Glad he is OK and probably is a honest mistake...... but this should never have happened. People who do wind related sports should know and understand the wind and weather patterns.

Winter in Sydney never gives consistent breezes..... unless it is a southerly...and even then the tail end of a southerly usually goes weak and turns to the west.

People have a dig a newbies.....but would this not be a experienced kiter committing a rookie error????

By the way fishermen have reported a great white hanging out off long reef. Just a heads up for next time anyone wants to go trawling with their kite

wow, it sounds like this could have been a lot worse.

If I am reading this correctly you guys kited to the north side of long reef, creating the double danger of putting a headland between you and the wind, whilst also putting yourselves in an offshore wind situation. I realize you guys are experienced, but this really doesn't sound too smart. Maybe long reef bombie would have been a better option? At least there is land downwind there.

On a side note, any news on the 2012 argo?

bennie said...

wow, it sounds like this could have been a lot worse.

If I am reading this correctly you guys kited to the north side of long reef, creating the double danger of putting a headland between you and the wind, whilst also putting yourselves in an offshore wind situation. I realize you guys are experienced, but this really doesn't sound too smart. Maybe long reef bombie would have been a better option? At least there is land downwind there.

Don't be too hard on Chris -- he only went around past the headland to try and help out after Johnny had gone missing.

I'm at a wedding on the iPhone bashing out a message in-between speeches so will keep it short. Thats me on the right with the board.

1) Wind was south to se ONSHORE the whole time we were out. The wind did not change direction to off shore! Jhonny decided to kite by himself to a remote offshore location away from the group. After he was not spotted for 40 minuts i went around to check on him and the wind died.

2) jhony droped his kite 20m 30m max from shore in a flat sheltered area inside of the reef but some how got out to sea and said he was sea sick and got heli rescued. How he did not manage to self rescue himself from droping the kite so close to shore I do not know.

3) I downed my kite 700 meters from shore a few minutes after Jhonny when the wind died. Did a self rescue deepwater pack down and swam in. Arrived at the beach before the chopper turned up.

4) Wind was sketchy and locals and crew know not to do the remote headland in sketchy winds. We all set up and stayed close to shore on Longreef beach. Jhonny setup his kite and disappeared without letting anyone know his plans around the head land where it is off shore wind 1.5 K's away and was not seen for 40 minutes. So I went around to check on him. then wind dies. Great!

5) Commonsence: If you borrow a mates kite and disappear a kilometer and a half around a headland that is off shore winds in that location for 40 minutes without letting people know your plans in a fickle southerly, you should know how to self rescue or be in top health or not do it in the first place. The crew where concerned so I went around to check if he was ok.

6) learn to do a deepwater packdown and don't go to crazy places unless you know how to get out of trouble and can swim a few k. Stick with a crew of kiters and don't kite by yourself in a remote offshore location. This should be commonsense.

7) Don't knock spelling in forum posts when typed with a iPhone.

7.5) Johnny should not have done what he did. He put himself and others in danger. The wind was bad and he went off away from the group/crew by himself out of sight 1.5k to a offshore location without telling people his plans and without the ability to self rescue so close to shore.

8) Glad to hear your ok Johnny the rescue guy said he has 2 kids that also kite surf and that it's the best job in the world.

Longy is a breeding ground for sharks. Got to go. Wife is saying I should chat to the bride...

MDickerson said...

As a matter of interest do they charge $$ for the rescue, or is it all part of the std services delivered as part of the council rates and taxes?

Chris, thanks for helping out a fellow kiter. BTW what do you do in a deep water packdown?

Thanks - Matthew.

Every Kiter should know how to do a deep water packdown. I think many IKO classes may skip this part of the lesson. There are a few ways to do it depending on the situation your in. Put simply. This is what I did. When your out at sea with kite in the water and no way to relaunch. You roll up your lines in the water. Partly deflate your kite and roll it up with 2 struts inflated for buoyancy. Then use leash to secure kite and lines. I put the harness around the kite to better secure it. Then have a nice long swim on a tightly rolled up kite with no dangly bits to get caught. Plenty of buoyancy so you don't sink and minimum drag.

If your stuck out at sea and know you can't get back to land or there is a large hungry fish near by another option is to keep the kite inflated upside-down and sit in the kite. You float and there is a large visible kite for a chopper to find you easily.

The deep water pack down lesson takes about 2 hours or more to teach it properly and you end up with a tangled bar and wet kite. depending on the situation your in there are many options on what to do.


