juandesooka
Active Member
I was involved in a little kiteboarding incident today off Gordons Beach / Otter Point. A buddy ran into trouble with his kite in low wind (10-12kts) and eventually had to release his safeties, let the kite go, and swim in. I paddled a surfboard out from Gordons to help him out, but when I got there realized he wasn't attached to it. At that point, I figured a 95% chance he's just swimming in, but 5% chance he's in distress. Goin' Coastal Fishing was trolling by and when I told him what was up, he pulled the gear, called a mayday, and went off in search of my buddy. As expected, all was well ... buddy had a 20-30 minute swim and was tired and cold, but all well.
I am posting this mostly to say a public thank you to Goin Coastal for dropping everything and jumping to help out. Whenever things go bad, it is always really amazing to me to see how we all look out for each other out there.
Since on the subject, I thought it might be worth posting a couple guidelines though about kites and safety, as there's more people doing this locally, so it will probably come up again:
-- when a kite is down, the kiter will try to relaunch it, can sometimes take 15 minutes. If you can see they are actively trying to fly the kite, they are probably fine.
-- when the kiter can't relaunch, they can self rescue - tie up the lines, get to the kite, lay on top of it, and make it into a sideways taco to sail back in to the beach. If you see them like this, also probably ok, as long as there's some wind to push them towards shore and not a vicious current the other way.
-- if you do want to offer them a ride, approach them from downwind, just to be sure they aren't dragging loose lines behind them....you DO NOT want to get the lines caught in your motor.
-- if you see a kite floating free, with no one attached....99% chance they ran into trouble and had to punch out, but it is worth calling the coast guard to be safe. If you want to grab a loose kite: ONLY approach it from downwind, as it will be trailing 4 75 foot lines. DO NOT grab the bar, as you may power it up and launch it. Better to grab the kite first. The no-power position for a kite is upside down in U-shape with the inflated edge facing the wind. There's a pull tab in the middle of the kite's leading edge, one for inflate, one for deflate. Pop that, and it'll be a limp noodle, easy for wrapping up.
-- if a loose kite is looping wildly, don't attempt to grab it.....there's tons of power in these things.
-- In dealing with kites, be extra careful not to get tangled in lines while the kite is still inflated, and never ever wrap the line around any body part you want to keep!
And if you see a guy on a red board with a black kite at Gordon's in medium-light wind, that's probably me. Take a good photo of me and I'll pay you back with beer.
I am posting this mostly to say a public thank you to Goin Coastal for dropping everything and jumping to help out. Whenever things go bad, it is always really amazing to me to see how we all look out for each other out there.
Since on the subject, I thought it might be worth posting a couple guidelines though about kites and safety, as there's more people doing this locally, so it will probably come up again:
-- when a kite is down, the kiter will try to relaunch it, can sometimes take 15 minutes. If you can see they are actively trying to fly the kite, they are probably fine.
-- when the kiter can't relaunch, they can self rescue - tie up the lines, get to the kite, lay on top of it, and make it into a sideways taco to sail back in to the beach. If you see them like this, also probably ok, as long as there's some wind to push them towards shore and not a vicious current the other way.
-- if you do want to offer them a ride, approach them from downwind, just to be sure they aren't dragging loose lines behind them....you DO NOT want to get the lines caught in your motor.
-- if you see a kite floating free, with no one attached....99% chance they ran into trouble and had to punch out, but it is worth calling the coast guard to be safe. If you want to grab a loose kite: ONLY approach it from downwind, as it will be trailing 4 75 foot lines. DO NOT grab the bar, as you may power it up and launch it. Better to grab the kite first. The no-power position for a kite is upside down in U-shape with the inflated edge facing the wind. There's a pull tab in the middle of the kite's leading edge, one for inflate, one for deflate. Pop that, and it'll be a limp noodle, easy for wrapping up.
-- if a loose kite is looping wildly, don't attempt to grab it.....there's tons of power in these things.
-- In dealing with kites, be extra careful not to get tangled in lines while the kite is still inflated, and never ever wrap the line around any body part you want to keep!
And if you see a guy on a red board with a black kite at Gordon's in medium-light wind, that's probably me. Take a good photo of me and I'll pay you back with beer.
