Helicopter pickup at Sherman Island

reyrivera · Post by **reyrivera** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:22 am

I have a go joe that is waiting for a warranty replacement, and seems like there are no go joes in stock yet, maybe a few more weeks?

Definitely need to get rid of the leash. As an alternative, you can just buy kids arm flotation bands and bolt it down on your board handle. Works just fine. The only thing is that its not as strong, but strong enough for a few sessions when you can comfortable practice body drag upwind and the board is always visible. But for a couple of bucks (under 5 dollars), its not a bad deal at all.

kitenaked · Post by **kitenaked** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:37 am

Lose the Leash.

Learn to Body Drag.

kitenaked · Post by **kitenaked** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:45 am

Alex,

It wan't to scare you, only to emphasize that you need to learn to body drag and that there are alot of incidents related to board leashes. Good job.

Also, when coming into the beach if you are not sure about carrying your board and flying the kite, set the board down out of the water and the launch / land path and come back and get it. This way you are focused on controlling the kite.

Anyhow, it is not a big deal to walk back to the beach.

Take care!

Bulldog · Post by **Bulldog** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:50 am

There are kiters who've been riding at SI for years who still wear board leashes (and I'm not talking about keeping it hooked on your harness just for backup if your kite goes down).

I think we should just start telling everyone: "Board Leashes are banned at Sherman, haven't you heard? It's because of the accident in July".

Stores are still selling those things, you know...

EvanOR · Post by **EvanOR** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:08 am

reyrivera wrote:I have a go joe that is waiting for a warranty replacement, and seems like there are no go joes in stock yet, maybe a few more weeks?

Definitely need to get rid of the leash. As an alternative, you can just buy kids arm flotation bands and bolt it down on your board handle. Works just fine. The only thing is that its not as strong, but strong enough for a few sessions when you can comfortable practice body drag upwind and the board is always visible. But for a couple of bucks (under 5 dollars), its not a bad deal at all.

Sorry about the delay. We're expecting to receive and begin sending out Go Joes on August 6th. You will receive the new, more robust version that I posted the photo of.

reyrivera · Post by **reyrivera** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:12 am

Bulldog said:

There are kiters who've been riding at SI for years who still wear board leashes (and I'm not talking about keeping it hooked on your harness just for backup if your kite goes down).

Keeping the leash around and only using it for emergency might still be useful. I've assisted numerous kiters when the wind died and they get caught way outside. Once their lines are wrapped and both of us are out of danger from the downed lines, I attach my unused leash to the downed kiter's board and tow the kiter back to safety. But then again, that's Alameda and there are always downed kiters at any given session.

Maybe its partly my fault because when the wind is light in Alameda, I rig up my 20 meter and able to go upwind in no time. That's also when I see Artie ride his 19 meter as well, so folks see two kites go upwind, but not bother to check the size of the kites, they get excited, launch their 12 meters, and get in trouble right away.

EvanOR said:

Sorry about the delay. We're expecting to receive and begin sending out Go Joes on August 6th. You will receive the new, more robust version that I posted the photo of.

Thanks for the update Evan, I think you need to send some leaflets around Alameda on a good day. A lot of beginners learning how to board start were curious about the contraption. They wanted to get one but the shops carrying them are out of stock with the go joes.

wjb · Post by **wjb** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:16 am

I think this should be the clinic a local school should have. Bring your leashes and leave them in a box at the door. I think a lot of people would feel comfortable learning to body drag upwind if there was somebody close by to retrieve their board until they are proficient at it getting back to it.

reyrivera · Post by **reyrivera** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:28 am

By the way, any update from the kiteboarder who got injured?

Yoda · Post by **Yoda** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:38 am

OK, new proposed rule: NO board leashes-anywhere,period. Following the first body dragging lesson should be a bodg dragging UPWIND lesson. If you see someone with the deathline, threaten them,warn them, cut it off, show them this post, tell them to go to alameda and learn to body drag. There is no reason someone cant learn to put an arm out and swim under the kite's power, it's absurd! Come to think of it, people at alameda should really not be wearing them at all either. Since there is so much beach, beginners constantly come in with the board still dragging behind them, as they figure out what to do with their kite the board is sinking in the sand like an anchor just waiting for them to try and move. And of course this is normally accompanied by a nice family of beach goers within feet of this regular occurance.

