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pkh
Since 27 Feb 2005
6549 Posts
Couve / Hood
Honored Founder
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 Sat Mar 29, 08 10:00 am SPI Fatal Accident |
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http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2347027
Take a read. Sounds like a couple things went wrong:
- 11m kite in 20-30knots, too much kite
- The center line safety didn't fully deploy, doesn't seem clear why
- The quick release on the leash was on the bar side, so he'd have to crawl all the way up the leash to release the bar.
Its a good reminder to everyone to double check their quick releases and do a safety test from time to time. Here's a good post on the event:
| Quote: | While there can sometimes only be speculation about the actual causes and events leading to such a tragedy, it is extremely important for anyone entering this sport to know what can happen and how to deal with it. Below I will touch on a few thoughts.
1. 11m kite in 20-30 kts: that is a lot of power, but depends somewhat on type of kite, rider weight and skill. I'm usually on a 7m or 9m (max) kite in that wind, but I weigh 155#.
2. If the leash was attached with the QR at the kite line that would make it difficult/impossible for him to deploy. (I see this mistake being made often and really drill my students hard on this one..they will not forget the lecture they get about it)
3. Last summer a student in a lesson from another school was being dragged by a looping kite (flat style kite). By the time I caught up with her she was a good 1/2 mile downwind and 1/4 mile out to sea, and lines twisted 50 times. The whole time I was praying that something would break - nothing broke...while trying to coach her on what to do next it became apparent that she was helpless and possibly about to drown. Her lines had twisted at least 75-100 times and was a 4 strand rope now. Next point of land 50 miles. Even if she could unhook and go to leash nothing would have changed. I had to crash my kite and jump on her lines and cut all lines while the kite was pulling both of us. I don't recommend this to anyone else, but it seemed like the last option under the circumstances and she appeared to be losing strength and swallowing water. By this time we were over a mile downwind...then self rescued together with my kite.
4. What happened in 3 above? I am not sure, but IMO there were wind conditions, poor choices of kite size, and lack of training that led to this near disaster. I might speculate that a line got tangled on her hook or maybe through a leash carabiner, or the bar snagged on the hook??? or even possibly just the student pulling on one side of the bar for too long when she crashed the kite. Once a kite loops 5-10 time the lines can be locked by the pressure on themselves, like a strand rope. The other thing that a beginner tends to do is pull back inadvertently by leaning back...this was also causing her to force herself under water. It's probably better to lean forward (body drag stylle) and take pressure off the kite, perhaps better to ride it out on your stomach if you are in the water and there is no impending collision with solid/stationary objects, and hopefully you can cut lines or QR/unhook in the process
5. Recently another friend and expert rider and a top athlete had something similar happen when his bridle broke (again a flat kite), 12m "bow" in 20-25 kts, so he unhooked and went to leash to flag the kite, but this did not stop the looping. and then the pull of the kite rotated his waist harness 90 degrees and he could not reach the QR integrated into the Mystic harness. He got dragged over concrete blocks and almost over a highway and is lucky to have survived this. ...later he tried to cut his leash with the "line cutter" and it took a full 8 seconds!!!! Also note that he was being dragged for over 20 seconds before he hit land as others watched in horror, and the whole time he was trying to release his leash (which itself had no QR) by unclipping it but the tension was way too much for him to have any chance of it.
some...lessons from this? leash with QR, carry a real knife, do not hook leash to side of harness...
6. Depending on the brand/design of a kite a bridle break can be potentially disastrous. Personally I feel that all kite companies should simulate any breakages and tell people what the kite is likely to do and suggestions on how to handle it. Maybe this puts them into to much of a position of liability though?
I am fairly convinced that certain brands of kites that relaunch "stupid easy" are more likely to have uncontrolled kitelooping caused by an of the situations mentioned above. This is from observing many situation myself and having bridles break on my own kites (hybrid)
7. In any case "distance is your friend" applies heavily. Sometimes it's hard to have safe "distance".
8. Check your bridles and other components religiously and replace when even slightly warn.
9. IMO Nothing really happens "randomly"...at least 99% of the time. You need to be prepared for the unexpected, do not take unnecessary risks, do not fly above the limits of the kites range or your skills, have the proper safety gear and devices on your kite and know how to use them, don't believe that just because so and so said the kite you have will handle all sorts of wind that you are lulled into feeling safe.
Again, I am so sorry to hear about the SPI kiter or any other accident and hope others will learn from these tragedies. If you read all the reports that shed light on all the different situations you can learn a lot from it, but nothing replaces practice and experience. And hopefully your lessons included complete safety knowledge which you then went out and practiced under controlled conditions many times. It's quite different when the real S#!t hits the fan.
good winds and Ride Safe |
Last edited by pkh on Sat Mar 29, 08 9:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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tonyb
Since 09 Oct 2006
973 Posts
Stevenson in the summer & SPI in the winter
Bolstad Clan
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| Sat Mar 29, 08 11:12 am |
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First off condolences to his family and friends and they have my sympathy as they struggle to understand what happened.
