not a good snap shakkel / Quick release, about 4-5 years ago these were discussed heavily on all forums, there is a brand called WICHARD, they are one of the few that dont load up and then not open. They were used by quite a lot of kiters before kite companys finaly decided they would spend a few dollars more to save our lives, and I still see those ****t " pull the pin " releases on some kites.

Ray

Yep. the old waroos had no quick release on the safety line, I will be ordering one though!

Here are 2 new posts on kiteforum which pertain to a lot of the questions asked in this thread, about what to do in the case of kite wraps, and about the subject concerning the value of kite knives.

These are new threads, and I hope that some experienced kiters will contribute useful suggestions. Warning: Some posters can be quite rude on Kiteforum, but don't let them put you off.

http://www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2343812&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2343820&highlight=

It seems like both subjects have come up a lot recently, on the kite forums.

the harnesses with the leash release built in is one of the best methods and should be promoted to beginners a lot more than they are.

PattyB said...

I am the guy on the red best waroo kite, a bit bruised and battered but happpy to be sitting here writing. Firstly thankyou to Fred for dragging me into Floreat after a pretty Torid downwinder from Swanbourne and Thankyou to the guy who gave us a lift to Swanny, and finally thankyou to my mate Sime (yellow Kite) for sacrificing kite and almost dog to try and rescue me. Thankyou to anyone else who called for help....

Just to clarify the incident and hopefully take some learning from it. It started with my chicken loop coming out of my harness, instead of depowering on my emergency my kite instantly went into strong loops (5) followed by a crash in the water and then lopping, this continued all of the way down the beach, slightly to the left of the window pulling me further offshore (the least of my worries). I had a small harness knife but was not in a position to reach it or cut my lines as I was at this stage connected by my emergency only and could not pull up the line to either grab my tangled bar an/or lines. I was in serious trouble effectively in survival mode trying to relax and keep my head above water. I tried to undo my harness but was too powered to attempt much and worried I would start submerging. My mate Sime (yellow kite) came along and tried to lend a hand, the only solution in my head was to pop my kite (looping viviously) or get a big knife or boat to help. Sime tried to stop my kite with his which failed and he disconnected when they became tangled, his kite did slow me down for while as I grabbed the inflated edge to keep above water and then when I could not hold it acted as a sea anchor with me in the middle of two tangled kites. just offshore Floreat Fred came along on his kite and handed me a knife, again this was of no use as it was very small and would have struggled to cut the emergency line, however as fate would have it one of my lines then broke (from the 30 minutes of pounding) and I was depowered. I then got out of my harness and grabbed an exhausted Fred who body dragged me in to shore from where another good samaritan gave me a lift to Swanny and then a long night in emergency treating broken ribs and saltwater in my lungs.

My learnings

- Have disconnect between your emergency and harness mine was looped around a ring with no vecro or release.
- Have an emergency disconnect on the front of your harness as it is impossible to undoo when fully powered and being whipped out of the water.
- Always kite with a mate.
- Should kiters have better access to surfclub and emergency numbers? these things happen quickly and a rubber ducky would have been handy from Flozza?

Thanks and happy kiting.

PS If anyone finds a yellow and red waroo bars and a harness give me a hoy.

Pat

G'day Pat

Crikey!! That is one of the worst Kitemares I've heard of where the person survived, it sounds like you were close to passing out??
Good on Fver for coming to your aid and your mate with the yellow kite.

I'm fairly certain from reading your account that there were some basic errors in the way your gear was rigged, and I want to help you and other understand what happened, so if you don't mind can I ask you a few questions.

Where did you have the leash connected before the looping began?
Was it a standard 07 Waroo leash?
Had you altered the length of the grey amsteel c-loop line (shortened it)?


Really glad you are OK and can now contribute to a better understanding of how to deal with emergencies.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

Kitepower Australia said...

Had you altered the length of the grey amsteel c-loop line (shortened it)?

So please explain Steve what you think this will do before I cut mine. I've shortened it so I can just reach the front line safety for self landing but haven't cut it yet. It's rediculously long in the standard setup, to self land you put yourself in danger as I currently need to pull in the rope a few feet to grab the front line. In the process the kite falls back in the window then powers up if your not quick enough. I feel I've still got enough depower when it's shortened if required. I also run a 2 safety system setup with a short leash attached to my bar(not hook).

I did see someone's hook snap off last week and he had his safety attached to it. He was lucky, very light winds and he was able to swim after and grab the chicken loop and get back to the beach.

Hey guys...

If you see an incident the best course of action - if you consider it an emergency (as per current incident being discussed) then ring Police on '000'. If not quite sure as to the urgency then ring 131 444. This will put you thru to Police who can then access Water Police / Helicopter / Sea Rescue much quicker than dialing individual groups etc.

Water Police Marine Co-ordination Centre is well set up for this sort of stuff and they will respond in the quickest way possible.

Best thing you can do is try and keep eyes on the parties involved as you can then direct resources into the right area via your mobile.

Pete the kiting copper.....

As a regular kiter with yellow and red kite I was shocked to hear this tale. It's testament to their fitness and determination that it ended up as it did. I had a very similar kitemare in the Safety Bay race several years ago ending up with a 2km swim in in a big swell. The rescue boat repeatedly missed me due to the swell and my flare failed. The thing that saved my bacon was my bouyancy vest. Since then I've always been cautious of kiting on my own or even with a couple of other kiters around. Haven't worn my vest for ages but will dust it off for my next outing.

Great story. Life threatening stuff does happen in this sport. How nice is that no one got killed or maimed; quick intervention by local kiting kiters shows what excellent people we have in this sport and how our local community is involved and caring.

I believe that it would be good for kiters to enter sea rescue numbers in to their mobiles.

This incident is a perfect example of how well some things do function here. Ok, so there is some criminals who steal and loot from us, but as I said there are risks associated with kiting. I do wish the petty crime and garbage throwing would come to an end though because I do know as a group kiters do not steal from each other and leave a mess.

Looks like it is windy every day now and there will be plenty of people out on the water. Say hi and look out for each other.

@ PattyB

I'm fairly certain from reading your account that there were some basic errors in the way your gear was rigged, and I want to help you and others understand what happened, so if you don't mind can I ask you a few questions.?

Where did you have the leash connected before the looping began?
Was it a standard 07 Waroo leash?
Had you altered the length of the grey amsteel c-loop line (shortened it)?

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve