Kiter vs Marine Helicopter - Guess who wins?

[Endopotential]

So after 15 years of sailing at Crissy Fields, I thought I had gotten a clue about the wind, currents, boat traffic and whatnot. Helicopters were never even close to making to the list, till now.
Last Fri was a beautiful day, with steady winds and calm waters. Alan and I were out by the north tower when a formation of three Marine Black Hawk helicopters flew right by us UNDER the bridge (is that even legal?) Alan's kite got totally yanked away from him - he said it felt like the wind went from 20mph to 80mph in a split second. Fortunately, he recovered OK.
Seeing what had happened, I managed to avert them, only to have them make a second pass on their return trip. I tried sailing away, but apparently the last chopter decided to have some fun and chased me down, hovering right over my kite. The downdraft smashed my kite completely flat downn into the water, before it twisted it into a pretzel.
Turned out to be a long drag to the beach, before getting fished out by a kindly SF Fire Dept boat.
Maybe it was unintentional on the pilot's part, but I have a suspicion they were just being jerks and having some fun at our expense - and danger.
So if you ever see a helicopter on the water, you know what to do next time around...

[reyrivera]

Why not report it to the FAA? Maybe a lot of these chopper pilots don't know anything about kiteboarding and dangers when dealing with kites.

So after 15 years of sailing at Crissy Fields, I thought I had gotten a clue about the wind, currents, boat traffic and whatnot. Helicopters were never even close to making to the list, till now.
Last Fri was a beautiful day, with steady winds and calm waters. Alan and I were out by the north tower when a formation of three Marine Black Hawk helicopters flew right by us UNDER the bridge (is that even legal?) Alan's kite got totally yanked away from him - he said it felt like the wind went from 20mph to 80mph in a split second. Fortunately, he recovered OK.
Seeing what had happened, I managed to avert them, only to have them make a second pass on their return trip. I tried sailing away, but apparently the last chopter decided to have some fun and chased me down, hovering right over my kite. The downdraft smashed my kite completely flat downn into the water, before it twisted it into a pretzel.
Turned out to be a long drag to the beach, before getting fished out by a kindly SF Fire Dept boat.
Maybe it was unintentional on the pilot's part, but I have a suspicion they were just being jerks and having some fun at our expense - and danger.
So if you ever see a helicopter on the water, you know what to do next time around...

[kitenaked]

Let it go.

If it happens again, then report it.

Chris

www.kitenaked.com

The Wainman Hawaii Source

[kitecrazy]

yea, let it go. The last thing we want is to have FAA trying to ban kiteboarding in certain areas because there's some 1/10000000000th chance there'll be a low flying plane there in the next 500 years.

[Rob]

I'd report it.

[Rob]

too my girlfriend..

[sloughslut]

Find out where they fly outa and go fly a kite into there rotor, just remember to unhook :shock:

[Endopotential]

Only number I managed to find was the Coast Guard office at Treasure Island. I reported the story, and hopefully they'll be able to communicate with the helicopter pilots.
Certainly any pilot with an ounce of common sense would never fly that close to a sailboat. Guess they figure that they can screw over kiters more easily.

[sketchywind]

Hey Endo,
We were on a SFFD Rescue Boat training exercise at the Bridge when we saw the three military helos and one civilian helo drop under the GG Bridge. It was probably a military photo shoot or training exercise. It was most likely unintentional that you were involved in their downdraft.

I noticed that you were self-rescuing towards Crissy and checked in with the guy at the North Tower before assisting you. Since you punched out of your rig, it was a good opportunity for our Rescue Swimmer to get wet and recover your kite and bar. I ride mostly at Ocean Beach, so this was a good kiteboarder rescue "training" exercise to pass along to my crew too. The SFFD has assisted with a number of kiters and windsurfers this year and business seems to be "picking up".

Please pass on the info to the Crissy kite crew about wrapping the bar and lines and deflating kite before boarding the 25 foot SFFD Rescue Boat. Getting kite lines wrapped around outboard props is not good for our boat or RWCs.

A waterproof cellphone or VHF Marine Radio is critical equipment for any windsurfer or kiter at Crissy these days. Call 911 or contact USCG on VHF Channel 16. Be sure to let the dispatcher know your name, location, color of kite/windsurf gear, and if you have any injuries.

Glad we were able to assist you and see you on the water.

Frank

[Aloha]

Frank it's cool of you to post on the board and that a fellow kitesurfer is out there keeping us safe!

It must be known however that I am currently strongly resisting the urge to post a picture of a military photo shoot that I have in mind following to your post (out of respect to avoid bastardizing the thread)

Mahalo!

-Phil