Thanks for the update Richard. Good to hear you're safe.
Amazing the chain of events we can create.
Great outcome when you come to think of it.
Lessons have been learned, and it's good to know how top notch the emergency services are, in terms of search and rescue.
It's actually really reassuring the lengths they will go to to save your arse!
> Call 000 - Ring it it if you ditch your kite.
> Kite at Rosebud in a northerly - aka drive there first.
> Keep eyes peeled for others.
As a community, responsibility will go a long way to ensuring kiteboarding in the Bay will be here to stay.
Also note, the media we're mainly reporting on this due to the fact that Mick Fanning was frolicking with a merman the day before.
Media scouts were picking up on anything mildly related to use for click-bait.
Cheers, Kermit.
Reading this has been a great lesson for me.
Whilst I always knew there'd be a chance one day i'd need to ditch my kite, it wasn't really apparent that I should call the authorities to notify them. But reading all the above posts it makes perfect sense.
Thanks for being the donkey richard so one day I wont have to be. Hope you get your kite back too!
HamptonLocals, great to hear you are OK and that you are following up with emergency services - they will appreciate that.
Also note that you can also use a marine VHF radio (instead of 000 call) to notify the Coastguard of incidents, requests for assistance etc. I have a portable unit in my car (or with me on a downwinder) and I have used it once when a kiter almost got blown out into the bay past Green Point.
Use Channel 16 for initial "distress" call.
The Coastguard may then ask you to move to another channel for further comms. - e.g. 72 (Recreational Vessels)
The Coastguard will escalate to Water Police if required.
Radio protocol options to use at the start of your message are:
"Mayday, mayday, mayday" - emergency assistance required immediately, grave and imminent danger, possible loss of life etc.
"Sécurité, sécurité, sécurite" - navigational warnings, important messages etc.
"Pan-pan, pan-pan, pan-pan" - signify there is an urgency on board a boat, ship, aircraft etc. but that there is no immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself.
Information to relay after the alert should include: identification of the kiter/gear, position, nature of the problem and the type of assistance or advice required, if any
I have collated this information here: kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/safety/emergency-communications
Select to expand quoteHamptonLocals said..
i went home, took off to work and was totally unaware of the search etc
Epic! 
Glad you're okay.
Dude. no offence... Don't bother with VHF.
Just call Triple 0 and they will put you through to the right people. It's a free call, they can all you back and get your location.
Marine Radio needs a licence and uses uncommon language. Don't make it hard for yourself in a emergency.
RADIO reception is trash, often used by other people I. E. Ports and Recreational vessels often on the wrong channel, they talk over you the list go's on.
If anything buy a small PFD or spend 300$ and get a PLB / EPIRB (Beacon) that you can carry world wide. There are some great ones now that are tiny and last 10 years. Well worth the money.
Look forward to seeing you out on the water next strong northerly..
Select to expand quoteRiskyBusiness said..
Dude. no offence... Don't bother with VHF.
Just call Triple 0 and they will put you through to the right people. It's a free call, they can all you back and get your location.
Marine Radio needs a licence and uses uncommon language. Don't make it hard for yourself in a emergency.
RADIO reception is trash, often used by other people I. E. Ports and Recreational vessels often on the wrong channel, they talk over you the list go's on.
Agree with all of what you said except you don't need a license to own & operate a marine radio. They are mandatory in NSW (probably all other states) on all vessels operating in open waters & epirbs for going 2nm+ offshore. Mind you if my boat started sinking I would be reaching for the iphone and dialing triple 0 before fiddling with the radio. Going offtopic...
Select to expand quotePeterc150 said...
HamptonLocals, great to hear you are OK and that you are following up with emergency services - they will appreciate that.
Also note that you can also use a marine VHF radio (instead of 000 call) to notify the Coastguard of incidents, requests for assistance etc. I have a portable unit in my car (or with me on a downwinder) and I have used it once when a kiter almost got blown out into the bay past Green Point.
Use Channel 16 for initial "distress" call.
The Coastguard may then ask you to move to another channel for further comms. - e.g. 72 (Recreational Vessels)
The Coastguard will escalate to Water Police if required.
Radio protocol options to use at the start of your message are:
"Mayday, mayday, mayday" - emergency assistance required immediately, grave and imminent danger, possible loss of life etc.
