Me thinks their are some very biased posts here!

If Vanessa was Victor the heated jibes and criticism would be abundant.

Vanessa, you shouldn't be flying on your own if you can forget to hook in and forget to attach a leash especially in difficult conditions. You should not pick up your bar unless your leash is attached first.

GET LESSONS GIRL!

then

GET MORE LESSONS!

then practise somewhere where you won't endanger your own or anyone else's life.

I don't care if you are M or F. A kite blowing across a road is gross negligence.

GET LESSONS

It was me. I did not "rescue" your kite. I don't care one bit about your damn kite I was trying to stop a vehicle accident and bans at my kiting spot.

Learn somewhere else please.

Kiterman,

I would like to thank you for you fast reaction that you went up to the street and got the kite as I mentioned at the beginning of the thread: I think you might have saved lives with this. I am fully aware that without your fast reaction the kite flying to the street could have caused a terrible accident. I didn't care about the kite either and I begin to think that people here don't want any apology or even you don't want a thank you.

What is your name? I will then ask to close that thread as I find that I rather upset people. And not because of my possibly poor English.

I have had lessons on that beach since December and I have asked my instructor, who is teaching down there, if this is okay for me to come down there with my new kite on Sunday. As I realized, there were not as many other people kiting as on other beaches at the same time. And I always assumed that this is the beginners spot.

I know many people would just leave it and move on (you have no idea how many stories of fatal mistakes I hear, not placed into this forum) - maybe to another beach were nobody knows me? Yes? Is this you guys did when you started to repeat the stuff you had learned in the lessons? And then come back to your beach?

I did not have one moment of thinking of giving up since Sunday. I was rather grateful of the fact that nothing bad happened and ashamed of what happened. After I publicly apologized and tried to find you, Kiterman, as I thought it might be at least a gesture of appreciation (not rescuing the kite for the making sure the kite is okay, I would never think anyone in this situation would think of material, I apologize if I have given you that impression - but to get the kite out of the street in order to prevent any damage for people driving on the street etc.).

But the more of the comments in this thread I read the more I think I will have to give up - as people obviously get so upset that they don't want me on "their" beach. That's the impression I get.

Have a good week, guys, it was an experience,

Vanessa

Vanessa, people are upset because its only going to take one incident like yours, where we arent so lucky (thanks kiterman), and kitesurfing will be banned.
By the sound of it - you have learnt your lesson (i think all kitersurfers experience something like this atleast once). But I have to say I am suprised that you are a learner and you took a kite you are unfamiliar with , to a busy and small beach (launching wise)

I have been kiting for over 4 years, and when I have a new kite I have not flown.
I triple check everything. I tell the person launching me its a new kite and that I am unfamiliar with it. I ask them to take special care to make sure that when the kite is up - I am comfortable and ready to head out to sea.
I dont care how experienced you are - kiting with unfamilair equipment - should mean you take a lot of precautions. (and only if you are very experienced should this be attempted at somewhere like botany bay)

Dont give up kitesurfing...... but you should only kitesurf at a spot where you are not going put other people at risk, until you are comfortable with your equipment.

Its a big step going from newbi to independent.
sounds like bontany has a small area for setting up and is very busy which makes it dangerous .
try to find a beach with a larger area and is less busy .
go when its raining as it keeps the crowds at home
,low tide can expose more beach .
i dont know whats around your area . maybe someone local could suggest a more suitable beach for learning on ?
then when your confident and out of the newbi stage youll be able to go to the more difficultdangerous loctions . cheers

Well said Sir V a voice of reason - chill pills all around!!!

Vanessa

I chatted to you on the beach after your incident (the other Vanessa - just to really confuse people!) re launching and checking lines downwind of the kite etc.

Don't be disheartened by the stir you have created - kiters of all levels make mistakes- I understand the intention of your post and thank you for that.

Keep your chin up - have another lesson or two and keep practising - you will never make the same mistake again and in the future you can help others not rush their launch and to be safe.

See you on the beach sometime
Cheers Vanessa

Far too many Vanessa's here for me

Makes you wonder what they teach in Lessons if you 'forgot' to hook in.
Did anyone teach you pre flight checks?
Did anyone teach you about dodgy weather conditions?

