Great program Steve-O, would like to see more like out out in the world. There is so much essential theory that students should have. Some are here to teach, they should do just that.
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Originally Posted by b-rad
It gets good when it gets bad...
and again, who is to blame? everyone out the last few days or just the guys who got hurt?
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For my part in life and business, I really don't care much about blame. I am big on cure though, or learning from mistakes. We do need to lead by example though, even if it hurts, I feel we have that responsibility.
Regarding, "It gets good when it gets bad..." I disagree, IF we're windsurfers, the nastier the better, sans lightning as long as you and your gear can reasonably handle it.
But, were not, we're kitesurfers. If you had ever been badly lofted by an excessive gust, we have more here than many other places in this hemisphere, we wouldn't be talking about this. Like it or not, our gear is not sufficiently safe in excessive squalls winds. From all the dozens of accidents I poured over and the few I've experienced there is NO doubt in my mind about this. Add too much wind and you get lofted and/or dragged or your kite stalls, snags something on you and the unequal lines drag you off at high rate of speed. You have wind more of the year in the Keys than any other place in Florida. How could one session be worth losing your health, mobility or your life?
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Originally Posted by OttoNP
It is always hard to get accidents down to 0%, maybe impossible. Doesn't mean it is ineffective. I would guess that if you compare kiting accident percentages over the years they are going down because of the efforts of many, including Rick, to get safe information out there. Unfortunately you never know how many people read the forum warning from Rick and chose not to go out in Fay. I would guess there is a lot of people. Or how many people now check weather more because of it.
I will tell anyone I see to stop doing whatever I think is dangerous, I'd say most listen and stop, but some people just don't care - an accident in their case is simply a matter of time, which sucks...
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I agree, accidents will never go to zero. That isn't the point in my view. It is to reduce readily avoidable accidents through reasonable procedures and judgement. We're still in the early days and there is way too much "operator error" at play in accidents. If we're on our game and go at things right, operator error should diminish somewhat or at least go below 90% of the time. I tell people the same thing and get mixed reactions. You win some and you lose some, still we need to keep trying.