Kiter Airlifted out of Whale Harbor in Islamorada yesterday..

[Cborges]

Aloha all...
A bunch of us were down at Ann's yesterday(Sat) riding when we heard that a kiter got airlifted out with head injuries kiting at Whale Harbor.
We passed by on our way home around 5pm to see if we could find out more, but nobody(NOT EVEN ONE) kiter was riding there at that time.

Its so awful to hear about this.

My prayers go out to the rider and his loved ones.

CJ

[The Kite House]

I hate hearing this stuff. Hope he is alright.....was at the local here yesterday, people show up, on shore and cant belive no one got hurt here.....at least speaking for here yesterday, not to much commnon sence, people are nieve on strong onshore condtions, and dont get scared until they are in the road on powerlines.....saw it!

If i hear one more time from someone, "dont worry i have been kiting for years, i will be fine" and then watch them smash on the beach i am going to scream.......went back out to open ocean today...

i really hope that guy is ok.

[Cborges]

I agree Paul... All I know is the winds were onshore and the kiter was coming into land the kite when it happened and crashed into the rocks...

Most accidents happen while launching and landing unfortunately..

[ricki]

I hope the guy fairs OK as well. It sounds like a bad one.

CJ, what would you guess conditions were like yesterday at around 1 pm (i.e. avg. wind speed, gust range, sky conditions)?

Hope no one got too worked with the stuff that blew through today. Those were some strong winds with the front and squalls from what is left of TS Olga.

[Cborges]

heya Rick...

I am not sure what it was blowing exactly, but Most of the guys were on 10M's and I was overpowered on my 11M Sonic (w/my strap completely pulled in)...
Had to put up my 8M...around 1pm......

It was pretty onshore at Ann's ...but, we all had a blast! The sun was out and wind was awesome...

Whale Harbor has a pretty small area to launch and land so Ann's was ideal...

[ricki]

Originally Posted by Cborges

heya Rick...

I am not sure what it was blowing exactly, but Most of the guys were on 10M's and I was overpowered on my 11M Sonic (w/my strap completely pulled in)...
Had to put up my 8M...around 1pm...Stacy was on her 7M having a blast...

It was pretty onshore at Ann's ...but, we all had a blast! The sun was out and wind was awesome...

Whale Harbor has a pretty small area to launch and land so Ann's was ideal...

Thanks, would you say the winds increased around 1 pm or was it more coincidence that you rigged a smaller kite around that time?

Sorry to hear this as well.
I think our "power line incident" here locally really opened people's eyes.
There is no doubt in my mind that here locally people are more safe now than a year ago. Still, stuff happens. Hope the rider is going to be okay.