Sherman should not be the place to figure this out! Let these unfortunate accidents be a lesson to us all.

If you need board assistance, buy a Go Joe! this way EVERYONE can see you are learning, like having a student driver sticker on your kite. And we will all stay way the hell out of your way.

Thanks Yuri for making this statement. IMHO Reel-leashes should be BANNED from our sport!!!!

I've been going over every detail of the event and strongly feel that the one thing that ultimately lead up to this accident was him having to manage his damn board leash. If he had released it before landing like Fred stated this incident may never had happend, but him having to deal with it on shore in those conditions created a distraction from managing other issues at hand.

Fred said he was correcting his kite when he got lofted, I saw, what looked like to me, him accidently popping his CL release and the evidence of his CL being partially release, but still attached upon recoving his gear makes me believe that this is what happened. One of the first things we did was to try to detach his CL when we got to him. I observed them pulling on the release, but it was already in the open position.

When the paramedics rolled him onto the backboard I retrieve his cut up suit and harness and I notice immediately that the CL was still partially attached to the hook. There was also some webbing from a very long board leash that was tangled around the CL area, which makes me believe that the CL may not have fully released because it got got jammed up on the webbing. This is a speculation on my part, but all of the evidence does support this as the possible cause of why he was still attached. I brought it to the attention of Nat with Edge and several others that were present.

Because we couldn't detach the CL from him they actually ending up cutting his depower lines to detach him from the kite. Later Nat and I observed the cut trim straps were of equal lenth and in the powered postion. This was strange because he should of been trimmed in nearly, if not, all the way during those conditions with a 12m kite. This was another piece of evidence that indicated that he was over powered and at risk. FYI the control system was the new Naish SLE system for '08.

Bottom line is this accident is not something that we need to debate over. Either way he was still attached to the kite and I truely believe it was a panic reaction on his part to grab the bar tight with intentions to control the kite. The result of powering up the kite and the added factors of kite size, kite postion and the strond winds all contributed to this awful accident. If he would of just let go of the bar he may have completely avoided the accident or it may not have been so violent... i.e. dragged vs. launched. The depower system in the new generation kites would of eventually brought the kite down, which in this case it did, once he had already hit the ground and was no longer holding onto the bar.

He did start his session on a downwinder from Kitopia with the correct kite for the conditons (high teens to low twenties). Nat said he was looking great and handling the kite just fine. It wasn't until he came up on the beach when Fred and I noticed that he was having some issues with his board leash. I also noticed he was on a big kite for the conditions and I was concerned on his ability to manage the kite. Someone else had just come in before him with some difficulties managing a 12m kite, so I was already on guard. I saw the kite pull up in his hand and his reaction was grabbing the bar with both hands while still leashed to his board. He actually ran up onto the beach towards the kite still attached to his board as the kite started to pull. Then he was yanked over 20+ feet into the air and hit the sand bank 50+ feet from shore then bounced another 20+ feet and hit again where he ended up crashing permanently.

This was the worst kiting accident that I've ever witnessed and I hope not to see another anytime soon. I'm so very happy that he was not killed. I hope he has a rapid recovery and continues to kite in the future. Lets all try our best to keep Sherman helicopter free!

jmayot · Post by **jmayot** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:43 am

In an overpowered situation, isn't it better to land your kite in the water and self rescue? Same if there is nobody to catch your kite (at least no kiters) and it is blowing 25+. Even a very experienced rider can get in trouble in an overpowered situation.
12m at Sherman isn't just too big of a kite for someone doing a downwinder?
You guys must be in choc after witnessing such drama. I hope this guy will be ok, it is always very sad to witness such horrible accidents and we all have a responsability to help.
Julien

BayAreaKiteboarding.com

Helicopter pickup at Sherman Island

Who is online