No helmets at Sherman?!?

[rvv]

I've skated/ski/boarded/biked my whole life without a helmet (unless req by some facility), until learning to kite. The instructor said I would need it, so I bought one!
I wore it for a while then like most found it to be a bother, and stopped wearing it.
I would only don it again if I were riding over rocks in shallow water i.e. mountainlakes. Or as adam says below when riding solid objects, maybe?

Besides battle scares are cool :-&

[jrg]

In the last couple of months, I have been hit twice in the head with the surf board. Riding strapless and hitting the lip too late. But I agree, wearing a helmet is a personal choice. Although my wife (a nurse) sometimes gets to deal with the aftermath. A busted head (lack of helmet) and a bleeding broken leg (board leash).

[friggin old guy]

Surfing over 40 years, windsurfing 25, kiting 4, can count on one hand (ok maybe two) the times when I've had the noggin knocked hard enough to bleed. None of those kiting, knock on wood. Part of the whole learning curve is figuring out how to wipe out without killing yourself.

And even the smallest head cuts are the ones that bleed the most, which (not that I'm masochistic or anything) are soooooo satisfying. Badge of honor. Horror inspiring. Knarly even.

I am not trying to advocate that getting your head bashed in is cool. Just that the benefit (read pure necessity) of wearing a helmet in the water is not necessarily on the same level as might be for land-based stuff where there are more hard surfaces to hit.

But....really good idea when you're first learning, when each launch is an adventure. And not a bad idea at all afterwards, either. I just don't think anybody should get wigged out over what other people are wearing on their heads one way or the other.

[adamrod]

i wear a helmet whenever i'm hitting solid objects (sliders and kickers). the shred ready ones are super comfortable, and I think look pretty cool too. I even have a few extra in case anyone wants to borrow one for lmg's kicker...

on the flip side, I've definitely gotten whiplash from having the helmet catch the water on some harder crashes....so the choice of whether or not to wear one isn't crystal clear.

[Greg]

i wear a helmet whenever i'm hitting solid objects (sliders and kickers). the shred ready ones are super comfortable, and I think look pretty cool too. I even have a few extra in case anyone wants to borrow one for lmg's kicker...

on the flip side, I've definitely gotten whiplash from having the helmet catch the water on some harder crashes....so the choice of whether or not to wear one isn't crystal clear.

As Adam said for kickers etc... they make total sense.
For freeride, maybe not..
L.M.G.

[shred_da_gorge]

I had to wear a helmet for my lesson in Alameda, I almost killed myself.

A student in Hood River asked an instructor if he could take off his helmet because it was bothering him. The instructor agreed. During the course of learning to waterstart the student was launched into a jet ski head first. I'm not sure of the details that follow, but that well-established school will never teach kiting again as a result of the lawsuit.

It's too bad some people actually care how they (or I) look in a helmet. There are some pretty cool-looking helmets I've seen people wear up here in the Gorge. Mine is uncomfortable and I wear it at my own discretion (knowing the risk), more often than not these days as it's gusty and sometimes crowded and I don't currently have health insurance. I started wearing one for windsurfing years ago when I somehow hit my head with the mast wiping out on a flat-water day with steady light winds (maybe I hit something underwater? Still don't know). I literally almost passed out, got very dizzy. A few weeks later while wearing the new open-face helmet sailing waves in Santa Cruz I dragged a kelp bed and launched my face into the boom, knocking my front teeth out and leaving me with hockey-smile. Hey, if pro hockey and football players wear them they've got to be cool, right?

This guy's got all his teeth: :mrgreen:

[shred_da_gorge]

Although my wife (a nurse) sometimes gets to deal with the aftermath.

Yes, having a nurse who shreds around is pretty stinking cool... thank her again for patchin' me up, JR!

[timwim1]

...
on the flip side, I've definitely gotten whiplash from having the helmet catch the water on some harder crashes....so the choice of whether or not to wear one isn't crystal clear.

Adam mentioned it perfectly, but I on the other hand always wear mine kiting...it really does not bother me that much. Except for the one or two times I ended falling on the board :shock: , I was happy to wear it. I never experienced the whiplash as mentioned above, perhaps I am not trying hard enough, but probably also depends on helmet style? Note that one does get better with time but it is a matter of time before I hit something again. And getting rid of the board in the right way is key!

Thus I would add it you still use any type of board leash system it would be wise to wear a helmet at all times.

Coming from the East and white water kayaking all the time, the risks are quite different with kiting (basically getting a new helmet at least every year for white water kayaking).

Tim

[perukite]

There are a million valid reasons for not wearing a helmet - but it all goes out the window that one day that something unthinkable happens and your head meets something hard and you are either dead or turned into a vegetable and can't kite the rest of your life. (Shallow rock you didn't know was there, you come down on your board, someone looses control of their kite at a crowded launch site and takes you with them into the rocks, etc, etc)

I'll admit that I only wear mine about 70% of the time (actually, 100% of the time if you were to ask my wife) as some days I just don't want to bother with it. It's much nicer riding without one and of course you don't look as "cool". It's just a personal decision and I don't think most people really judge one another on if they wear a helmet or not.

If anyone wants a cheap lid - i have a black protec "two-face" helmet (with the little brim that can be worn front or back) which I'll give you for 20 bucks. I was gifted another one and this one just rolls around in my trunk right now.

PM me, I ride all over the bay with great regularity so we can meet up.

[yojimbo]

More about helmets:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/weeki ... odayspaper

If a technogeek posts a finger wagging emoticon warning of malware on this link, I swear I will reach through the computer and........