**** thats bad, You wonder if the safety gear is pulled quick enough to get any of us out the **** when all goes bad. Or is it instink to hang on?

^ LMFAO

Those poor print media reporters just don't get paid enough anymore.

Feel sorry for the poor dude, but what kind of winds were going on, I wonder.

I live and kitesurf in the Northern Basque Country where this happened.

The guys were riding 12sqm kites yesterday, one got caught by a gust and did not pull the safety.

Winds are very treacherous here.

Show some respect fellas. This guy is dead. His family may end up reading this.

Kitesurfing is a dangerous sport, and things can happen quickly. Even the most skilled / cautious / experienced kiter is at the mercy of equipment faliures and freak weather circumstances.

Lets not have have this turn into another thread where people get on their "safety" high horses.

R.I.P

Deepest sympothy to the guys family. Not a way to have an accident doing something you enjoy.

The thing to gauge here is the the winds in france and Spain don't blow like here. Not seabreeze and they can gust all of a sudden. Not always predictable.

The saddest thing is that the guys over in Europe often kite near buildings. If you ever look closely at wind distortion around buildings then you can see that if you get too close to a building the wind changes to an updraft dragging you over the top of the building. Must be at least 4 deaths I know of where this has happened.

Just kite in open space where wind can stay clean.

StinkyPete said...

effisk said...

I live and kitesurf in the Northern Basque Country where this happened.

The guys were riding 12sqm kites yesterday, one got caught by a gust and did not pull the safety.

Winds are very treacherous here.

It still seems to amaze me why this stuff happens. why pump up a 12 in dangerous winds. let me count the number of 12m kites out here in perth during a storm...............0

There were 5 kiteboarders in St Jean that day, all were kiting with 12m kites.

Last September I was kiting with a 14m kite in 16knots. In a couple of seconds, no more, the wind blew at 50+ knots steady with gusts above 60 knots. I took a screenshot of the report that day:



You just don't know the wind is dangerous until it's dangerous. That's what I meant by treacherous.

effisk said...

StinkyPete said...

effisk said...

I live and kitesurf in the Northern Basque Country where this happened.

The guys were riding 12sqm kites yesterday, one got caught by a gust and did not pull the safety.

Winds are very treacherous here.

It still seems to amaze me why this stuff happens. why pump up a 12 in dangerous winds. let me count the number of 12m kites out here in perth during a storm...............0

There were 5 kiteboarders in St Jean that day, all were kiting with 12m kites.

Last September I was kiting with a 14m kite in 16knots. In a couple of seconds, no more, the wind blew at 50+ knots steady with gusts above 60 knots. I took a screenshot of the report that day:



You just don't know the wind is dangerous until it's dangerous. That's what I meant by treacherous.hem

that looks like it wasa front.we get them too .wind lovely 20 kt NE one minute and kapow a 100 km/h southerly buster smashes in . Their is usually an indication of its impending arrival like clouds etc but I'm pretty sure that last year a clear air buster roared through Sydney blowing people across botany bay who were not aware of it's progress up the coast.Beware folks

RIP

Beersy said...

www.theage.com.au/world/kitesurfer-dies-in-france-20101108-17khd.html

Poor bloke.

Damn... at least he went out in spectacular fashion I guess... He'll be hanging out in Heaven with Evil Keneval, Eddie Aikau, maybe Bohdi as well, drinking beer and crushing the cans against their foreheads...

I can't think of any others that would be in the list - I'm sure others have better examples.