Forgeting is not an excuse. These checks should be second nature to anyone flying a power kite.

your accident, from what i understand had the potential to cause a major traffic accident, take out power lines and injure a by stander - all that just from forgetting

All that could have been avoided by you by recognising your current limitations.

Kitesurfing at this point in time cannot afford fk ups. The more fk ups joe public record and report the more chance our spots have of closing.

If it makes you feel any better a really experienced botany kiter pummelled my head with an epically failed kiteloop and gave me a concussion.

I reckon they should remove the Nav markers from the end of the groynes, that way it's quicker to get away from the beginners in straight onshore wind, and hopefully some jetskis will mince themselves in the evenings

Personally I'm looking forward to Thursday on the gold coast, 30knots should give me excellent clearance when I jump over surf skis! It's the kind of general malaise that only the genius posess and the insane lament.

Maybe I shouldn't post my story then :(

I agree that people need to take a chill pill, but Vanessa also needs to understand that its often not just you or just one incident. In most cases, its the culmination of a number of incidents thats result in people tempers flaring.

At Altona, we watched 4 incidents happen in 4 days. By the time the 4th one happened, people had lost any level of sympathy for the kitemaree and were starting to get really agitated particularly when every single one could have been avoided by people taking precautions. In 2 cases, people hit powerlines, each of which normally results in power outages, call outs from the police and power companies and more bad publicity.

Think of it this way, if you were driving on the roads, and you hit someone who had been hit by 4 different people, they'd be noticeably agitated about it happening again. Its nothing personal against you, it may be your first time but for them its their 4th time. When it comes to preventative accidents, we as the kitesurfing community cannot afford to have every single person learn from their mistakes in the same manner as you did or we'd have bans pretty much every week.

Take it on the chin, accept you made a mistake, accept that people are noticeably unhappy about it, and do your best to make sure it doesn't happen again. No one has problems with beginners, they don't mind beginners standing in the water with their kites at 12 (provided there aren't 10 of them in a row and you can't get past), but when beginners make mistakes which they shouldn't, ones which impact on whether we can keep kitespots, they will get annoyed.

Hello everyone,

Ok... So Vanessa made a mistake launching unhook & safety not attached. Sang should have launched water side. They both learnt very valuable lessons that day. And let’s face it... We learn best from our mistakes not successes. That said...I was down there that day. Vanessa had already had her kite up earlier and from what I could see, she handled the kite well and looked confident moving up & down the beach. Her landing was perfect.

This is what happened.

The kite jumped the railing missing two bystanders ( Kiterman & girlfriend ). Kiterman was in quick pursuit; Sang had jumped the railing and was not far behind. The kite when over the hill and landed very nicely in the middle lane where there was NO traffic ( Very unusual for the grand Parade ) except for the black VW 5 door hatch that had seen the kite come over the hill and stopped in plenty of time. Kiterman had retrieved the kite and Sang collected the lines and the three of them made their way back to the beach.

This is what could have happened... As described by an eye witness.

The evil kite had a mind of its own... It drag this hot blonde chick down the beach and then used her as a human tea bag before making its way towards two bystanders where the evil kite line wrapped itself around the guys neck decapitating him and the bar hit the girl in the head killing her. The kite then moved to the road where it wrapped itself around a black VW causing a multicar pile up. One car spun out of control hitting a power pole bring it down before rolling down the hill smashing through the railing and landed on two topless bathers. What a tragedy. The power pole fell on the fish and chip shop with the live wires sparking a fire and electrocuting the female employee. It was all quite shocking... I couldn’t believe it. The owner of the shop came out yelling and screaming. He then pulled out a gun and CHIC CHIC BOOM started firing indiscriminately into the crowd before turning the gun on himself. ..

Things could have been much worse, but thanks to God, Allah, Budda or whoeverrrrr, that wasn’t the case. Get over it people.

Shivers, I almost forgot to mention that there were rock groynes every 200m and that everyone seemed ti congregate in the one rock groyne leaving the 10 other beaches empty. Hmm what else. 80% of the kiters rode Cabrinhas and when I asked about the above points no one seemed to know why.. Strange place

Launching without being hooked in and without safety is not a mistake it is a catastrophic f#&$up. Who does that?

This chick who made this post should marry him