Lost at sea

The newest and smallest kite in the Gokid kite clam was sadly lost at sea on the 15/2/2015

Affectionly known as Micro Rocket the 5m Best Cabo had to be released 2.5 km off Ningaloo Reef in NW Western Australia

When one of the powerlines snapped in cross offshore conditions and disspite its owner Gokid doing all he could do steer Micro Rocket

back towards the safety off the shore it kept heading out to sea

Slowly drifting towards a massive bait boil with 2m torpedos charging into the pack of fish and big black shadows underneath Mirco Rocket

was released to find a new home in Coral Bay,Exmouth,Indonesia,Sri Lanka or Madagasgar

Looking back to shore looked SO FAR AWAY,the ocean was such deep blue and alive with sealife

My German mate dragged me part of the way in whist I held on to his harness but it was slow progress as the wind was gettting lighter

and more offshore,I let go and swam the rest of the way in ,across the reef and thought the waves

I have never felt like such a bit of floating shark bait in my whole life

Just the day before my mate and I watched two large sharks running fish into the edge of the shore ,snapping and finning

Lucky there are so many fish here,sharks aren,t so much interested in eating kite boarders

R.I.P Mirco Rocket ,hope you find a new good owner

Was it insured?

Kite only its 5th time out

,still new lines,3-4 months old

,trip has been insane,

one month into the trip now

started at The Pond at Rockingham,up to Exmouth in the north and heaps of spots in between, are heading back down now,

heaps of big sharks ,manta rays,dugongs,turtles,emus ,kangaroos,

wind almost everyday and supa hot,bit sick of the red dirt and dust and the sandy roads ,glad to be back on the bitumin again

done half a dozen downwinders,two around Geraldton and 4 on the Ningaloo Reef,up north

Heaps of insane flat water spots and a few not to shabby wave spots hahahaha,except for the sharks and the cross offshore wind and coral reef and sketchy launch and land areas

one more month to go,will need to get a new 5m Micro Rocket for Geraldton down to Lancelin and Dongara

Im surprized how good warm beer from a can can taste after kiting for hours on end

But next time I will bring a fridge Hahahahaha

Wow what a story scary **.

Sounds like a mad adventure minus tha kitemare that feeling when you know there's Sharks around (portstephens nsw is apparently shark central lately with plenty of sightings) and you hav to swim in is scary. Had a clean depower rope snap during a deep water loop wasn't as far out as you but had only seen a shark days earlier same spot was nice to reach the beach intact

why didn’t u just lock your struts off and deflate your kite, at least you would have some floatation, and also won’t lose your kite
just sayin'

Sorry about your lost kite mate, lesson learnt I would say....Light offshore winds, 5m kite, 2.5km out to sea, on a twin tip= kinda asking for trouble.

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Blackbeard said..
Sorry about your lost kite mate, lesson learnt I would say....Light offshore winds, 5m kite, 2.5km out to sea, on a twin tip= kinda asking for trouble.

Every year we have one or two learn the hard way up here. It's only a matter of time before someone disappears. People have to remember it could be days before someone notices you missing (we recently saw 1 person in 3 weeks from our campsite) and when your reported you are more than 4 hours from the sea rescue boat.
Sorry about the kite Gokid but I would be more relieved you made it back in one piece and your mate trying to rescue you made it too.(remember the offshore wind dies throughout the day so he could of been in the same position an hour later)

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tgcp said..
That sucks mate, glad you goy back in safe though. Ill keep an eye out up here just incase . Was great to briefly catch you guys, Next time you come up hopefully I can show you around some more of Exmouth's spots.

Thanks mate,we should of contacted you as soon as we got to Exmouth,unfortunetly my mobile turned into a jet plane and tried to fly, crashed into a stone wall while we

were in Shark Bay Hahahahaha,lost your number for awhile

The Bombie looks insane as long as the wind does not back off while your out there or you have equipment failure

Could be another longish swim Hahahaha

Must be my man period today but this story kinda pisses me off like any where a kite and lines gets dumped out to see. Forget about the sharks buddy and worry about the marine that might be affected by the kite. I only go out in cross off if I have coastline line that. Can still reach or with boat support. Everybody seems to think kites are made by NASA not Chinese and Indian children. Anyway hate to sook but **** it. No simpathy here

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THE DONG said..
Must be my man period today but this story kinda pisses me off like any where a kite and lines gets dumped out to see. Forget about the sharks buddy and worry about the marine that might be affected by the kite. I only go out in cross off if I have coastline line that. Can still reach or with boat support. Everybody seems to think kites are made by NASA not Chinese and Indian children. Anyway hate to sook but **** it. No simpathy here

I was kiting at a fairly popular kiting / sail boarding spot in a remote location

There were 3 other kiters there on 6 and 7m kites

I was not that far out when the line snapped,

I was doing a transistion to come back into the wave zone

By the time I had rolled up my lines and tried several different self rescue styles to get my kite and me back to shore I had drifted out heaps further

I tried everything not to release my kite and lines but had no real choice

I talked to a local who had released there kite 3 times after getting smashed by waves or having equipment failure and had to swim back in 3 times

