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Missing Kiteboarder Found

Just heard about this. I understand some folks staying in a hotel on the beach saw a kiter go down, not get back up and eventually noted his kite move away. They called the authorities and a search ensued. He swam to shore on his own without his kite. He was eventually located on shore after the search was launched and the USCG had recovered his kite.

Moral:

If you lose your kite or board, contact the authorities (USCG) to say it has been lost, where and when to avoid an unnecessary search. We sometimes read of a board or kite being found in various parts of the country and related searches. You might even get your gear back if you are lucky but more importantly these folks won't launch a search for someone who isn't lost. It is also a good idea to let someone at home know where you will be kiting with an update if you change spots. Having your contact number on your board makes sense too.

More about this incident at:
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news..._searchin.html

It would be good to talk about the conditions that can cause you to lose a kite or a board. What are some things you have experienced?

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6043/5...3f57f011_z.jpg
Preserve the rescue services for the time you might really need them by staying aware.

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If I read the report right he launched off Clearwater and as I recall it is blowing from East for three days.

Straight offshore wind for that spot (+ crazy gusts 'cause of the buildings)... this guy is a bright exapmple of Darwin's theory of natural selection.

.. or maybe it was an attempt of a downwinder to Mexico?

Wow, I was asking for discussion of things that will cause you to lose your kite, I didn't realize conditions were offshore there. Dead offshore winds particularly with buildings, dunes, trees, etc. shoreside have a HIGH probability of resulting in a lost kite, board too and sometimes even a kiter to go with. These are BAD conditions to launch into. Don't be deceived by the nice calm water, apparent good wind conditions because it is a false impression.

The wind is too gusty to support good kiting conditions. The wind drops to near nothing your kite stalls hits the water and pulls you offshore. Then it boosts and you get yarded before the next drop. You may get it up while continuing to drift offshore, you may relaunch, do a few tacks trying to work to shoreward until it lulls and stalls again. Repeat, repeat and repeat again with you going further offshore. I stupidly proved this to myself in offshore winds about ten years ago resulting in a 2 mile+ swim inland towing my gear behind me. Don't screw with offshore wind conditions in short.

There are still other conditions that can cause you to lose kite, board or both particularly on the west coast and other areas with frequent cuts and bays. What are some of them?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russky (Post 49877)

put your name and tel # on your board and kite

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickI (Post 49878)

The wind is too gusty to support good kiting conditions. The wind drops to near nothing your kite stalls hits the water and pulls you offshore. Then it boosts and you get yarded before the next drop. You may get it up while continuing to drift offshore, you may relaunch, do a few tacks trying to work to shoreward until it lulls and stalls again.

Yes, went kiting in dead offshore winds during my trip to hatteras a couple weeks ago and even with there being nothing there, you still had to walk out 100+ yards until it stopped being horribly gusty. luckily it is knee-waist deep forever there... wouldn't even think of trying that anywhere in FL

There are some cases where folks will go in offshore winds but usually with a chase boat or with a long distance of shallow water as you experienced in Hatteras. The wind shadow effect off the land can severely disturb the quality of wind for miles offshore. I was about 2 1/2 miles off Boca beach in strong west winds and it was still way too gusty to kite for much distance at all. The harsh awaking comes when you try to kite back to shore and the stalling and yarding become worse the closer you get to land! You usually have to tear down and tow the lot in. Using the kite as a sail on the water usually doesn't work with dead offshore wind, you go close to parallel to shore instead of in. Sometimes I have had to reduce the leading edge pressure just to drop the wind drag on the kite to permit me to tow it shoreward.

The time we kited from Ft.Lauderdale to Bimini, we didn't start to come out of land effect on the side offshore wind until we were over five miles from shore. I haven't noticed much land effect on wind at Stiltsville in west winds which is seven miles from shore. Avoid offshore winds, go for side to side onshore winds.

The proper method for getting back to shore in offshore winds, or to go upwind to retrieve your board is this:

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...fe/rescue2.jpg

*Never deflate your kite unless absolutely necessary.

Happy Kiting!
www.kiteboardingtampabay.com

That approach won't work too well in particularly strong offshore winds. I have been out in conditions in which I couldn't make it to shore with that much windage. I had to partially deflate the leading edge to reduce the exposed area and tow from a wing tip to keep the sail area down. If you have a ways to swim against a stiff wind you want as little project area as you can manage. Side stroking in the water pulling by a wind tip and towing your board has worked best for me in this instance. If you really want to, you can orally reinflate the leading edge somewhat. You can do it to where you can even relaunch and ride the kite if you have to. It is best to wear an impact vest for flotation anyway particularly for towing stuff in or even rigging the kite as a sail to drag you in.

Ironically they just had a story on the Weather Channel's series "Lifeguard!" about a board drifting from the discharge of a 200 yard rip current off Huntington Beach, CA. They had a helicopter that had sighted the board with no kiter. This commits them to doing a search until the kiter is found one way or the other. They eventually noticed a kiter standing on the beach looking around without a board and made the connection. Letting the lifeguards know you lost your board can help at times.

http://glueimg.s3.amazonaws.com/stic...ason_1_fan.png

The west coast can have some very powerful, long rips due to long period deepwater waves coming in. People can still get separated from their board in southeast Florida rips. Some of our most powerful rips come from inlets and we have no shortage of those. The outwash from cuts and inlets can extend well offshore. If you separate from your board on an outgoing or incoming tide for that matter, you may well lose it. The suggestion for your name and number on your gear can pay dividends in improving the odds of your getting it back and to reduce the chance of an unnecessary search effort. You can readily see rip currents from shore if you look for them. They can be less obvious once you are in the water, less so from your board however.

http://www.fksa.org/gallery3/var/res...g?m=1327626720
A small fairly weak rip off Boca Raton. Despite this even something this small can drown a weak or impaired swimmer. They can be much stronger particularly off inlets even in this area and around the state. More about rip currents at: http://www.fksa.org/showthread.php?t=9552

http://www.fksa.org/albums/album495/...on_Bay_Rip.jpg
A powerful 800 ft.+ rip current in California.

