Kiter Airlifted out of Whale Harbor in Islamorada yesterday..
 

Aloha all...
A bunch of us were down at Ann's yesterday(Sat) riding when we heard that a kiter got airlifted out with head injuries kiting at Whale Harbor.
We passed by on our way home around 5pm to see if we could find out more, but nobody(NOT EVEN ONE) kiter was riding there at that time.

Its so awful to hear about this.

My prayers go out to the rider and his loved ones.

CJ

I hate hearing this stuff. Hope he is alright.....was at the local here yesterday, people show up, on shore and cant belive no one got hurt here.....at least speaking for here yesterday, not to much commnon sence, people are nieve on strong onshore condtions, and dont get scared until they are in the road on powerlines.....saw it!

If i hear one more time from someone, "dont worry i have been kiting for years, i will be fine" and then watch them smash on the beach i am going to scream.......went back out to open ocean today...

i really hope that guy is ok.

Onshore winds
 

I agree Paul... All I know is the winds were onshore and the kiter was coming into land the kite when it happened and crashed into the rocks...

Most accidents happen while launching and landing unfortunately..

I hope the guy fairs OK as well. It sounds like a bad one.

CJ, what would you guess conditions were like yesterday at around 1 pm (i.e. avg. wind speed, gust range, sky conditions)?

Hope no one got too worked with the stuff that blew through today. Those were some strong winds with the front and squalls from what is left of TS Olga.

heya Rick...

I am not sure what it was blowing exactly, but Most of the guys were on 10M's and I was overpowered on my 11M Sonic (w/my strap completely pulled in)...
Had to put up my 8M...around 1pm......

It was pretty onshore at Ann's ...but, we all had a blast! The sun was out and wind was awesome...

Whale Harbor has a pretty small area to launch and land so Ann's was ideal...

Thanks, would you say the winds increased around 1 pm or was it more coincidence that you rigged a smaller kite around that time?

Sorry to hear this as well.
I think our "power line incident" here locally really opened people's eyes.
There is no doubt in my mind that here locally people are more safe now than a year ago. Still, stuff happens. Hope the rider is going to be okay.

Hey guys and gals. Here is an update. The rider is going to be ok but has 2 broken legs, a concusion, lacerations, and some head trauma. He is in stable condition but in bad shape. Some of the facts are still unclear but here is what I have found out. He is from Vero Beach and was here with friends. They were out at the sandbar riding and decided to come in. Wind was 20+ and straight on shore. He was in the channel screaming for someone to land his kite but no one was there and his friends were pretty far behind. His kite came down and hit the rocks but just as someone was going to grab his kite, the rider pulled on the bar and the kite shot to neutral and lofted him 10-15 ft. on to the rocks. He was knocked out on contact and the drug into the water. A local kiter jumped in after him and was able to coax the kite to the jet ski docks where they popped the kite and pulled him to safety.

From what I know he seemed to be an inexperienced kiter with the wrong conditions for his ability. He also didn't know the layout of the launch as it was waist deep less than 50 ft. to his left and he stayed in the deep water. Whale Harbor is for experienced kiters only and he should not have been allowed to come in to the beach without knowing that someone was there to catch him or the layout of the launch. Ricki will post soon with more details.

Everybody please be safe and have fun!!!!!!!

Hi guys, had a few problems at Smathers yesterday,one guy who said he had been kiting for a few years, set up his kite way down the beach from us right in front of the power-lines in onshore winds,then after Paul told him to move up to us and he launched his kite he starts beach jumping I told the guy not to and to move out a few hundred feet to ride, the idiot(who has supposedly been kiting for a few years) and who kept getting pulled off his board then goes and jumps over one of the smaller jetties not even a kites lines distance from the power-lines.

He was told to get the hell off the beach in a way he could understand and if the inconsiderate rider is reading this ,go ride somewhere else you are going to ruin it for us and you are not welcome here.

RIDE SAFE ,HAVE FUN

Thanks Noel for the update..

Hoping for a speedy recovery for that rider....I am sure he didn't picture that session ending as it did when he launched his kite....

Rick, to answer your question about switching kites at 1pm...no coincidence...
more like common sense...
As the winds were increasing, I was feeling more and more overpowered on the 11M and know my limits, and my kites limits...so I put up an 8M...

Everyone has heard a billion times before...know your kites release system and use it when you need to...

Wishing you all wind through this season!
CJ