Wind Fun St. Louis Google Group

Re: My accident...

arhan...@gmail.com (Juan) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:33:42 UT

Wes, i'm sorry to hear about your accident. It seems reasonable to
assume that the wet sand at the shore, very compact, much more so than
dry sand on the beach had a lot to do with the magnitude of what
happened. If the sand is fine and the slope is low it's very hard
(very easy to wak on). It also looks like you have a propensity to

Re: Wes.

wes.brown...@noaa.gov (wes) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:41:04 UT

Thanks Kees!

Re: My accident...

wes.brown...@noaa.gov (wes) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:35:33 UT

Thanks Dave for the kind words, and yes Chris, I suspect the list will
be longer before I finally die, but I hope to put that off for a long,
long time. With regard to the other 5 broken bones, I'd prescribe
none of them to machismo, but rather clumsiness, impatience, or just
plain stupidity :( !

Wes.

keesdejon...@yahoo.com (kees dejong) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:12:58 UT

Wes
Also sorry to hear about your accident.
As a kid growing up I sailed alot and later learning how to fly, the one thing my dad taught me was to always respect the weather and the oceans and especially your limits.
If you over estimated any one of those you could be punished severly.
Now we surfers and kiters are always trying to push that envelope which makes it fun for us to go out on a windy day.

Please help me w/ this. / Need stuff for Honduras

keesdejon...@yahoo.com (kees dejong) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:02:59 UT

Mom's Dad'd, Friends surf buddies, Soccer mom's & dad's etc etc.
I believe all of you know of my involvement with our cause for the children in Honduras called "Just Because We Care"
They had a bad earth quake earlier this year and problems with their government. Hardly anybody is working because of the government problems.

Re: My accident...

wakeb0a...@gmail.com (wakeb0ardn@gmail.com) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:58:45 UT

Wes,
Very sorry to hear about your accident, but as other said, great to
hear it wasn't a head injury and your OK. Wish you luck lots of fun
in perhaps picking up windsurfing.
-Dave from Boulder

Re: My accident...

richshun...@sbcglobal.net (Richard Hunter) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:57:18 UT

Bones break falling down stairs, falling on ice, auto accidents and on and on. Wes, you'll have to explain the other five to convince us the broken bones were due to machismo. :-)

Let me start. As you may recall from a previous post by me, I broke my left fibula at the Gorge windsurfing a 3.8 sail one year ago Aug 30. No other broken bones before then, so 205 bones to go for me.

Fw: RE: My accident...

richshun...@sbcglobal.net (Richard Hunter) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:45:53 UT

Marcos,

I was thinking of Coles Creek when you wrote about the Creve Coeur kitemare, so I think you told me about that, though I don't recall the specifics. However, you seemed to quit kiting at Carlyle several years ago, and I have always been curious about the reason for that. Was it related to the Creve Coeur incident? I think at the time I attributed it to your kite being no longer functional and you not replacing it.

Re: My accident...

cmih...@sbcglobal.net (Chris Mihill) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:38:30 UT

The human body has 206 bones.

You have a way to go Wes.

CM

To: "Wind Fun St. Louis" <windfunstl@googlegroups.com>

Tim,

RE: My accident...

richshun...@sbcglobal.net (Richard Hunter) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:18:34 UT

Marcos,

I had noticed that you were no longer joining me in kiting a while back, when it was just you and me with kites. That's the first time I heard of your kitemare. What happened specifically?

Having only kited Carlyle, Creve Coeur two or three times, and the Gorge, I can say I have had too many close calls to count, including ones away from shore. I believe the sport is much riskier than we let ourselves believe.

RE: My accident...

richshun...@sbcglobal.net (Richard Hunter) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:07:04 UT

Wes,

I am considering retiring from kiting for safety reasons. In my opinion, the sport is particularly risky when one is a beginner and then, perhaps even riskier, when one does not practice it regularly, as is now the case for me. Presumably bones get brittler with age, so that should also be another consideration.

RE: My accident...

vidalmar...@hotmail.com (Marcos Vidal) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:55:27 UT

Hi guys,Everybody has kitemares. I almost kill myself when launching at Creve Coeur lake on a very strong gusty day, but left the beach without any injury. I did never again kited on that gusty lake. I prefer to windsurf when the wind is strong and gusty. We all made mistakes, it's just a matter of luck the price you pay for such mistakes. There are pro kiters who were fighting for the word title and are now on wheelchairs so it's not a matter on how good you are. But it's an extreme sport and it's good that some people want to take risks; look at this recent article and video from the BBC: "Two kite surfers jump over pier".

Re: My accident...

wes.brown...@noaa.gov (wes) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:47:29 UT

Tim,

Believe me, I really would love to continue kiteboarding, but I have
to consider the consequences of another injury not only to me but to
my family, coworkers, etc. I am convinced that kiteboarding can be
done relatively safely by those who are much better than I at not only
recognizing risk, but properly reacting to it. There were many times I

Re: My accident...

tim.w.hossf...@boeing.com (Hossfeld, Tim W) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:43:24 UT

Hey wes I hope you consider changing your mind...I don't think kiteboarding is any more dangerous than other sports such as motorcycles, mountain biking, snowboarding, ect. You can get hurt doing just about anything! Respect your position though, getting hurt is never fun. And as I age I question the effect on my wife and daughter if I got hurt or worse.

Re: My accident...

wes.brown...@noaa.gov (wes) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:54:05 UT

Thanks Chris. I LOVED being on the water and feeling the wind so much
that I suspect windsurfing may be next, and will likely take you up on
your offer.

I'll gladly continue to be a resource for local wind forecasts for the
group.