So, what are some board losing scenarios?

1. Being overpowered or underpowered to where body dragging upwind is difficult to infeasible.

2. Strong side shore or worse side offshore winds can easily take the board away from you and out of sight. REMEMBER, just because you start with nice side onshore or even side shore winds, it doesn't mean it will stay that way. Fronts clock winds through 90 degree direction shifts or so regularly. Also the wind speed can drop below kiting speed or boost way up further complicating staying with your board. ALSO, thermal winds can kick in nice side to side onshore winds but once the gradient wains later in the day or sunset, the wind can suddenly shut off or shift dead offshore in seconds. These changes can happen rapidly at times. Pay attention to forecasts, conditions, time of the day, etc. and don't get caught unaware. Learn to expect change and act in advance of it.

3. Foot straps pop out and conditions obstruct your ability to body drag to it. Major wipeouts can put a large separation distance between you and your board too, perhaps too great a distance for recovery.

4. Adverse currents. This covers a lot of different situations. If you are near a gap in a bar, inlet or cut it is possible for the current to be running straight into the wind. Body dragging to recover your board can be infeasible. If you are kiting off an island and there is a current sweeping past and away from the island, this is a real bad place to lose your board. Wiping out around the break and having the board flushed offshore by a rip current. Currents like wind can change during a session with tide or other reasons. Something like this may have happened in the Wx Channel case. It is important to realize you are in a rip if you are trying to get back into shore. You can swim to exhaustion fighting a rip when swimming parallel to it and then heading in can see you on shore faster and easier.

There are still other ways you can lose a board, what are they? We can lose kites too, what are some of the ways this can happen?

For most kiting scenarios, board leashes are a real bad idea. No amount of helmets or impact vests effectively improve the situation. Kiters have had their teeth bashed out, throats cut, helmet sliced clean through by rebounding boards on leashes. This includes both static and reel leashes. Body dragging or a Joe Pro is the way to go. Despite this, you should accept that it is possible you might lose a board someday. That would be a lot less costly and painful than dealing with a bad leash propelled board impact. A number of kiters have been killed through board leash use by the way.

Working to be a strong waterman, wearing an impact vest, kiting with others make good sense. Work to spot and anticipate problems and avoid them in advance.

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A repost from kiteforum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickI

I spoke to one of the local USCG (Coast Guard) offices in Florida about what to do if you lose a board or kite a couple of days ago when this thread came up on another site. They confirmed that it would be good to notify them if a board or kite is lost, when and where. This could avoid an unnecessary search and might even see you getting your gear back if found. Having your contact name and phone number on your kite and board can help a lot. Make sure someone knows where you are when you are kiting and when you will likely be back. Always going with someone is a good idea too. There is a lot that we could say about this from all the accidents and incidents over the years, there have been dozens of threads.

If you are offshore, perhaps well offshore with your kite down do whatever you safely need to do to get back to shore. It should be something you are already practiced at. I have found sailing in with the kite on the water to be the best for me, my record being over a mile off Antigua when my old C kite tied up in knots after inverting in strong gust winds off another small island upwind quite a way off. It took me right into where I was staying as opposed to letting me drift off island.

If the wind is dead offshore, sailing in with your kite on the water may not work, you go parallel to the shore or even slightly away from land. Swimming in is all you are left with unless a boat picks you up. Stay with your gear, it improves your visibility to rescuers among other things. Using your kite as a raft as shown is fine as long as the wind isn't too strong in my experience. I have been out several times with offshore wind shifts and once about 11 years back deliberately (and stupidly) in strong offshore wind when a normally inflated kite had me drifting offshore regardless of my efforts to swim it in. Again, you need to do what works. In those cases (in fairly warm SE Florida) I would drop the leading edge pressure enough to reduce the wind drag on the kite to where I could actually pull the lot into shore with a wing tip low to the water using a side stroke. Your battens are still fully inflated with some pressure in the leading edge too. Kiters should have an impact vest on anyway for times like this and more routine needs in my opinion so you have your own flotation with you regardless.

If you are in hypothermic conditions, things can become even more complicated and individual factors may govern. Things like whether you have a properly functioning dry suit on vs. a wetsuit depending on conditions. Is the wetsuit thick enough for extended time in the water, etc. If your exposure clothing is too light, you may need to stay out of the water as much as possible after a time, meaning you really screwed up. There is a lot more than summarized in this short post that you need to know in such conditions including staying close to shore. You may need to lay on your kite at that point to protect body heat depending on your exposure clothing/circumstances and try to swim in as shown and hope someone picks you up soon. Sometimes they have in time and at others, not.

A female kiter was tragically lost years back in Europe in December conditions like this and was unable to paddle into shore resting on her kite in slightly side offshore winds caused when a cold front arrived. She had been told not to go out in these conditions but did anyway. Rescue came ten hours later after dark when she was found laying on her kite in cold rainy conditions. She had expired from heat loss. Other kiters have been lost with wind shifts and too light or damaged exposure clothing.

Offshore wind shifts from fronts moving in, squalls and shutting off of thermal winds are usually predictable to varying degrees. Don't fall into these traps, work to anticipate problems and act early to avoid them including always kiting with others with a reaction plan, always wear appropriate exposure clothing for conditions and be prepared to blow off kiting if appropriate.

http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2376273