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Eyes burn and hurt from kiting on the coast

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:10 pm
by yojimbo
Anyone else having this problem? About an hour into the session yesterday and my eyes start to feel like I have rocks in them under the lids. I had difficulty keeping my eyes open by the end of the session.

Been having this problem ever since I started kiting the coast last year.

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:28 pm
by Rob
I had the same problem, felt like I had a eye lash stuck in there.

Re: Eyes burn and hurt from kiting on the coast

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 2:14 pm
by behindThePeak
me too. i've taken to using seaspecs during set-up and packdown and it helps, even if it's too cloudy to ride with them.

my guess is that it's sand blowing around. i wear contacts and i'm picking little sand bits out of them for days after a coastal kiting session.

Re: Eyes burn and hurt from kiting on the coast

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 3:02 pm
by Yoda
It's probably from exposure to DHMO. DHMO is commonly found on CA's coast and is easy to come in contact with when kiting. :wink:
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:03 pm
by consumer
Lol dhmo..

Re: Eyes burn and hurt from kiting on the coast

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 7:14 pm
by Aloha
Is this a seasonal thing? I didn't notice anything like that all summer

The California coast is kind of nasty though if someone told me it was some kind of chemical to blame I wouldn't be surprised

Re: Eyes burn and hurt from kiting on the coast

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 8:37 pm
by ramsey
I hear there's a lot of dhmo at baker beach.

Re: Eyes burn and hurt from kiting on the coast

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 10:34 pm
by rscott
I felt it too. I suspect it's more a product of having frigid wind whistling past your eye balls at high speed (slow down), similar to Ice cream headache. A serious investigation could be conducted by say, sticking ones head out the car window, eyes wide open, on a frigid day for an hour while driving 20 to 30 mph. All kidding aside, it was well worth it!

Re: Eyes burn and hurt from kiting on the coast

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 10:56 pm
by sc-surfer
There's been varying amounts of red tide (algae bloom) all along the coast for the last several weeks. It's bee especially bad at times here in town. I picked up a nasty sinus infection from my friday session.

In some places it gets bad enough to kill fish and other sea animals. Don't know about this DHMO, but the red tide sure is irritating to the body!

Re: Eyes burn and hurt from kiting on the coast

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 11:44 pm
by Yoda
Aloha wrote:Is this a seasonal thing? I didn't notice anything like that all summer

The California coast is kind of nasty though if someone told me it was some kind of chemical to blame I wouldn't be surprised
sc-surfer wrote:There's been varying amounts of red tide (algae bloom) all along the coast for the last several weeks. It's bee especially bad at times here in town. I picked up a nasty sinus infection from my friday session.

In some places it gets bad enough to kill fish and other sea animals. Don't know about this DHMO, but the red tide sure is irritating to the body!
Should I inform these guys? I'm so tempted. :D