The island
This is a story of poor kiter choices which almost led to a slow death adrift far off an isolated island in the Caribbean. If it wasn't for the intercession of a capable rescuer running on good judgement with a healthy dose of good luck all around, the kiter might have simply vanished.
Cedric heading out for a windsurfing session off the island
Cedric Kleisler was in charge of sailing and other water sports at a resort on an island in the Caribbean. He had grown up sailing and on the water in the North Sea and had learned windsurfing on this same Caribbean island several years earlier. The resort specialized in wind sports but not kiteboarding. If folks brought their kite gear and were capable, they could do it but in the sensible European tradition, they were responsible for themselves. Cedric, now with
Adventure Sports Ft. Lauderdale, was to play a very key role in the outcome of events.
The layout of the launch, riding and landing area on the last day
A kiter visiting from Europe had been on vacation on the island for two weeks in March 2011. He had side offshore winds out of the southeast for most of that time. Cedric told me the man was experienced coming to the island with a quiver of two kites with twin tip and directional kite boards. He was able to ride upwind and generally stay out of trouble but rode solo.
He was in the habit of launching on the large curved beach shown above, riding around along the shore and out to the dropoff marked by the deep blue water. He would work upwind at the end of the day, through the reefs and around the rocky headland to land on the narrow sand beach to the south. This put him closer to his accommodations, reducing walking. Allowing for the shallow reef and nearby rocks on shore as impact hazards, well enough with a side shore wind in this area from the southeast. The thing is, wind direction will change making what was doable marginal if even feasible at all under different wind conditions.
The intended landing area in failing offshore winds, next stop beyond the shelf, likely oblivion.
On the rider's last day the wind had clocked to the northeast with a weather system moving over, likely a cold front. Conditions were still kiteable with sideshore winds out of the north but likely became gusty with pronounced lulls near the north end of the beach around the hook. As long as you were north of the southern rocky point winds were sideshore. A CRITICAL distinction is once you are south of that point, winds are offshore, a dangerous situation considering the setting. "Last Day Syndrome" or fitting/stretching out that last ride, has brought harm to other kiters through poor choices in the past.
The rider had been out kiting solo since about 3 pm that day when Cedric had noticed him launch. The rider at around 200 pounds was well powered on his 12 m kite with winds around 15 to 20 knots and gusting. It had been a normal day for Cedric up to that point, he closed up shop at 5 pm ready to call it a day. He had noticed the wind had shifted to the east around that time or dead offshore. With cold fronts winds will often "clock" or change direction clockwise as the frontal boundary passes over. So, wind shifting from NE to E is something experienced watermen would be on the lookout for assuming they were plugged into weather and knew what was bringing the wind that day.
The kiter's wife came by around 5:15 pm concerned about where her husband was. Cedric related that he hadn't seen the man for some hours. He walked down to his traditional landing area to the south but saw no sign of him. He then went to the bar, met some of the man's friends but no one had seen him for hours. Cedric grabbed some binoculars and walked out on the pier at the south end of the beach. At that height, he could see about four miles offshore but saw nothing but a bare horizon.
Cedric concerns had been mounting through all of this and concluded the man must have drifted offshore and below the horizon. He got the resort's 13.5 ft. Boston Whaler with an 80 hp outboard, fueled it up, grabbed a couple of extra fuel cans and headed out to try to find the kiter. He figured the kiter likely drifted pretty much downwind or to the west. This island is small and isolated with the nearest island to the west was about 50 miles away. Cedric also told me that there usually was a light current to the north along the wall, which is supported by general current charts for the area. So, the kiter might have drifted a bit north too, perhaps missing that landfall entirely. Leaving the next stop as the wide Atlantic Ocean.
Cedric was becoming more concerned by the minute, concluding either; A) the kiter was holed up somewhere on the island incommunicado, or B) was gone, lost offshore forever. In addition to worrying about the kiter's welfare he was also concerned for his own safety running off this same small island in a small single engine boat with a temperamental VHF radio and compass far away from other islands. Engine failure could prove his own lingering end, sunset was within about an hour, lots to think about and tension to build.
He had motored west for about 20 minutes when he stopped for a careful pan of the horizon with his binoculars. At this point he had almost lost sight of the island 8 to 10 miles distant. He thought he saw something small close the horizon far to the west. Looking more carefully, it looked like a looping kite close to the surface. Cedric powered up and ate up the intervening 4 or so miles in minutes. This put the man about 12 to 14 miles off the island with the nearest land 50 to about 120 miles to the west depending on actual drift. If he went north the nearest land would likely be over a 1000 miles away but the Gulf Stream would likely take him away from even that distant land at some point.
Cedric to the rescue, what would your thoughts have been when you first saw this scene coming towards you from a blank horizon?
As Cedric came up on the kiter he was white, eyes glazed over and not communicative. Seeing hope fade along with your prospects for living, what may seem like hours after you have set the island while hopelessly adrift can do that. The man was in apparent shock and seemed to levitate more than climb over the gunnel into the boat. He rolled up his kite and laid on it not saying anything. In time Cedric heard the man mutter, "I should have come in sooner."
Cedric brought the man into the beach to an infuriated and highly concerned wife. He met the kiter later in the bar that night when some additional information came out to fill in some of the blanks. The man bought Cedric some drinks and said profound thanks, something that doesn't always happen in such cases to his credit. The man said he noticed the wind start to edge and then clock off shore. He decided to head south and land at his traditional spot, (where no one else lands), instead of immediately heading towards the beach. At that point the wind speed dropped likely due to land wind shadow effects. Wind shadow alone has done in quite a few kiters over the years.
Depictions of just how badly wind shadow from upwind objects can mess up the wind. The whipping blobs are kiter-yarding gusts with the clear areas kite-stalling lulls. Part of this island approaches 120 ft. in height. Wind passing over that can be turbulent with gusts and lulls hindering kite flight out to a half mile or more. More about wind shadow and kiting, something that should be common knowledge among kiters at:
Shadow Blasted ... Flying In Dirty Air
The man considered self-rescue but didn't want to get his kite wet and have to swim in. This was a particularly BAD choice among many others but a critical one. Soon, his kite stalled and hit the water while he was drifting towards the dropoff a little over 1/4 mile offshore. The water goes from less than 40 ft. to almost 4000 ft. deep off this massive undersea cliff or wall. He had missed his landing area and was making dead offshore to the west. He tried to relaunch eventually succeeding in doing so beyond the wall in deep water but the wind was too light to water launch for long on his board much less make upwind back to the island. He was committed at this point to a dead offshore drift with virtually nothing that he could do about it. Cedric saved the day and without his help and the luck that came with it might have floated adrift from days on his kite in a thinly navigated area. Alternatively, without any water, in potentially hypothermic conditions over time and without much hope of rescue he might have succumbed sooner.
You should swing by Adventure Sports Ft. Lauderdale to say hi to Cedric if you're in those parts. He's a personable, low key guy and a good man to have on your side when things go south. He is getting into kiting these days to supplement all his other windsport skills.
Adventure Sports Ft. Lauderdale
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