Sarasota Update - Minor Incident
 

Hey all - I was driving back from kiting on Lake Huron (sweet) - spoke to Trent and he and Gabor were at S Lido riding last weekend - squall came in (so did Trent and Gabor) - an apparent newbee didn't land his kite in time - got lofted (luckily off-shore) - hit water pretty hard - may have busted (or badly messed up) fingers and ribs - also had trouble depowering/flagging kite cuz leash was hooked up (maybe wrong - don't know) to a suicide leash - anyway before Trent could get to the newb' the newb released his crashed kite as the outgoing current and wind was dragging him deeper - lucky for newb' a jet skier retrieved him and his kite

we did not know this dude - someone said he was a veterinarian (?)

anyway, if someone knows him maybe they could let him know how dangerous those thunderstorms can be

OS/Sarasota

PS: sorry if the facts are not perfect - was not there but want to see if anyone can make contact - could have been a lot worse for the guy

Yo Joe, ill ask my sources who this newb is (Trent and Gabor) LOL
sounds like one very lucky newb.

Just give him a steak. That'll cure this vegetarian of his woes. ;)

Im amazed people are kiting this summer. i havent been out since? last winter?....but i still dont have any desire to go squall kiting.

It was Mike Reinhardt, who is a vet. Joe's description was pretty much what happened .Wasnt there myself but heard about it from someone who was. I think hes ok. He was going to set his finger himself.I remember looking out of the office about 5 pm that day and the trees were going crazy and i wondered if anyone got caught out in it.

Mike with the older Naish C kites and UnderGround board?

Had a guy yelling at me on the phone today because he hasn't received a call in two weeks for a lesson. I told him if he could find a snowboard instructor in Colorado right now I would give him a kite lesson tomorrow.

Glad to hear that Mike is not seriously hurt.

Its just not worth it. Better to wait for the snow to come.

Dr Mike resting after surgery
 

Dr Mike - ION 2 14.5M was the unfortunate kiter. He is not a newbie but had his back to weather when the micro burst hit. Winds went form 12 to 30 in minutes and Mike was caught unable to flag the kite in time. I picked him up from Sarasota Memorial Hospital tonight after finger surgery that required 3 screws to fasten his finger bone back together...no fun except for the drugs. Mike was a rag doll and suffered bruised ribs as well.

Moral of the story - don't kite in the summer or get rid of the 14.5 in winds exceeding 30 MPH. He tried to land and flag the kite instead of getting rid of it.

glad to hear he made it out OK considering what could have happened....

screws in finger?! wow, must have really shattered the metacarples
Heres hoping a speedy recovery to him.
BTW, Ive got nothing against summer kiting, its just kiting the edge of a squall is crazy.....if we only had a tropical low just off our coast or something!