Re charges for heli, I heard $6000 if your not Australian ( mates girlfriend had to be rescued from a jetski accident) not sure about if you an Aussie it may be free, don't know about ambulance ride costs.

MDickerson said...
BTW what do you do in a deep water packdown?

No-one should be out there without this skill - learnt properly & practiced.
If you have slipped through the ranks to become a seasoned kiter without this skill I suggest you go back to your school and ask for an extra free lesson to complete your training correctly.
OR
If you didnt do lessons then ring around to find a school that will offer this one safety skill in a single lesson.
Some will even do it for free.
I know the friendly crew at Woodys in Perth will

puppetonastring said...

MDickerson said...
BTW what do you do in a deep water packdown?

No-one should be out there without this skill - learnt properly & practiced.
If you have slipped through the ranks to become a seasoned kiter without this skill I suggest you go back to your school and ask for an extra free lesson to complete your training correctly.
OR
If you didnt do lessons then ring around to find a school that will offer this one safety skill in a single lesson.
Some will even do it for free.
I know the friendly crew at Woodys in Perth will

Never said I could not pack down a Kite when out in swell, was merely asking Chris what his technique was, particularly when the wind has turned off shore.

cheers Matthew.

Well actually guys - While the rescue helicopter may have WESTPAC written all over it the majority of funding actually comes from the CFMEU union - the blue collar workers. So ol mate that got plucked out can thank them.......

Most coal miners and builders have pay deductions each week to fund the westpac helicopter

Always make sure the strut clips are closed off aswell. A soggy kite with no air in it might aswell be a boat anchor.

I wouldn't flag the harness, I blew a line at Brighton a fair way out a couple of years ago, someone dragged my kite back to the beach and came back for the tweenie (haven't been on one of those for a long time, need to try it again soon but surfboard are just plain awesome).

I did the long swim in and thought that the combination of the wettie and Harness (I think it is flying object brand but not real sure) was pretty awesome for floating purpose.

The harness definately helped and although I had a few thoughts for our grey friends I covered the longest swim in my life with relative ease.

Good experience overall

Moral of the storey is to go out with other people and keep an eye on each other, even if they are a windsurfer

that's retarded on so many different levels.

keep swimming it will keep your body temp up its when you stop and just tread water is when your body temp comes down .

wishy said...

Lucky guy,
Stuff like this can happen to anyone. I snuck into my flatmates car to join their girls kiting at Lancelin weekend once. Everyone was enjoying a smooth 20knots cross onshore breeze when it suddenly died and instantly swung to 12 knots dead offshore. I swam out to help my friend swim her kite and board in from about 1km out to sea. by the time we got in we were stuffed and glad something didn't eat us.

There were 3 guys who were taking so long to get in that a boat saw them and rescued them, they all would have made it anyway, but would have been so nice to get rescued! especially avoiding swimming through 50metres of putrid brown weed stink water at the end!!!

In an offshore wind situation,it is an interesting call of whether you should stay with your kite.
In this case it sounds like his body was rooted so good call to hang on the the nice floaty kite, especially in sydney where there are heaps of lifeguards and boats to save your arse.

If you know someone is going to rescue you then you would never leave your kite because it makes it so easy to find you. However if I was 2km out to sea and thought my chances of getting rescued were buckleys, I would surely ditch my kite, board and harness and swim. (old fit blokes swim 17km to rottnest every year so if you can't swim 5km to save your life you are a massive pussy...provided your body is not already rooted)

It is such hard work swimming with a kite and board and harness, you can be completely exhausted in under an hour. Add to that how scared you are because you know something is going to eat you and the energy gets zapped right out of you.

Sensible advice from wishy!

Never, ever let the kite down and try to swim it in if the wind is anywhere near onshore, you can lay on the kite and sail it in. Thats just about the dumbest thing you could do or teach, its like saying sink your boat and swim it in, doh!

If the wind turns offshore and you are close enough to easily swim in, maybe consider the technique Chris used, BUT if in doubt, feeling exhausted, seasick, hypothermia, leave the kite fully inflated and lay on it. (Winds can also change back to onshore and you may even be able to relaunch and kite in! No hope if you deflated the kite though!).

Swimming will increase the rate at which hypothermia sets in, because your circulation will be increased and you will lose body temp more quickly.

Staying with your inflated kite will make you more easy to spot, it will give you something to rest on and keep your energy reserves up for longer as you will not have to tread water.

I'm not sure if the IKO still teaches this "deep water packdown" technique, but it seems to crop up on here and at various places and is so often totally misunderstood in many instances, and by many "instructors". First rule of survival at sea - don't abandon your boat (kite - the thing that floats).