"Sécurité, sécurité, sécurite" - navigational warnings, important messages etc.
"Pan-pan, pan-pan, pan-pan" - signify there is an urgency on board a boat, ship, aircraft etc. but that there is no immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself.
Information to relay after the alert should include: identification of the kiter/gear, position, nature of the problem and the type of assistance or advice required, if any
I have collated this information here: kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/safety/emergency-communications
just checking if you are serious? You nearly had me going there for a minute with the above reply
We should all be carrying liferafts as well to house our VHF's.
Wouldn't hurt to have a satelite phone as well incase the VHF fails.
Seriously a bit of common sense is all thats needed.
Select to expand quoteRPM said...Peterc150 said...
HamptonLocals, great to hear you are OK and that you are following up with emergency services - they will appreciate that.
Also note that you can also use a marine VHF radio (instead of 000 call) to notify the Coastguard of incidents, requests for assistance etc. I have a portable unit in my car (or with me on a downwinder) and I have used it once when a kiter almost got blown out into the bay past Green Point.
Use Channel 16 for initial "distress" call.
The Coastguard may then ask you to move to another channel for further comms. - e.g. 72 (Recreational Vessels)
The Coastguard will escalate to Water Police if required.
Radio protocol options to use at the start of your message are:
"Mayday, mayday, mayday" - emergency assistance required immediately, grave and imminent danger, possible loss of life etc.
"Sécurité, sécurité, sécurite" - navigational warnings, important messages etc.
"Pan-pan, pan-pan, pan-pan" - signify there is an urgency on board a boat, ship, aircraft etc. but that there is no immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself.
Information to relay after the alert should include: identification of the kiter/gear, position, nature of the problem and the type of assistance or advice required, if any
I have collated this information here: kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/safety/emergency-communications
just checking if you are serious? You nearly had me going there for a minute with the above reply
Bugger you got me, just finished bolting a VHF radio and battery box to by pride and joy, I thought I was on a winner as the radio mount lined up with my old handle inserts perfectly, cauncy .over.
Victor Charlie Charlie this is mike Sierra foxtrot...
I have lost my board and released my kite because it all got a bit too hard and couldn't be bothered self managing my own issues in the water.... Learn to pack down, self rescue and have some common sense and you won't be needing to involve sea rescue or water police.
I wonder how these old metro kooks would go in the remote spots like horrocks or Gnarloo... You can cry all you want on the radio there and nobody's coming to get you... Poor Peterc150 would have a meltdown and need a new kiteboarding handbook chapter to be written.
I remember the time my line snapped some 13odd years ago riding my wait for it... 14m FUEL..
Was awesome to release and use my safety to get to the kite. Then let some air out too allow
my beast of a kite to fold a bit. So I ditched my bar, left it to trail behind me and sat on the wingtip...
still with my beloved board ..mind you.
Then, wait for it.. I grabbed the other wing tip and sailed her in to the beach all by myself. I did
get blown down wind but made it to shore safe.
Wrapping up your lines is a bad call, stay connected to your safety and let them trail to avoid
and launching and looping and mega tangles.
Safe kiting
You Sir, passed kiting 101 and squared yourself away nicely.
Wasn't that hard was it?????
All kiters should make themselves familiar with their gear, safety systems and how to manage themselves effectively in the water. This means taking responsibility for your actions and stop wasting emergency services time and money!
If you can't do the above, go back to the shop where you did your lessons and look them right in the eye and ask for a refund.
Select to expand quoteRPM said..
Victor Charlie Charlie this is mike Sierra foxtrot...
I have lost my board and released my kite because it all got a bit too hard and couldn't be bothered self managing my own issues in the water.... Learn to pack down, self rescue and have some common sense and you won't be needing to involve sea rescue or water police.
I wonder how these old metro kooks would go in the remote spots like horrocks or Gnarloo... You can cry all you want on the radio there and nobody's coming to get you... Poor Peterc150 would have a meltdown and need a new kiteboarding handbook chapter to be written.
99.999% kites in the poo don't need to involve sea rescue or water police. Sometimes though, water police and sea rescue are not told they are not needed.
