3rd ave rescue?

gray38off · Post by **gray38off** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:13 pm

I got a call from a friend who said that fire companies were dispatched to the SM Bridge to rescue downed kiters. Anyone know if they're OK?

d00n · Post by **d00n** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:23 pm

Dunno, but you can see the circus in the pan shot:
http://www.poulton.net/windsurf/3rdcam2 ... 1-1958.jpg

sflinux · Post by **sflinux** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 6:06 pm

I was there amongst all the commotion. I had come in and was getting ready to leave by car, when I saw a red kite in the water. People said the guys leash broke and he swam in without it. I thought I may be able to go fetch the kite with my foil. I bodydragged out to the kite (near tallest span of the bridge). I was shocked to see a head under the canopy. The guy had hiked out on the pier and jumped into the water to retrieve his kite. I started bodydragging him and his gear on a west tack. But we were getting too close to the bridge. I didn't want to have two kites down in the water. The guy said he was fine and would just self rescue back to shore. I took off on an east tack and ended up bodydragging underneath the san mateo bridge. The winds were really up and down on the other side of the bridge. Plus you have those power lines to deal with. I was able to keep my foil up and bodydrag back to shore. The guy with the red rrd zh 12M kite only made it back halfway. When I got to shore, the fire & rescue had already been called. They launched a boat from the lower launch at 3rd and picked the guy up underneath the bridge. Everybody was ok, and no gear was lost or damaged. I personally think is was pretty ballsy for the guy to jump off the pier with no pfd, nor any swimfins. He thanked the fire and rescue and said it would have taken him another 45 min to get back to shore. By that time, the sun would have been nearly down. He said his harness had broken leading to all this commotion. I never caught the guys name.
Jay and Jack were nice enough to give me a ride back to my car.
I put some pictures of the route I took in my gallery:
https://www.bayareakiteboarding.com/alb ... ser_id=229

There was another run away red kite today (Sunday). Jay crashed his windwing on the outside. I kept an eye on him for 10 min expecting to see a relaunch. The next time I looked over his kite was a runaway. I ended up bodydragging him back to shore. I don't know what became of his kite. He said his chicken loop had broken.
-bric

Kraemer · Post by **Kraemer** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 7:42 pm

bad luck dude! next time bring a rod and I hear there are big sturgeon below the pilings!@

sflinux · Post by **sflinux** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 9:33 pm

Jay's kite was a 14M windwing outrage if anyone finds it.

liv2kitesurf · Post by **liv2kitesurf** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:31 pm

sounds like a real clusterf**k all the way around. glad I wasn't involved (even though I am capable of it). Glad everyone was OK

Z4Kiter · Post by **Z4Kiter** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 11:34 am

wow! that snapshot of your path under the San Mateo bridge is impressive... and to do it to rescue someone is quite commendable.

Bullroarer Took · Post by **Bullroarer Took** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:38 pm

sflinux wrote:There was another run away red kite today (Sunday). Jay crashed his windwing on the outside. I kept an eye on him for 10 min expecting to see a relaunch. The next time I looked over his kite was a runaway. I ended up bodydragging him back to shore. I don't know what became of his kite. He said his chicken loop had broken.
-bric

Sorry I had to bump this one up because I want it to have a happy ending. I read today at rec.windsurf that:

"Jay Runge is missing now for several days. His car was found parked at Werder Pier (fishing pier under the SM Bridge) He apparently had gone there to retrieve his lost kite. A search is underway. Things don't look good."

I wasn't at third that day, but I haven't seen Jay since. Can someone give me some good news.

Please?

liv2kitesurf · Post by **liv2kitesurf** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:11 pm

Bullroarer Took wrote:
sflinux wrote:There was another run away red kite today (Sunday). Jay crashed his windwing on the outside. I kept an eye on him for 10 min expecting to see a relaunch. The next time I looked over his kite was a runaway. I ended up bodydragging him back to shore. I don't know what became of his kite. He said his chicken loop had broken.
-bric
Sorry I had to bump this one up because I want it to have a happy ending. I read today at rec.windsurf that:

"Jay Runge is missing now for several days. His car was found parked at Werder Pier (fishing pier under the SM Bridge) He apparently had gone there to retrieve his lost kite. A search is underway. Things don't look good."

I wasn't at third that day, but I haven't seen Jay since. Can someone give me some good news.

Please?

Sorry. There is no good news (except now there is closure). Jay's body was found this afternoon. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/3rdave for a more detailed discussion. Pretty sad especially because he was such a lively spirited and genuinely nice guy.

sflinux · Post by **sflinux** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:42 pm

I'm sorry to hear about losing Jay. He was a good guy and will be missed. Joey told me that they found his body today before we both went out to ride. Joey said to go out and ride for Jay, and we did. I felt his spirit in the wind. Whether he will be buried, or cremated, his spirit will forever be in the wind.
When I was bodydragging Jay back to shore, we exchanged rescue stories. He told me about a time he had a break down in berkeley, and some boaters spotted him, and said, look we found, a hippie. During our bodydrag, I shared a story how Mike Muldoon dragged me back to shore with his windsurfer, when I had a break down at Coyote.
When I dropped Jay off, he mentioned using his windsurfer to go look for his kite. I did a few downwind tacks but didn't see his kite at all near its previous vector, and considered it lost. Evidently, Leo tried to rescue the kite and brought it in closer to shore, but had to ditch it before he got tangled in the lines.
Being one of the last guys to have seen him that day, I think I'll speculate as to what happened. I think Jay got the bad idea from the guy who was rescued a few days before. I believe he drove down to the bridge and walked onto the pier. He probably saw his kite and like the guy who was rescued a few days before, decided to jump in to go after his kite.
The week before I overheard how much Jay liked his Windwing Outrage 14M, and how he didn't like riding anything else. On the day the other kiter was rescued, he lost his board, which was later found that very same day by Jack.
I'm sorry that we lost Jay. But I know that he loved kiting. I hope we can all learn something from his passing.
-Bric

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