Hello. Had a friend out kite boarding yesterday at Rosebay and he has no memory from the day. Was anyone out yesterday? If they saw him we would appreciate any information to try and piece his memory together. He may have had a black out or had a bad fall. He has his kite but lost his board. It would have been around 5pm Tuesday 7.4.2015.
Help!
Kitesurfing is banned in Sydney Harbour, I'd be keen to hear what happened though and how he managed to kite in that area !
You may want to add some more info, i.e. Name, description, time, etc. Do you know for sure his memory loss it due to accident or even kiting? Does he have any physical evidence of trauma?
Hope me you sort it out...
Thank you for your reply. He returned home with no memory at 10pm at night in his kite surfing gear. We think he would have tried to go out around 1pm but we are not exactly sure of the time or even if he made it on the water. He doesn't remember if he surfed or not. You are correct we are not sure if there was an accident or even if the memory loss is due to kiting. His name is Duncan and surfs Rosebay often.
Thanks for everything.
I have never seen anyone kite at Rose Bay or anywhere on Sydney Harbour for that matter. Are you sure you mean Rose Bay, as in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs?
Hi
I don't want to be alarmist, but if the pieces of information aren't fitting, please consider getting an MRI and/or some expert neurological advice. Memory loss can be a symptom of a more serious medical condition.
All the best helping your friend.
Maz
thanks Maz,
yes, he is meant to see neurologist today. He is at hospital with his partner waiting now. it is a scary thing he isn't a drinker and very fit. But hopefully some information will come out of an MRI etc.
Yep on good days you can kite at Rose Bay in the Eastern Suburbs. The report shows up to 70km/h gusts around 1pm but think he would have gone out a bit later than that.
First of all I wish Duncan the best of luck. But in this event you need to take our advise. Rose Bay is a no kiting zone, even on a good day ! Half way down the below link you will see this.
No-go/caution areas
Sydney Harbour is a no-go zone for sailboarding and kitesurfing.
www.rms.nsw.gov.au/maritime/safety-rules/other-boating/sailboarding-kitesurfing.html
Thanks Kickflip but not sure then. He has kite surfed there before as well as taken his moth out. It may ever be a mystery
I feel sorry for you guys, so I will respond as contsructively as I can. If you want to track where someone was, you can follow their iPhone signal, and Epass on their car. (You may need help) For some one away for that length of time in Sydney, there would probably have been a parking infringement unless they were on private property. If you go to Rose Bay and ask shops, cafes, or dog walkers, I'm sure they would have noticed a kite up especially if it is illegal there. Also check there are no water/weather/surf cams that capture that area. They may have something on file. You need to know the brand model and colour of his kite to ask if anyone saw him, and maybe a description of what he wears. Ie helmet, wetsuit, board shorts etc. Maybe put a flyer up in the area, I'm sure the locals would be only too willing to assist.
Yours is one of the oddest posts I've ever read. Good luck with the maths to see if it all adds up, and consider his emotional and medical history. At the end of the day his welfare is paramount.
There's a guy who hires out Sup's & kayaks on the beach at Rose Bay. Go down and ask him. He's located adjacent to the ramp and I'm he would have seen your friend.
Go easy please crew - lbgsydney is brand new to this forum, and is reaching out for help on a friend who has gone through a horrid trauma.
Not the time for poor taste jokes.
Thanks...
kiting can be scetchy there at the best of times ( though I've never been out I've seen kiters there before). I picked a board up off him a couple of years ago and am pretty sure he's local to that area, not saying it's right to kite there but he's a very experienced kiter.
I wish him the best.... hope he pulls through
Hope your friend gets better soon - sounds like a very scary chain of events.
On an unrelated note, kite boarding in Rose Bay or anywhere else in the harbour is illegal, and for good reason.
Please don't do it folks - it isn't worth it...
There's a guy who hires out Sup's & kayaks on the beach at Rose Bay. Go down and ask him. He's located adjacent to the ramp and I'm he would have seen your friend.
Yes his name is Belly. A lad with a belly and always wearing a cap. Ask him.