Also, more than a few sea searches are sparked by members of the public who don't kite, sail or go near the water, "Ooh, I saw a man on a kite out the back of Cottesloe, I've been watching for 20 minutes into the setting sun and I haven't seen the kite go back up", maybe a sea search is started, meanwhile the Kiter has down a deep water pack down, floated in and gone home.
Last summer (might have been the summer before?) a sea search was started for a 'downed windsurfer that never got going again off Pt Moore', it was called in by someone walking their dog or something. Meanwhile the dude doing the SUP downwinder was on his merry way to Drummonds with a sweet 25 knot tail wind.
You cant do anything about the honest mistakes made by punters drinking lattes at the Indiana Tea house but some searches can be avoided with a phone call...
A couple of weeks ago some dude surfing out off a tinne off Pt Moore came back to his boat to find it swamped. He paddled in at left it there overnight not telling anyone. Next morning when the cray boats set off at 4:00am they find a swamped tinnie and report it. a sea rescue was started and only stopped when the surfer rocked up at the beach to recover his tinnie after a nice sleep in and breakie.
Select to expand quoteBrisbud said..
Wrapping up your lines is a bad call, stay connected to your safety and let them trail to avoid
and launching and looping and mega tangles.
Safe kiting
Wrapping lines is not a "Bad Call". There are many reasons for doing so but they can depend on where you are kiting...
coming back in through the shore break or any surf with your lines dragging behind is asking for trouble you can easily get dumped by a wave and find yourself amongst your lines .. Not a good situation when the next wave drags the kite and you have a few wraps around your legs arms or neck
lines and bars can easily get snagged on the bottom
any boat who may come to your aid will most probably not realise your lines are trailing ending up fouling in the prop
its not hard to wrap you lines up during a self rescue if you do it correctly
Select to expand quoteharry potter said...Brisbud said..
Wrapping up your lines is a bad call, stay connected to your safety and let them trail to avoid
and launching and looping and mega tangles.
Safe kiting
Wrapping lines is not a "Bad Call". There are many reasons for doing so but they can depend on where you are kiting...
coming back in through the shore break or any surf with your lines dragging behind is asking for trouble you can easily get dumped by a wave and find yourself amongst your lines .. Not a good situation when the next wave drags the kite and you have a few wraps around your legs arms or neck
lines and bars can easily get snagged on the bottom
any boat who may come to your aid will most probably not realise your lines are trailing ending up fouling in the prop
its not hard to wrap you lines up during a self rescue if you do it correctly
If you aren't competent and don't have the ability to assess the conditions to suit your competency. You probably need another 10 or so lessons from your local store and probably a different board and a delta or hybrid kite hey??
There's far more problems now with newbies and deaths compared to when kiting started. . Which is disgraceful considering.
Sailing in on your wingtip with lines trailing is easily the best option when you need to get to shore by yourself.
But I'm going on experience and the crap that I see now from
suckers that don't have any honest kite buddies.
I would have thought that rather than calling 000 you should google your local police station or coast guard and ring them directly.
000 is for emergencies not church picnic flare gun firings.
Select to expand quoteRiskyBusiness said..
Dude. no offence... Don't bother with VHF.
Just call Triple 0 and they will put you through to the right people. It's a free call, they can all you back and get your location.
Marine Radio needs a licence and uses uncommon language. Don't make it hard for yourself in a emergency.
RADIO reception is trash, often used by other people I. E. Ports and Recreational vessels often on the wrong channel, they talk over you the list go's on.
If anything buy a small PFD or spend 300$ and get a PLB / EPIRB (Beacon) that you can carry world wide. There are some great ones now that are tiny and last 10 years. Well worth the money.
Look forward to seeing you out on the water next strong northerly..
Agree that kiters will make their own decisions about marine VHF, it is an extra bit of kit and there are specific protocols for using it. Most won't be bothered.
One big advantage I like is that you can talk direct direct to any surface rescue craft such as Coast Guard, Water Police or recreational boats if you need to, providing you know which channel(s) to use. You can't do this easily via mobile phone.
Note that a radio is also very difficult to use while kiting and doesn't work well if you are in the water.
Also, note that an activated PLB/EPIRB sets off a major SAR response as "grave and imminent danger" is assumed - this is a bigger deal than calling 000. The satellite alert is passed from AMSA (Canberra) to local SAR authorities. They will check with who the device is registered to (emergency contact/owner) and proceed to a full search and rescue response immediately if they confirm its needed or they can't contact them.
