The most dangerous place when kitesurfing is on the beach

There has been two bad kitesurfing accidents in Australia this week.  In Brisbane, a novice flying a full size kite on the beach at Redcliffe was lofted and impacted hard into a retaining wall suffering major head and chest injuries.  He was taken to hospital. Tragically, he died soon after.

On Wednesday 7 March a kitesurfer at Altona, Melbourne was lofted close to shore and impacted the beach head first.  He also suffered very serious injuries was taken to the Alfred Hospital in a critical condition.

For those starting out and new to kitesurfing:

The beach is the most dangerous place when kitesurfing. If anything goes wrong you can be dragged or lofted to impact solid objects with a high risk of injury and even death.

The only kite you should fly on a beach for any length of time is a trainer kite.

Get professional lessons to learn the basics, including all safety drills.

On your first solo outings, get out into the water as far as you can when learning to water start and get up and going.

From my Kitesurfing Handbook see also:

• Safety and rules
• Progression and skills

Safe kitesurfing is happy kitesurfing.