Brighton 10am wind feels light but looks OK as some whitecaps further out. a few guys standing around on northern end not doing much,waiting for wind maybe, I ask one to check the wind so he puts his phone to the air and says its 13 knots, gee thanks I was hoping to get a reading from the beacon not from an app. I go out on a 12, at about 500m out I am fully powered up in fact overpowered. I do a few runs back and forth. No one else is out when I started, but as soon as I'm out up go their kites...

I see a guy downwind with his kite in the water, been there for a while, not really going into shore just drifting, I go downwind and he has his arm in the air so I thought I should help, I come up and ask if he is Ok, he is. I suggest he points his kite towards the shore. Then mistakenly I decided I should help him out, so I got my leash and attached it to his bridle in an attempt to drag the kite back to shore, course he doesn't release his kite, but I manage to move him and his kite a bit closer. My kite drops and his comes over the top of my lines, this cannot be good I thought... Luckily I pushed his kite away from my lines so no tangles occurred, I took my leash off his bridle. we are a bit closer to shore probably not even 100m from shore to the bathing boxes so he is Ok. He is lost his board so I go up and down several times looking for it, no luck it could well be anywhere...

I come in and start packing up this guy still hasn't reached the shore yet his kite still flapping around and in fact looks he has drifted back out after being 20m away earlier. at this stage I think someone goes out and helps him by deflating his kite. After the dust has settled I realise I am quite p*ssed off with the guy and the whole situation and should have just stayed away as it ruined my short but precious session. If someone rescued or helped me I would be licking their....

Just to add insult to injury he thanks me only after I pull him up, then asks if I got his board, he should be happy that's all he lost! I told him he should have deflated his kite and had the struts locked, he didn't even know what these were, in other words he didn't know how to self rescue. By the state of his lines looks like he tried to swim to his kite rather than start winding the lines in.

Lessons learnt, other than no longer entertaining thoughts of rescuing ever again, especially a beginner at brighton:

1. Not rescuing anyone unless they are really in trouble (ie drowning)
2. Not attaching myself to any one else's kite
3. Tell them to deflate the kite (with struts locked)
4. Guide them back to shore but don't get too close

Further lessons:

1. He had a North kite
2. Another older guy who helped him to shore also lost his board and guess what... North kite
3. Another guy with a kite drifting in the water, guess what brand...

And I ride a cab.

But the real issue is that there are some people that think they can kite, go out in a gusty, offshore northerly, cannot keep their kites in the air, cannot go up wind cannot self rescue, are out of their depth in general. A board lost is small way of saying take better care. Sometimes I think that the sport is perceived to be too safe and it will only take a few bad incidents

On a lighter note:

1. It might be worth anchoring a boat just off green point and catching boards
2. Watching beginners drifting down and their mates scrambling to try and help them always provides some light entertainment at the end of a session.

my 2c

Dude, you did the right thing. Brighton on a northerly means that anyone in trouble has a long way to go before they hit any land.

SpaceCoyote said..

Dude, you did the right thing. Brighton on a northerly means that anyone in trouble has a long way to go before they hit any land.

thanks... that makes me feel better about the whole thing.

Short response: Stay away from Brighton in a Northerly unless you're an advanced rider happy to self-rescue.

Long response: You hooked your leash to his bridle!! My friend, this is madness. All you needed to do was tell him to roll up several metres of his 5th/flagging line, then roll his lines right up, point his kite to the beach, lie on the bottom wingtip, grab the upper wingtip, and sail in. Even in the gustiest most fickle northerly this will get him at least onto Green Point. (Anyone who's never done this should practise at least once on a day with cross-onshore wind. Flag your kite a few hundred metres out (even body drag out without board to do this), roll your lines (flagging line first for the length of the leading edge, then all lines together) and sail in (leaving lines attached to kite).

Never (almost never) deflate your leading edge!! Your inflated kite can be used as a sail even in 2 knots, is highly visible, and buoyant.

If someone obviously won't make it in (snapped line, rookie error etc) but is calm and in no immediate danger (and there's still enough wind to kite) then I follow this sequence:

1. Get them rolling their lines as above (they should be attached to flagging line at all times)
2. I pick up their board and kite in to the beach with it (a skill worth developing in itself)
3. Kite back out and get them oriented to 'sail' back in.
4. Resume my session keeping an eye out.
5. Once they're back on the beach I head in and debrief, including laying down the law on skills necessary for given locations/conditions.
6. Post rants like this on seabreeze to hopefully minimise future session interruptions.

