kiteboarding accidents / safety tips
Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:13 pm
I thought I'd start this as a new topic, so new kiters can have a thread to go to for safety advice learned from past accidents. Hopefully we don't have to add to this very often.
Accident: Nitinaht, Jul. 23/06
The accident as I saw it:
Typical sunny day at the lake, wind around 20 knots had just spiked up to the low 20's. I was at the water's edge, landing someone, about 200 feet downwind of Tyler who was launching his 9 or 10m kite. Ty was in the water, and his wife Pam was on land, launching the kite by Ty's insructions. He was hooked in to his harness. Her release was good, but just a bit hot, nothing too bad in that respect. Tyler's reaction to the small jerk of power was to quickly bring the kite up high. This made him move faster through the shallows, and as he ran out of water, I think he reached for his depower strap with his right hand, while pulling harder with his left. The kite basically continued its left loop and rocketed downward, eventually missing the ground and continuing back up. Through the last part of this Tyler picked up so much speed he got airborn and flew horizontally about 2 feet high and probably picked up height as the kite started its new upstoke. What followed was horrific as Ty smashed head first into the rootball of the log he'd been flying along side of. The impact was so hard that something broke in the kite rigging, and there was no more kite pull. Immediately most of Ty's face was covered in blood.
First Aid:
In all honesty, after what I'd just seen I thoght his injuries might be fatal. To my amazement, Ty was coherent and able to feel and wiggle all his fingers and toes. It became clear that all of the blood was coming from his obviously broken nose. Ty, now operating on adrenaline,, wanted to get up and go wash his face in the lake, and I stupidly let him (if he'd had a spinal injury this could have been very bad). Marie arrived on the scene, she's got better first aid skills, and did a better assesment of his injuries. Judy arrived with a trained first aider from the village, and together we decided we didn't need a helicopter evacuation. We iced Ty's nose, packed his camper and Pam drove to the Duncan hospital. The only surprise was when his wetsuit came off we found about a 3 inch gash in Ty's shin, clearly exposing the bone below.
What went wrong?
Why did it happen? To sumit up, the kite pilot was way out of his depth. Unless you're in a professional lesson situation, Nitinaht is a bad place to learn to fly a kite. The beach is a hazard. Nitinaht is a great place to progress in the sport, but it's a lousy place place for your first few efforts. Both kite schools currently teaching at the lake - Strong Kiteboarding (Dwayne) and Elevation Kite School (Marie) have perfect safety records. Hats off to both of them for taking the time and care to make it that way. As a beginner, you cannot safely expect to make the jump from trainer kite to fullsize kite at Nitinaht's narrow, rocky, driftwood covered beach, unless you're under the coaching of an experienced instuctor like Dwayne or Marie. So please take a lesson.
However, if anyone wants to learn on their own, follow this advice:
(This has all been said before... )
Find a big open sandy beach free of people and obstacles. You will still hurt yourself, but it probably won't be as bad. Learn to launch, land and fly "with your eyes closed", not really with your eyes shut but you know what I mean. Eventually you will understand why a hooked in kiteloop near the beach is bad news. Learn all about your release system, practice using it and you will understand why you should never rely on it. (In panic situations releases still work but humans are notorious at failing to use them. Even if he'd tried, Ty probably wouldn't have been able to release due to his acceleration and speed.) And if there's no wind on your big sandy beach, go back another day, because you cannot shortcut this step.
I'd like to see all beginners launching at Nitinaht follow these steps:
1) take a lesson
2) depower the kite, launch unhooked. Don't be afraid to let go (use a leash)
3) Launch the kite at the edge of the lake, with the rider further up on the beach. This way the kite does not have to go up and cross over the top, reducing the chances of an accidental powerstoke.
4) Look downwind and make sure you have clear space in the event that the kite pulls you downwind.
5) understand that Nitinaht's narrow rocky debris covered beach is a hazard.
6) if you can't visualize exactly how or where your kite will move during takeoff, or if you don't know what to expect, you're at the wrong beach. Go spend another day at the big sandy beach.
Getting back to Tyler's situation, you can see how the odds were stacked against him:he was inexperienced; he was in the water, launching towards the shore; he was hooked in; he was lauched by someone even less experienced; the wind was strong, over 20 knots; he had no clear plan for using his release. Any one of those things could cause a problem, all of them made it unavoidable.
It's also important here not to blame Tyler too much for all this - it's a sad thing that this sport can grow up but forget to teach the basics to newcomers. I wouldn't be opposed to posting a sign with rules or tips, like the ones described above, so that true beginners can get this info without having to ask for it. Does anybody else think this would be a good idea?
I sincerely hope Tyler has a good recovery, and I hope that one day he picks up his kite again and has a great time learning, with a little less pain, because he's had more than his share already! Special thanks to Tyler and Pam for letting us turn his misfortune into a discussion that might help others avoid the same problem.
