I rode over one of those two hazards within the last several months, maybe it was the "Crown of Satan" as described by Scott. I was hauling ass on my 118 cm board when I felt my board hit an anvil. I thought the boat carcass was gone, and the Crown of Satan might be a new addition, who knows.

Luckily, the way I struck whatever it was, I didn't load up on it, just tore the board a bit of a new a**hole as I rocketed off of it. Scott is right. If somebodys bails onto that crap, they are going to get worked. If you don't break your neck, maybe you'll get lucky and only cut your face really bad. Or maybe you'll luck out and only need IV antibiotics after the 40 stitches in your ass.

New riders have that and 100 other hazards to worry about at Backside. Newbies should not ride there. If you are a newby and you say, "whatever," that's fine, but don't be shocked when you lose gear, get cut, put your kite in the trees, get dragged into a car, or worse. Then, you'll understand.

The problems for kiters at Backside don't become evident when everything is working according to plan. It's when shit goes wrong that all of the hazards at Backside start to limit your options and you realize that you are screwed.

If you can't ride upwind at will, relaunch easily, and you have not had a really bad kitemare yet, do us all a favor and stay away from that spot. You don't know the power of the Backside.