Risk of injury vs need to progress

[fearlu]

Shitchya! Rockville rules!

[OliverG]

This last weekend I was in Hatteras and it was an awesome time, but I came very close to experiencing the same thing as Zeev. On a 6 mile surf downwinder I threw a backrool kiteloop off the lip of a wave and my foot came out of a loose footstrap just before landing and the wave sent the board right into my face hitting my right jaw very hard. At the time I didn't know what the extent of the impact was, all I knew is that it was huge crack on the side of my face. It was swollen quite a bit that night and still is sore and somewhat swollen, but I was lucky as it could have been the same situation as Zeev, or worse. I attributed this to a loose footstrap on a new board that should have been adjusted better as I don't think this normally would have happened.

[jstjohn3]

The day I stop wrecking myself is the day I hang up my shoes. Yeah, I don't like being sidlined but I don't like stailness either. I get bored when I don't get worked. Kiteboarding is an easy sport. Pushing the envelope is what makes us all feel as though this sport pushes us to the edge.

Most definitely. Although, in light of my wakeup call (throwing a kiteloop in the butter when I saw that the wind was HOWLING on the water just past the island) that left me in territory way out of my league and into an extremely violent impact onto my tail...I will definitely try to avoid these types of moves super-powered, especially with the kiteloops where it seems your juice can increase exponentially with a little bit more wind. In order to increase the chances of riding 'til a ripe old age, I am going to have to exercise restraint and try to not to push myself in areas better left to the 18-25 set. It is indeed a sad prospect...but I can still go for it hard. It's just kind of freaky to be injured in the one place on my body I rely on when things go awry: MY Butt!! I mean, until I heal that up well, I can't do squat!(excuse that) And the idea that I can injure my "failsafe" really puts a fine point on the reality that I can't be doing kiteloops that are going to be accidentally putting me WAY TOO HIGH!!! Sometimes being 39 has it's drawbacks. All this aside, I love to kite and am willing to make the sacrifices necessary to give me a better chance of riding for a lifetime.