I saw Johno fly through the air, hit the tree and called the ambulance.
The winds were onshore, very light (say 10 knots) with intermittent gusts (up to say 15 or so knots).
Johno had just launched his kite and preparing to leave. Before i turned away he had the kite directly above him testing the power of the wind. I then turned away to get my own kite, I did see him 25 feet in the air and slammed into the tree very hard. The noise of him hitting the tree was pretty horrific. There was a gust of wind as this happened. You do the math.
I suggest the cleat broke because of the force from him hitting the tree and Johno becoming wedged high in the tree and the kite was still in the air. The kite broke away at this point and ended up in the garden of a house opposite.
He slammed that tree very hard and took the impact down one side. Lucky he was wearing an impact vest and helmet.
Lesson to us all, don't become complacent, wear an impact vest and helmet at Melville.
After he was sent off in the ambulance I put my kite back in the car, went home and counted my luck stars.
Glad to hear Johno is on the mend.
So I got to fly an 18m Chrono V1 today. It was a gusty 10-15 knots and I was close to buildings and trees. So it seems a like similar sounding conditions to this accident. In fact max gust from a nearby weather station lists 17 knot gust.
Anyway. I had this thing at the zenith skidded around doing a few landboard jumps and static jumps.
There's no way a 15 knot gust is going to loft an experienced guy like Johnno 25 feet in the air. No way at all.
Something far more significant must have happened. I don't know what that is. Maybe a 20 knot gust? maybe some crazy thermal updraft? Perhaps the paragliding guys can add some experiences?
Select to expand quotePlummet said..
So I got to fly an 18m Chrono V1 today. It was a gusty 10-15 knots and I was close to buildings and trees. So it seems a like similar sounding conditions to this accident. In fact max gust from a nearby weather station lists 17 knot gust.
Anyway. I had this thing at the zenith skidded around doing a few landboard jumps and static jumps.
There's no way a 15 knot gust is going to loft an experienced guy like Johnno 25 feet in the air. No way at all.
Something far more significant must have happened. I don't know what that is. Maybe a 20 knot gust? maybe some crazy thermal updraft? Perhaps the paragliding guys can add some experiences?
plummet he was on an r1 but also i highly doubt you could replicate the conditions of that day at your local .
Select to expand quotePlummet said..
So I got to fly an 18m Chrono V1 today. It was a gusty 10-15 knots and I was close to buildings and trees. So it seems a like similar sounding conditions to this accident. In fact max gust from a nearby weather station lists 17 knot gust.
Anyway. I had this thing at the zenith skidded around doing a few landboard jumps and static jumps.
There's no way a 15 knot gust is going to loft an experienced guy like Johnno 25 feet in the air. No way at all.
Something far more significant must have happened. I don't know what that is. Maybe a 20 knot gust? maybe some crazy thermal updraft? Perhaps the paragliding guys can add some experiences?
I was out on the water upwind in the middle of the river around the same time of the accident or just prior.It was light, but there was clear little bullets of pressure you could see coming across the water. Id wait for these before doing tacks, i cant tack under-powered. The reason i cut my session short, rather than wait for the lads who id see getting ready on the beach a couple minutes earlier was it was getting gusty but still very light conditions in between further out on the water, and yes it was very light. But with gust that id nearly full depower for whilst traveling at speed. Id wait for the clear pockets of pressure coming across the water and use them to tack. i cant tack under powered and 10-12 knots on 15m i struggle to tack.
The last tack i did before i headed for home, as i came into the tack, on the foil board and 15m kite on 21m lines, fully sheeted out and only one hand on the bar... as the kite came past 12 and the gust really kicked in, I was lofted 3-4m straight up, and came straight down landing on my back next to my board. that's was final straw i called it quits and headed for beach. The gust were not wind lines wide across but very clear little bullets. That said these would not have been visible from the launch area. Had i had my 19m with me that day, standing on the beach I would have absolutely also put it up. Standing on the beach it would have been my 1st choice had i had my 19m on hand.
The BOM station at Dolphin point picked up 10-16knots around the time of the accident. But on a WSW that location is blocked by a extra land mass compare to Melville further down. It could certainly have been much higher than 16knot, id certainly agree with that theory.
Select to expand quotePlummet said..
Something far more significant must have happened. I don't know what that is. Maybe a 20 knot gust? maybe some crazy thermal updraft? Perhaps the paragliding guys can add some experiences?
compressed airs pretty freaky and you can get bullet gusts that then get compressed by physical surroundings.
a thermal or riseing bubble air isnt very likely id have to eyeball the site myself tho to come to any half decent theory. you can get situations where a developing mass will basicly jack all the wind for a long period of time leaving you to think its much less windy than it really is and then once that clouds stopped developing and has moved on etc the full strength of the wind kicks in. time that with a seabreeze and you can get some radical jumps.....but we are talking 10knots being reported here so i have it picked for a high pressure system so bugger all cloud suck going on or much development
i could only lean towards kite/rider input plus compressed air with a possible bullet all sort of combineing for a brief moment.
im curious how the helmet and vest held up was there a considerable reduction in damage done to him?
*just read the above post. so theyre we go bit of fun and games happening out theyre on the water causeing some bullets. oh well you get that i suppose. geez you lads fly some big kites 19's and 15's!
Big whorls have little whorls That feed on their velocity,
And little whorls have lesser whorls And so on to viscosity.
