Very sad. Condolences to the family :(

* Kite surfer drowns

A MAN has drowned off the coast of Geraldton this afternoon.

The man was kite surfing about 4.30pm when he drowned about 30km north of Geraldton.

"It appears that a kite surfer has drowned," Inspector Neil Blair said.

"At this stage all we know is that it's a male."

Police are at the scene investigating.

www.news.com.au/uncategorized/finance/%capi_slug%/finance

Very,very sad!!!!
My thought to his family and friends.

dirtyharry said...

RIP.

Anyone know anything more? Local or tourist?

all thats available is that he was 70

Hey yeah I was there when it happened. We were kiting at South Corro all day yesterday. Two kiters came through heading up wind towards Okagee.

Shortly after I got back to the beach we saw one of the kites looping violently about 1km south.
The kite had an awful lot of drag to it. We saw his mate head into the beach and land his kite.

A group of four of us took two 4 wheel drives south along the sand track to where the kites had come in. When we got there two people where administering CPR which proved un-successful. The guy had his kite lines wrapped around his neck.

From what we gather he fell on a wave and became entangled in his lines.
Was a tragic end to the day.

Such a terrible accident and shocking loss.

Condolences to bothe family and friends.

Shocking, sad news. Heart felt condolences to family and friends.

Thanks from Mikes family for the assistance given. At this time it is difficult to give any sound explanation, Pete spoke with Mike on the water a couple of minutes prior to CPR on the beach, he was fine at that time, Mike was a very confident waterman, extremely fit and used to the conditions, he has travelled out from the UK many times enjoying every moment he got on the water here. Having been a friend of Mikes for over 30 years windsurfing and kiting it is a great shock and difficult to take in, if any further information comes out that we may learn from, then I will post in a few days, for now though we shall be giving support to Mikes family.

i prefer to look at it that he died doing something he loved and cherished rather than having his life cut short by cancer, stabbed or killed by a drink driver .



thoughts are with the family .

What a tragedy. Even if he died doing what he loved it's still an unnecessary death. I'm also interested to hear if there's anything that could have been done to avoid what happened such as carrying a knife or certain conditions/maneuvres/tricks to avoid.

pumpnjump said...

Thanks from Mikes family for the assistance given. At this time it is difficult to give any sound explanation, Pete spoke with Mike on the water a couple of minutes prior to CPR on the beach, he was fine at that time, Mike was a very confident waterman, extremely fit and used to the conditions, he has travelled out from the UK many times enjoying every moment he got on the water here. Having been a friend of Mikes for over 30 years windsurfing and kiting it is a great shock and difficult to take in, if any further information comes out that we may learn from, then I will post in a few days, for now though we shall be giving support to Mikes family.

To be honest, I don't think his skill, age or fitness had anything to do with it. Based on the info provided, I'm guessing it was just bad luck. I got wrapped up in my lines in the waves about 8 years back and the only thing that saved me was my kite hitting land and a fisherman jumping on it bursting my leading edge. Its the nature of the sport and unfortunately sometimes these things just happen. There is not a whole lot you can do in those circumstances and if the lines wrapped around his neck, he wouldn't have had much time to react.

I guess the only thing we can take from this is that he died doing something he loved.

Sad event, condolences to his family and friends.

Nick

poor guy, even with 30years on the water the worst can happen to the best. bit of a wake up call for everybody especially knowing the coast so well. lets hope heaven is a half pipe or peaking barrell.

Kitesurfing at 69...wish I'd met Mike, he sounds like a legend to me. Thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends.

Rest in Peace Mate!
I take my hat! Kiting with 69!
Zoe, be proud and sorry for your loss.
cs

From myself and i am am sure everyone in the Brisbane kite surfing community. Our condolences go out to your family and friends and anyone who has been directly affected by this tragedy. It makes you realize the sport your in is pretty extreme and for someone your age to be enjoying it as you have is a stoke. RIP mate...