Sherman accident 6/13

[steve goble]

For safety rig small. Triple check your lines and tuning. Stroke the bar to check proper power and depower before launch. If you get the kite up and have no more depower put it down and adjust tuning or use a smaller kite. You can't force the issue. Don't go out unless your kite will totally depower. Always watch the kite when on land and never fly it overhead. Keep your hands in the center bar position when on land. This accident was totally avoidable! Pilot error 100 percent. Very sad. Very avoidable!! I hope he is recovering well. My thoughts and prayers for him and his family.

[kitenaked]

This is related and this thread made me try to recall this service. I think I will sign up for a Family Membership as the annual cost is really so low. Less than what you'd pay for iKite. Seems to cover most of CA...

http://www.calstar.org/
http://www.calstar.org/membership/default.aspx

I hope no one needs this, but like health, car or homeowners insurance you could be troubled even more so without it...

someone got hurt in Discovery Bay on Saturday after their air chair broke loose and landed on two young passengers. Calstar was on the scene. both will be okay except major scars from the foil....

[turguz]

a few years ago i got the heli ride from calstar i believe, after a car crash in tahoe. the bill was $17k+, but the insurance (united health care) covered the whole thing. heli rides should be in the same category as emergency ambulance - usually covered 100% with a decent health plan.
now, you do need to check the fine print, to make sure that they are not excluded. there's also small print about 100% only covering "reasonable and area specific" expenses. So, I did have a little bit of a headache when UHC tried to squeeze out $1.5k from me, claiming the 'average and reasonable' price for that ride was $15k or so. in that case, it's a good to have a big company HR to deal with them (the covered everything after that).
total accident cost was >$300k - $0 out of pocket.

[ddubwinokur]

I've heard people say before "don't keep your kite at noon on land" but never understood why this is dangerous. Can someone explain?

Thanks - Dan

[fiddyfiddy]

I've heard people say before "don't keep your kite at noon on land" but never understood why this is dangerous. Can someone explain?

Thanks - Dan

Just in case there is a brief lull. Your kite will do a face plant and nothing you can do about it. If its at 11 or 1 the kite has a chance to recover naturally before it hits the ground.

[davidllyon]

Also for a sudden gust you are less likely to get picked up and loose all foot traction, part of the pull will be sideways. With the kite at 12, all the pull is up.

[Greg]

my son DIED from what appeared to be mild head injury- (no helmet, skateboarding in a S-8 park)
He didn't bleed, not messy at all.....

Fact is: If he wasn't right next to the fire dept the other kids might have just let him nap .....

The fire dept transported him by ambulance to a local hospital , when he arrived they immeadly life flighted him to another hospital where he died-

Bottom line is with a head injury it's hard to know how bad it really is without professional training- so if someone has a head injury (not just a cut) it's EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to get medical attention ASAP......

[kitenaked]

Greg...

I love you my brother and always think about it when i see you kiting (always with a helmet on).

[NCKite_Ryder]

I've heard people say before "don't keep your kite at noon on land" but never understood why this is dangerous. Can someone explain?

Thanks - Dan

When you are SUPER OP'd you don't want to keep your kite above you. When its at an angle you have some leverage against the kite and can hold it down better. That is why it's easier (and safer) to be on the water when you're OP'd as you gain a ton of leverage due to the edge of the board.

Aslo for the infamous hindenburg

hindenburg.jpg (14.53KiB)Viewed 2758 times

[tomerp]

I've heard people say before "don't keep your kite at noon on land" but never understood why this is dangerous. Can someone explain?

Thanks - Dan

When you are SUPER OP'd you don't want to keep your kite above you. When its at an angle you have some leverage against the kite and can hold it down better. That is why it's easier (and safer) to be on the water when you're OP'd as you gain a ton of leverage due to the edge of the board.

Aslo for the infamous hindenburg

hindenburg.jpg

Also they say that if kite is at 11 as you walk down the path to the water, and you cannot walk in a straight line due to kite pulling you, you are op'd and should use a smaller kite. That is not a reason to move it to 12