Tropical Storm Fay Kitemare

This one is pretty scary guys.



Click here to read the details. Here is another angle.

This incident reminds me of my own personal close encounter with a kitemare, in that instead of a building making contact with the kiter, it was my parked van:


Pretty soon, an innocent bystander is going to get maimed or killed by a 180lb projectile. At that point, these sorts of horrible accidents are going to impact all of us. Most of the kiters I know on personal level are responsible and use good judgement. They are also aware of the threat to access that kiting accidents are increasingly presenting. Self policing can only go so far. At some point, mother nature will trump all.

I can't help but note that with a windsurfer, you come in and just set your stuff down. But with kiting, in most cases i've seen, you need someone else to land your kite. Its scary to put yourself in that guys shoes. What a helpless feelling it had to have been, to know you need to get that kite down on the ground, and fast, before your out of harms way. Kinda like a race against a ticking time bomb.

Here is another thought. What happened to the guys kite after it was seperated from this poor guy? I assume it is still a threat off the water as is was on the water in Nico's case back on May 31st?

Again, avoid putting yourself downwind of a kiter. Never park in the front row at any venue where people are kiting. And from what I've learned, never try to resuce the kiters equipment if it becomes seperated from the kiter. In an incident like this one, unless you are a kiter and are familier with the equipment, avoid the kite itself like the plague, and instead do your best to try and help the injured kiter.