For sure kiting in crossoff wind has its dangers

If you decide to kite in these conditions and things go wrong ,you can expect a swim in

But the upside is smooth long glassy waves

Regarding the sharks,

3 people have been bitten or malled by sharks in this area with one person dying after landing on one after coming off a wave

being bitten by a shark in this area is a very real threat

they are everywhere,most are reef sharks but for sure there more dangerous ones about

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TurtleHunter said..
Not much use if the wind is offshore

loftsofwind said..
why didn’t u just lock your struts off and deflate your kite, at least you would have some floatation, and also won’t lose your kite
just sayin'

offshore wind he would float further offshore

Unless you want to float out to sea you would paddle in, and just use the kites air as floatation

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gokid said..

psychojoe said..
don't forget to report it to the water police (08) 9442 8600
so they don't waste time looking for a corpse if they find your kite

good idea will do

no boat is big at sea. only go out as far as you wan to swim in......

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THE DONG said..
Must be my man period today but this story kinda pisses me off like any where a kite and lines gets dumped out to see. Forget about the sharks buddy and worry about the marine that might be affected by the kite. I only go out in cross off if I have coastline line that. Can still reach or with boat support. Everybody seems to think kites are made by NASA not Chinese and Indian children. Anyway hate to sook but **** it. No simpathy here

no boat is big at sea .... only go out as far as you want to swim in.. always have a down wind plan. swimming is acceptable but not the plan.
enough clenches
good story , glad you lived..... i can see shri lankin refugees arriving next january

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THE DONG said...
Must be my man period today but this story kinda pisses me off like any where a kite and lines gets dumped out to see. Forget about the sharks buddy and worry about the marine that might be affected by the kite. I only go out in cross off if I have coastline line that. Can still reach or with boat support. Everybody seems to think kites are made by NASA not Chinese and Indian children. Anyway hate to sook but **** it. No simpathy here

So your saying that if your out having a session
And all of a sudden the wind swings off shore
And you can't get back your just going to keep heading for the horizon because if you let your kite go you might kill some marine life !!

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toppleover said..
Hey Will, glad you you didn't end up shark food mate but pitty about your kite - when are you getting back to the Sunny Coast? I have some time off work coming up.

stuntnaz said..

THE DONG said...
Must be my man period today but this story kinda pisses me off like any where a kite and lines gets dumped out to see. Forget about the sharks buddy and worry about the marine that might be affected by the kite. I only go out in cross off if I have coastline line that. Can still reach or with boat support. Everybody seems to think kites are made by NASA not Chinese and Indian children. Anyway hate to sook but **** it. No simpathy here

So your saying that if your out having a session
And all of a sudden the wind swings off shore
And you can't get back your just going to keep heading for the horizon because if you let your kite go you might kill some marine life !

Huh? Mate it was already cross off. And from what was said conditions were getting borderline.. Gokid had to do what he had to do and yes i was a bit rough on you mate.. sorry for your kite loss and yes your safe but another full kite and lines are out at sea... avoidable.

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TurtleHunter said..

gokid said..

THE DONG said..
Must be my man period today but this story kinda pisses me off like any where a kite and lines gets dumped out to see. Forget about the sharks buddy and worry about the marine that might be affected by the kite. I only go out in cross off if I have coastline line that. Can still reach or with boat support. Everybody seems to think kites are made by NASA not Chinese and Indian children. Anyway hate to sook but **** it. No simpathy here

I was kiting at a fairly popular kiting / sail boarding spot in a remote location

There were 3 other kiters there on 6 and 7m kites

I was not that far out when the line snapped,

I was doing a transistion to come back into the wave zone

By the time I had rolled up my lines and tried several different self rescue styles to get my kite and me back to shore I had drifted out heaps further

I tried everything not to release my kite and lines but had no real choice

I talked to a local who had released there kite 3 times after getting smashed by waves or having equipment failure and had to swim back in 3 times

For sure kiting in crossoff wind has its dangers

If you decide to kite in these conditions and things go wrong ,you can expect a swim in

But the upside is smooth long glassy waves

Regarding the sharks,

3 people have been bitten or malled by sharks in this area with one person dying after landing on one after coming off a wave

being bitten by a shark in this area is a very real threat

they are everywhere,most are reef sharks but for sure there more dangerous ones about

Where the hell were you kiting Know where near here by the sound of it
Maybe the local you talked to likes to talk sh#t.
What happened to the person who died after landing on a shark. Did he land on a hammerhead and knock himself out.

I was kiting a spot north of Carvarvon, Southern Ningaloo Reef

There are no locals there ,the nearest town is 150 km away

The 'local' was from there

The guy who died from a shark was an aboringine who was surfing at the Bluff

There is a mormorial out on the point set in stone and a piece of his surfboard and wetsuit

Sounds like he turned off the wave and pretty much landed on it

Probably snapped at him and he bleed to death ......not sure of the details

I remember turning of a wave at the Bluff years ago while surfing and seeing a metre and a half long shark just under the water

I almost landed on it......... Hahahaha