Kitesurfing Accidents
27
Aug

Kitesurfing Accidents

I have decided to make a post about kitesurfing accidents- kitesurfing is a safe sport, comparable to driving a motorbike, as long as you remember your training and respect the environment and other riders. This is a concept I explain very well during our kite safari, especially because we are on a boat and the closer hospital is 2 hours away.

If you jump high and land in shallow water (cause you are sure you are going to land that jump) or if you go out with too big of a kite cause you want a proper adrenaline rush, well, you are looking for problems.

Hat Man

This is a classic and it is scary – first of all a bit of the backgroud.

The kite was very old and it had no proper depower system, so letting go of the bar was not really an option for the kiter. The location is Hawaii (I believe), and in such places big gusts of wind like these are common in certain weather situation (storm approaching, black clouds, tropical weather). The combination of the two was potentially deadly. But the guy survived.

Nowadays, the depower system will help you in such situation – just let go of the bar in the unlikely event of a tropical gust of wind, and you will be ok.

Overpowered and wrong right of way

This below is what happens when an intermediate kiter forgets all safety precautions, and put himself and others at danger. You can see him riding very fast, approaching the launching area (and the beach), completely overpowered and out of control – he tries to put the kite at 12 to make a transition, but it’s too late, the wind is too much, and on top of it the guy on the left loses control of his kite (nothing he could do anyway, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time). You can see the end result below. Don’t be the guy on the right.