Grant MacPherson
Accident: Nitinaht, Jul. 23/06
The accident as I saw it:
Typical sunny day at the lake, wind around 20 knots had just spiked up to the low 20's. I was at the water's edge, landing someone, about 200 feet downwind of Tyler who was launching his 9 or 10m kite. Ty was in the water, and his wife Pam was on land, launching the kite by Ty's insructions. He was hooked in to his harness. Her release was good, but just a bit hot, nothing too bad in that respect. Tyler's reaction to the small jerk of power was to quickly bring the kite up high. This made him move faster through the shallows, and as he ran out of water, I think he reached for his depower strap with his right hand, while pulling harder with his left. The kite basically continued its left loop and rocketed downward, eventually missing the ground and continuing back up. Through the last part of this Tyler picked up so much speed he got airborn and flew horizontally about 2 feet high and probably picked up height as the kite started its new upstoke. What followed was horrific as Ty smashed head first into the rootball of the log he'd been flying along side of. The impact was so hard that something broke in the kite rigging, and there was no more kite pull. Immediately most of Ty's face was covered in blood.
First Aid:
In all honesty, after what I'd just seen I thoght his injuries might be fatal. To my amazement, Ty was coherent and able to feel and wiggle all his fingers and toes. It became clear that all of the blood was coming from his obviously broken nose. Ty, now operating on adrenaline,, wanted to get up and go wash his face in the lake, and I stupidly let him (if he'd had a spinal injury this could have been very bad). Marie arrived on the scene, she's got better first aid skills, and did a better assesment of his injuries. Judy arrived with a trained first aider from the village, and together we decided we didn't need a helicopter evacuation. We iced Ty's nose, packed his camper and Pam drove to the Duncan hospital. The only surprise was when his wetsuit came off we found about a 3 inch gash in Ty's shin, clearly exposing the bone below.
What went wrong?
Why did it happen? To sumit up, the kite pilot was way out of his depth. Unless you're in a professional lesson situation, Nitinaht is a bad place to learn to fly a kite. The beach is a hazard. Nitinaht is a great place to progress in the sport, but it's a lousy place place for your first few efforts. Both kite schools currently teaching at the lake - Strong Kiteboarding (Dwayne) and Elevation Kite School (Marie) have perfect safety records. Hats off to both of them for taking the time and care to make it that way. As a beginner, you cannot safely expect to make the jump from trainer kite to fullsize kite at Nitinaht's narrow, rocky, driftwood covered beach, unless you're under the coaching of an experienced instuctor like Dwayne or Marie. So please take a lesson.
However, if anyone wants to learn on their own, follow this advice:
(This has all been said before... )
Find a big open sandy beach free of people and obstacles. You will still hurt yourself, but it probably won't be as bad. Learn to launch, land and fly "with your eyes closed", not really with your eyes shut but you know what I mean. Eventually you will understand why a hooked in kiteloop near the beach is bad news. Learn all about your release system, practice using it and you will understand why you should never rely on it. (In panic situations releases still work but humans are notorious at failing to use them. Even if he'd tried, Ty probably wouldn't have been able to release due to his acceleration and speed.) And if there's no wind on your big sandy beach, go back another day, because you cannot shortcut this step.
I'd like to see all beginners launching at Nitinaht follow these steps:
1) take a lesson
2) depower the kite, launch unhooked. Don't be afraid to let go (use a leash)
3) Launch the kite at the edge of the lake, with the rider further up on the beach. This way the kite does not have to go up and cross over the top, reducing the chances of an accidental powerstoke.
4) Look downwind and make sure you have clear space in the event that the kite pulls you downwind.
5) understand that Nitinaht's narrow rocky debris covered beach is a hazard.
6) if you can't visualize exactly how or where your kite will move during takeoff, or if you don't know what to expect, you're at the wrong beach. Go spend another day at the big sandy beach.
Getting back to Tyler's situation, you can see how the odds were stacked against him:he was inexperienced; he was in the water, launching towards the shore; he was hooked in; he was lauched by someone even less experienced; the wind was strong, over 20 knots; he had no clear plan for using his release. Any one of those things could cause a problem, all of them made it unavoidable.
It's also important here not to blame Tyler too much for all this - it's a sad thing that this sport can grow up but forget to teach the basics to newcomers. I wouldn't be opposed to posting a sign with rules or tips, like the ones described above, so that true beginners can get this info without having to ask for it. Does anybody else think this would be a good idea?
I sincerely hope Tyler has a good recovery, and I hope that one day he picks up his kite again and has a great time learning, with a little less pain, because he's had more than his share already! Special thanks to Tyler and Pam for letting us turn his misfortune into a discussion that might help others avoid the same problem.
Grant MacPherson