Speak to the staff at Catalina, the restaurant just west of the Bay. I've seen someone kiting in Rose Bay once when I was at a lunch there. The staff would be there all day and if working the outdoor they would have seen anyone kiting.
This is a time lapse video of Sydney Harbour yesterday - maybe looking towards Rose Bay?
Maybe they have higher resolution recordings?
I hope things are improving for Duncan, have you had a look at his gear to see what condition it is in? This could provide some clues, is it all packed neatly, or a mess with the lines a rats nest etc. is the kite wet or dry, any signs of damage etc. all small clues maybe? All the best keep us informed.
i was nocked out a few months ago, very scary, if it wasnt for some good crew im not sure what would have happened. Hospital is the best place for this kind of stuff,,
All the best to Duncan, He has been kiting for nearly as long as I have (over 15 years, I remember selling him kites back when Wind Surf n Snow was in Balgowlah in 2000), and he has always kited at Rose bay (against all our wishes).
Hope you get well soon Duncan.
Regards,
JB
Hi everybody,thanks for your kind words and concern. Firstly I am fine no injuries etc. My experience has certainly spooked me out no end. There's three possible scenarios
1.An episode of TGA(transient global amnesia)a rare condition about which little is known
2.I hit my head whilst kiting and had regressive amnesia
3.Someone drugged/hit me after I came in
In some ways as impossible as it may seem I favour No 3 because my swimmer's key for the car and my Nobile Kiteboard were gone. The key always stays on my harness with stainless steel split ring and in 15 years I have never left my board behind.For me to take off the key and loose my board but still have my kite,bar/lines and harness is what I would call abborant behaviour and this is not consistent with TGA.
My memory lapse is from around 2.30pm to 9.30pm including having a conversation with a female windsurfer who was sailing with me at the time.I have a window of memory at around 5.30pm of realising my key and board were gone.Next memory is 9.20 pm getting into a cab that I can't remember hailing.
All in all a very strange afternoon/evening!
I still have more scans to be done at the hospital,may never really get an explanation.
My board is a 2013 Nobile 2HD with a repair on one corner so if anyone comes across it please post on lost and found.Again thanks for the concern.
Duncan.
Hi Duncan
About 10 years ago, I was in a gym prior to meeting some mates. I saw one guy arrive in the carpark outside and recalled thinking I'd do a few more reps then head out. The next thing I recall was about an hour later, finding myself outside the gym with the guys who had all arrived wanting to know where I'd been.
I'd totally lost about 50 minutes. Similarly to you, I'd obviously not fainted or fallen, but had been going about my business.
I subsequently had a doctor check me. He seemed most concerned about a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) or minor stroke, but there was no evidence. The best he could come up with was that I may have been low on blood sugars. In general there was no satisfactory explanation.
Some years (maybe 5) later, I was talking about this to a guy who is an osteopath. He immediately said to me "you were doing either lat pulldowns or bench presses right? I said "that's exactly what I was doing at the time, alternating between them". He said "I call what you had "Painter's Syndrome" and I'd get half a dozen guys a year come into my clinic having experienced the same thing".
He reckons it comes from looking up (like a painter would do painting a ceiling) and temporarily pinching off the blood supply to your brain. His view was that it's not that uncommon.
I guess his confidence made me feel a lot better, as I'd had that niggling doubt about it, and that it may happen again at some random time.
Anyway, in your case, maybe a bit of neck extension could have caused the same thing.
Hope that's in some way reassuring, and that you're feeling fine now.
Cheers
Peter
Sorry to hear about this Duncan, I hope all comes clear and you find your board. More importantly that you find out what happened to you.We all know about Rose Bay as you and I had our moments there :) .. not that I am admmiting to kiting RB, ever :)
Best wishes of recovery,
V
Hi Duncan, I think we may have met at 1st CP/Dolls before (you live in Bondi don't you?).
What a strange thing that happened to you and I hope your memory will eventually recover so you can work out what happened exactly.
Just a thought: did you get blood taken to check for possible drugs in your system?
Provided blood and urine samples to St Vincent's hospital, was sent off for drug analysis,results not back yet.