HighzaKite said..
I told him he should have deflated his kite and had the struts locked, he didn't even know what these were, in other words he didn't know how to self rescue.

Sounds to me you don't know how to self rescue either.

I'm a bit stuffed as to what to do with this situation. I've helped many a person back to shore, and always figure I'll warn people about going out in offshore winds if inexperienced. So... I've been warning people, particularly at Brighton, particularly beginners in crappy gusty conditions, over winter in Northerly, north easterly conditions. Guess what - no matter the level of experience, the answer is generally "I've got this under control", followed by a crashed kite. Pete and I even put together the handbook to warn beginners about this kind of nonsense. I'm kinda outta ideas.....its against my better nature to form a vigilante group or suggest licenses... but I think its just a matter of time before something bad happens.

HighzaKite said..

DANEgerous said..

HighzaKite said..
I told him he should have deflated his kite and had the struts locked, he didn't even know what these were, in other words he didn't know how to self rescue.

Sounds to me you don't know how to self rescue either.

Clipping off the struts, deflating leading edge and rolling the kite up and paddling it back to shore is not a valid self rescue technique?

Any deflate of any kind in the water means you are losing your last chance of staying alive if you drift to sea, plus you're fiddling around with a kite with loose lines (and in this case a bridle). Plus you're counting on water not getting into the bladder when you are ****ing around. Plus you are counting on every one of your clips to keep the struts fully inflated and not failing. Plus the kites never stay rolled. Dodo's method is the right one.

Brighton is in a very wealthy council with a very well funded and populated beach in the summers. The second someone dies, or a swimmer or a dog owner gets injured, there it's going to be all over for all kiters there for good.

Stop kiting at Brighton unless you are prepared to self rescue/ditch your kite and swim in. It's really really not worth it.

HighzaKite, you are a hero!

You need to write a book about this incident, people need to know. I will be nominating you for an Australian Day Honour Medal and also a Queens Bday honour for posting this very detailed story of your heroic effort.

Saffer said..

chino said..

HighzaKite said..

DANEgerous said..

HighzaKite said..
I told him he should have deflated his kite and had the struts locked, he didn't even know what these were, in other words he didn't know how to self rescue.

Sounds to me you don't know how to self rescue either.

Clipping off the struts, deflating leading edge and rolling the kite up and paddling it back to shore is not a valid self rescue technique?

Any deflate of any kind in the water means you are losing your last chance of staying alive if you drift to sea, plus you're fiddling around with a kite with loose lines (and in this case a bridle). Plus you're counting on water not getting into the bladder when you are ****ing around. Plus you are counting on every one of your clips to keep the struts fully inflated and not failing. Plus the kites never stay rolled. Dodo's method is the right one.

Brighton is in a very wealthy council with a very well funded and populated beach in the summers. The second someone dies, or a swimmer or a dog owner gets injured, there it's going to be all over for all kiters there for good.

Stop kiting at Brighton unless you are prepared to self rescue/ditch your kite and swim in. It's really really not worth it.

The problem is people think that a northerly is cross shore at Brighton because that's what it looks like on the map. In reality, a northerly is always offshore and it's only once it has some west in it that it's cross shore.

?
Agree that keeping kite inflated is best option always, but the situation here was different:
1. He couldn't reach his kite, I think his lines were already tangled
2. Wind was very offshore, gusty, on and off and his kite kept being lofted into the air and he was being dragged more offshore
3. When he nearly got to shore he ended up being dragged out again because his kite kept taking off, this would not have happened if the leading edge had been deflated a bit. The other kiter who rescued him had to deflate his LE.
4. If he deflated his leading edge he would have been able to dog paddle in. I had to do this once at sandy pt where the wind was directly offshore .(30+ W) of course I had tangled lines and bruised ego but happy to have my kite and tangled lines.

Good on you for helping. Northerlies at brighton are definitely a challenge being slightly offshore, I don't think most people understand what this means until they screw up. hopefully the north kiter you rescued learned his lesson.

sorry to hear your session was cut short, it was a good weekend though as i kited fri-sat-sun. pooped but ready for another great weekend!