This happened just over a week ago but I've been waiting to post until we heard a little more detail on what happened. I understand that Kenny, who was the one who caught up with him on a jet ski, is working with someone to investigate the incident and capture all of the details and facts from the three main people involved in the rescue.
It is very tragic and a number of people in SPI are pretty shook up over the accident. Urick (not sure on spelling), was pretty new to kiting, had about 9 hours of lessons and was just learning here in SPI. There has been a lot of speculation as to the initial cause of the incident that started the kite looping and a lot of discussion regarding how to cope with a situation like that.
I was not at the beach when it happened but I've spoken with a few people and the following items seem to be agreed on at this time:
Nobody noticed if he crashed or hit his head or if he was stopped and trying to do a self rescue. The water depth in the area is between 3 to 4' deep. Based on one of his outside lines being wrapped a number of times around the outside of his bar people are thinking he was trying to wrap up for a self rescue.
His leash was hooked up with the QR closest to the bar instead of to his body. I don't know if it was hooked into the correct spot or not. He had been told about this a day or two previously as well. Nobody knows why he didn't fix this.
The first two kiters to respond to the looping kite were not able to catch up with him as the kite dragged him downwind. The kite looped approximately 50 times in the air before Kenny was able to get on the jet ski.
By the time the jet ski got to the kite it was looping once a second where it would come around, hit the water, track across, relaunch, loop around, hit the water, etc... I've heard numbers like 100 to 200 twists in the lines.
Kenny had to time his approach on the jet ski to come in and tackle the kite and lines when it hit the water. He cut his hands getting it shut down.
I heard that CPR was performed on the water but a pulse was not re-established until he was brought to shore on the jet ski. Unfortunately it was too late to prevent brain damage.
This is the second major incident at SPI this season and both involved a rescue out in the bay. On the first one he had to be drug in by other kiters, on the second one the jet ski was there. In both instances the rescuers were able to stand up in chest deep water once they reached the downed kiter. We don't have that capability in the Columbia.
Needless to say everyone has been checking their gear a little closer and keeping a closer eye on each other out on the water.
I think it would be nice to have a first aid / rescue class put on by the CGKA so we can go through what to do if someone goes down out in the middle of the river and a jet ski or boat isn't coming to the rescue. Should you drop your kite, what does the second kiter to the scene do, etc...
These incidents are tragic but we can learn something from them and hopefully keep each other safer along the way.
Tony |
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pkh
Since 27 Feb 2005
6549 Posts
Couve / Hood
Honored Founder
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| Sun Mar 30, 08 9:33 am |
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| Thanks for the info Tony. |
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Kraemer
Since 24 Apr 2006
1736 Posts
Sky Pilot
Unicorn Captain
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| Sun Mar 30, 08 6:48 pm |
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Sorry to hear. It's a sudden way to go.
Almost the same thing happened to me one day. In a lengthy relaunch -- one of my lines got around a board-leash
AND I had a bridal malfunction--it was ugly. Nearly drowned but luckily the line broke, it had chafed on the bolts on the belt-
holster. I was able to get to the knife--but luckily the line broke first. I felt lucky to swim in.
_________________
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eclipse-Films/167443909937196?ref=hl
http://eclipsefilms.com/ |
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tonyb
Since 09 Oct 2006
973 Posts
Stevenson in the summer & SPI in the winter
Bolstad Clan
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| Thu Apr 10, 08 9:07 pm |
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Following is the latest, most comprehensive info I've seen about the fatality at SPI.
Posted by Tomtomtom on Best kiteboarding forum: http://forum.bestkiteboarding.com/viewtopic.php?t=7257&sid=49fe7eb067f1636b8542b02a693b6f99
| Quote: | Juwanna,
I have spoken with the 4 people involved in the accident in Texas, but did not see the accident myself. No one investigating this accident has come to a firm conclusion as to what actually occurred. A medical condition is just as likely the reason for the initiation of the incident as other theories such as (1) a fall in shallow water, (2) operator error in reversing the safety leash (3) an interrupted self-rescue. A good deal of speculation and misleading information has resulted.
I was told by the rescuer who heroically downed the kite, which had looped over a hundred times over a distance of a kilometer, that the kite safety leash was indeed reversed, which resulted in the slide release being out of reach of the kiter. It is likely that this fact had no bearing on the fatal result of the incident, in that an unconscious kiter would have drowned in the incident regardless.
