Basic HTML Version
touchline
Insight
A kitesurfer who was suddenly lifted into the air by a southerly
breeze and dragged through bushes and a fence nearly “peeled
off half his face” when he slammed into a street-sign pole, a
lifesaver says.
The 48-year-old man had surgery for facial fractures and a blood
clot to the brain after he lost control of his kite at Ettalong Beach
on the Australian Central Coast about 4.30pm on 6 December. He
was in a stable condition at Royal North Shore Hospital, a hospital
spokeswoman said.
Kitesurfing is a sport in which a rider uses wind to propel a
modified surfboard while holding on to a specially designed kite.
When lifesavers found the man, he was unconscious and the
pole into which he had smashed was bent at an angle. Moments
earlier, a southerly buster had lifted him about 15 metres into the
air and carried him away from the beach towards bushes and a
nearby road, police said.
“The surfer descended rapidly and was dragged through the
bushes, struck a wire fence, which he broke through, and then
struck and bent a street-sign pole,” police said.
The man had just set up his kite on the beach when the incident
happened, Ocean Beach Surf Life Saving Club president Scott
Hannell said. “He hadn’t been in the water. He was still setting up
to go out. From what I understand, most injuries in kitesurfing
happen at that stage.”
The lifesavers followed the man as he was carried away from
the beach, and were the first on hand after he smashed into the
street sign.
He continued, “The injuries were pretty horrific from what I
understand. When he hit the signpost it peeled off half his face,
and there was talk he may lose one of his eyes”.
While most kites had an in-built safety release that allowed surfers
to release the kite before they were pulled away by a sudden
gust of wind, there was little that could be done after a gust
had taken hold, Rob Smallgood, from the Australian Kitesurfing
Association, said.
“Once you’re 15 metres in the air it’s too late to pull the safety
release because you’ll drop like a stone,” he said.
“After that, the idea is just to slowly go from one side to another
like you’re dropping from a parachute, but while you’re up there
you’re going to blow in the direction of the wind.
But as the sport became more popular, large numbers of people
were taking it on without first getting crucial lessons, he said. Mr
Smallgood said kitesurfing was safe in winds of up to 25 knots,
but above that it was usually only experts who ventured onto
the water.
On the safety section of the NSW Kite
Boarding Association’s website, kite
surfer Jimmy Barnett provides a
firsthand account of what happens
when things go wrong.
“I was hoisted 4m in the air and 50m
along half the length of the beach.
I landed the unintentional jump
successfully, but was immediately
carried again into the hostile stone
seawall and timber crash barrier.
“Here I snapped all four of my forearm
bones, ascended over a car and then
headfirst into the side of a car on the
other side of the street, breaking some
feet bones in the process.
“The kite settled briefly and I remember
trying the safety system release with
my arms flapping uselessly like seal
flippers and blood spewing out of my
head, cheek and eye.
“Luckily a fellow kiter with quick wits
leaped on me and fully released the
kite”.
Source:
Sydney
Morning Herald
Kitesurfer:
‘peels off half his face’
14
touchline