Select to expand quotePeterc150 said..
Also, note that an activated PLB/EPIRB sets off a major SAR response as "grave and imminent danger" is assumed - this is a bigger deal than calling 000. The satellite alert is passed from AMSA (Canberra) to local SAR authorities. They will check with who the device is registered to (emergency contact/owner) and proceed to a full search and rescue response immediately if they confirm its needed or they can't contact them.
Not quite true, all EPIRB activations are received at RCC/AMSA in Canberra, they assess the validity of the activation, it's location if available and collate that with the registration info (assuming it's registered).
That is combined assessed and in conjunction with state Police a proportional response is then activated.
for example, an EPIRB activated within an urban area far from the ocean might only result in phone calls to the last registered owner, if determined to be a false, malicious or a stolen activation no assets are deployed.
if an activation is received and the location is out on the water 20 miles off shore, RCC might at the same time deploy air/water assets whilst calling the registered owner and next of kin, if the get confirmation the husband is out deep sea fishing and its 25 knots on a 2m swell the search assets are already on the way, if they get a second ping and triangulate a better location and they have activated the EPIRB accidentally while cleaning the boat at the ramp then no harm done, SAR assets can return to base no dramas.
If an EPIRB pings out bush and its registered to a prospector, air assets might not even be viable in the immediate time frame. A phone call to the local police station might get a vehicle out, alternatively the local coppers might know the station owner the prospector is on and they will go out and get them.
there are too many variables and what-ifs when it comes to search and rescue, none are the same, not even close. If you have an EPIRB register it with AMSA, if you have one and are in the poo, activate it if in doubt. If you abandon your kite or boat and swim in, call someone, Water Police direct is your best option, second option is Police via Triple Zero (But assume you will be talking to someone who doesn't know the difference between a kite and a windsurfing rig, so be nice while they pass the info to someone at Water Police who do know the difference 
)
Select to expand quoteChris6791 said..Peterc150 said..
Also, note that an activated PLB/EPIRB sets off a major SAR response as "grave and imminent danger" is assumed - this is a bigger deal than calling 000. The satellite alert is passed from AMSA (Canberra) to local SAR authorities. They will check with who the device is registered to (emergency contact/owner) and proceed to a full search and rescue response immediately if they confirm its needed or they can't contact them.
Not quite true, all EPIRB activations are received at RCC/AMSA in Canberra, they assess the validity of the activation, it's location if available and collate that with the registration info (assuming it's registered).
That is combined assessed and in conjunction with state Police a proportional response is then activated.
for example, an EPIRB activated within an urban area far from the ocean might only result in phone calls to the last registered owner, if determined to be a false, malicious or a stolen activation no assets are deployed.
if an activation is received and the location is out on the water 20 miles off shore, RCC might at the same time deploy air/water assets whilst calling the registered owner and next of kin, if the get confirmation the husband is out deep sea fishing and its 25 knots on a 2m swell the search assets are already on the way, if they get a second ping and triangulate a better location and they have activated the EPIRB accidentally while cleaning the boat at the ramp then no harm done, SAR assets can return to base no dramas.
If an EPIRB pings out bush and its registered to a prospector, air assets might not even be viable in the immediate time frame. A phone call to the local police station might get a vehicle out, alternatively the local coppers might know the station owner the prospector is on and they will go out and get them.
there are too many variables and what-ifs when it comes to search and rescue, none are the same, not even close. If you have an EPIRB register it with AMSA, if you have one and are in the poo, activate it if in doubt. If you abandon your kite or boat and swim in, call someone, Water Police direct is your best option, second option is Police via Triple Zero (But assume you will be talking to someone who doesn't know the difference between a kite and a windsurfing rig, so be nice while they pass the info to someone at Water Police who do know the difference )
if in doubt, ditch ya kite
Select to expand quoteflyingcab said..
if in doubt, ditch ya kite
and then go back to the start of this thread and read carefully again
Select to expand quoteHighzaKite said..flyingcab said..
if in doubt, ditch ya kite
and then go back to the start of this thread and read carefully again
sorry forgot to add the rest... If in doubt, ditch ya kite and do go out.