Well said Canuck. Gee imagine that bozzo at school with a bunch of kids for the first time? He would be sacked on the spot!

castill0jf said...
if the kite rider had died because of him drifting away. Can you imagine the parents asking why no one helped him? we don't need to insult.. we need to educate. Brighton on N, NE is not a good place to learn. You will drift away from land.

Agree, but education needs to happen at grass roots. I.e instruction. We can't wait for people to float away to educate them. That's like waiting for people to get caught for drink driving before you tell them it's wrong.

Location and experience level aside - always look out for each other and other water users. Anyone can get in trouble.

Good on you for helping out. It would appear its only a matter of time until there is a big problem, maybe even a fatality, at Brighton in a northerly. If that happens, its probably all over for kiting there.

Here are some relevant links on topics raised in this thread:

Wind directions: kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/wind/wind-directions

Self rescue: kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/progression/self-rescue

Hand signals: kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/safety/hand-signals

However, I am guessing that the people who insist on kiting in northerlies at Brighton without appropriate skills/experience (e.g. advanced) - even when warned not to on the beach - don't access such information, or read Seabreeze, and probably haven't had instruction on self rescue. Some may not even have had lessons.

Which brings back the suggestion of a "beach marshall" pinging people on location.

If people had to pay $$$ for a rescue that might give them pause for thought too. In Europe they only kite in offshore winds when a rescue boat is on the water - and all kiters contribute a fee for operating it.

Kazan said..

SaltySinus said..

I agree with the whole 'looking out for each other' mentality (for what it's worth - little I know).

One question/suggestion I have is: Is there a set of hand gestures (other than rude ones) to indicate common kiteboarder to kiteboarder questions like:

1.) Are you okay?
2.) Yes/No
3.) I'm heading back to shore -
4.) I have a technical issue and need to get back to sure
5.) I need low priority help/assistance
6.) I need urgent help (chocking/heart attack)
7.) You might want to watch this, I'm going to try my first back roll and you're sure to see an epic crash

That sort of thing? AT the moment, we can't really use thumbs up as it's been allocated to 'please let go of my kite, I'm ready to launch' and hand on head means please help me land.

I found myself unable to communicate with another kiting mate at the weekend, and due to the gusty weather I'd not have been confident in us both being able to control our kites sufficiently not to tangle each toher.

Scuba diving has heaps of such signs and they've been around for decades, cause they work. Maybe we could learn something from them?

That only works because people do a license and are skilled in what the signs mean. Most of the people who can't pack up in the water haven't actually had instruction and are self taught or taught by mates.

Saffer said..

Kazan said..

SaltySinus said..

I agree with the whole 'looking out for each other' mentality (for what it's worth - little I know).

One question/suggestion I have is: Is there a set of hand gestures (other than rude ones) to indicate common kiteboarder to kiteboarder questions like:

1.) Are you okay?
2.) Yes/No
3.) I'm heading back to shore -
4.) I have a technical issue and need to get back to sure
5.) I need low priority help/assistance
6.) I need urgent help (chocking/heart attack)
7.) You might want to watch this, I'm going to try my first back roll and you're sure to see an epic crash

That sort of thing? AT the moment, we can't really use thumbs up as it's been allocated to 'please let go of my kite, I'm ready to launch' and hand on head means please help me land.

I found myself unable to communicate with another kiting mate at the weekend, and due to the gusty weather I'd not have been confident in us both being able to control our kites sufficiently not to tangle each toher.

Scuba diving has heaps of such signs and they've been around for decades, cause they work. Maybe we could learn something from them?

That only works because people do a license and are skilled in what the signs mean. Most of the people who can't pack up in the water haven't actually had instruction and are self taught or taught by mates.

Agreed. But if shops or kite manufacturers provided a list of signs with their products and focus more on the safety aspects, people will learn it over time. I mean how did the "tap the head", "thumbs up", etc come about then? It was trainers who taught me those signs at the start, so why can't they just teach a few more?

How about we start right here?

"fist" for winds too punchy
"wave hand horizontal" to mean not ok
"slit throat" to mean bring kite down
<<add your own>>