Another fact that was relayed to me was that the kite was a 2007 true Bow kite from one of the top manufacturers, and that there was no apparent equipment failure detected.
The safety was connected to the line system, not by a rear OS loop, but by the standard front line ring-to-open-gated-carabiner method. None of the other lines were snagged in the carabiner.
When the victim was finally detained, it was noted that the chicken loop was not in the victim's spreader bar hook, and also noted that the chicken loop release had not been activated. The victim had apparently unhooked the chicken loop without activating the release.
It was also noted that a centerline appeared to be wrapped around the end of the bar, but it was not noted which of the 2 center lines. There was other line tangling evidence in the area of the bar, which gave rise to a theory that the kiter may have been in the process of self-rescuing, when an unintended relaunch of the kite occurred initiating the dragging incident. It is just as likely that some other factor caused the lines to be tangled around the bar.
Another theory that is based on the fact that the board was found not far from shallow water (the wind was mostly off-shore), proposes that the inexperienced kiter outran the kite and slacked his lines at the same time his board jammed into the bottom, throwing him into his bar and lines, at which time the lines got wrapped around the bar, and the kite relaunched. The kiter could have been knocked out or stunned by hitting the bottom.
The kiter had 9 hours of lessons, previous to the accident and was at the stage where most people would be practicing on there own.
I was told that the wind was not excessively high or gusty for an 11 meter bow kite, which the victim was using.
One of the rescuers, who was kiting at the time and was able to follow fairly close to the victim, noted that the victim's eyes were open, but could draw no firm conclusion as to whether or not the victim was actually looking at him.
No one was looking at the kiter when the incident began.
I have gotten two accounts of the rider's ability. One witness said that the kiter could go out and back, but could not turn. The other witness said that he thought the kiter was able to ride under pretty good control.
The victim was said to be a very pleasant and intelligent design engineer who was contracting with NASA.
Without a medical report which most likely would occur if released by a relative in his native country of Poland, we are left with a very unsatisfying analysis of what actually occurred in this tragedy.
Discussing and analyzing hypothetical situations may be of some value in arriving at safety and rescue tips, in cases like this, but the truth may never be known in this specific incident.
The rescuers did an admirable job, and at the time, were devoting their full energy to trying to save a life, dealing with such details as (1) how to lift the body up onto the jet-ski (it is not a one person task in 5 foot deep water), (2) how to initiate cardiac compressions and ventilation, (3) how to keep lines from fouling the intake of the jet-ski, (4) where to take the victim for treatment, (5) how to secure the body so that water would drain out of the lungs. The lines were therefore wound up in a hurry in an effort to speed up the rescue and were jammed out of the way, so as not to get sucked into the jet pump. The rescuers were focused on the future of the victim and not on analyzing the past. At this time and under these circumstances, it would have been negligent and detrimental to the life-saving effort to devote time to the investigation of the cause of this accident. Only after the victim was in the hands of the EMT and helicopter crew was it proper for the shaken rescuers to devote any time and energy to the analysis of this incident. I think that studies have shown that traumatic memory is not completely dependable, and that shocked recall can be suspect where details are concerned. |
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jdk
Since 21 Dec 2005
333 Posts
Obsessed
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| Fri Apr 11, 08 12:29 am |
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last summer i was at lyle and the wind was just under rideable speed for a 9 waroo. i decided to fly the kite on the spit just to mess around (after finding out that my 13 had an le bladder leak). i had never self launched a bow kite and thought you could use the same technique used with a c kite, where you fold over the wing tip and put sand on it to hold it down.
so i wait for a good gust, it probably got close to 20mph, and i go for the launch. the bridle gets catches the wing tip and immediately after launch the kite is looping and i am being drug across the spit hard and fast. there were only two other people out there and they were doing a lesson in the shallows 50 yards away or so. so i pull the quick release on the chicken loop but the kite is still looping hard. it all happened fast but somehow i got ahold of the outside line handle (maybe by pulling the whole works down with the leash), and was able to flag the kite that way. had it not flagged i was about to pull the release on the leash and let it fly away. so this is something worth trying if you are in this situation.
it really does happen fast though, a couple more loops and the lines would probably have locked up and then pulling the outside line handle wouldn't work |
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pkh
Since 27 Feb 2005
6549 Posts
Couve / Hood
Honored Founder
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| Fri Apr 11, 08 3:58 am |
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Thanks for the extra info Tony... a bit sobering as I sit in the Houston airport at 4:30am waiting for SPI connecting flight.  |
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pacifichigh
Since 11 May 2005
1004 Posts
ATX
Texan
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| Fri Apr 11, 08 5:22 am |
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| I'll see you guys down there tomorrow Phil |
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