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Alameda death?
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rpaillon



Joined: 02 May 1998
Posts: 124

PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 9:47 am    Post subject: Alameda death? Reply with quote

Mike Godsey reported a death at Alameda yesterday. I don't see any thing in the Chronicle. Does anyone have any details?
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rigatoni



Joined: 25 Feb 1999
Posts: 498

PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.bayareakiteboarding.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14542

Brett Powell. Friend of many friends of mine. 50 year old guy married with two kids. Just an absolutely awful tragedy. Prayers and thoughts to his family.
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dvCali



Joined: 23 Aug 2007
Posts: 1314

PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

More than sad, poor him and poor family left behind so needlessly.

The dynamic of the accident reminds me of an episode I witnessed just last week at Crissy. This guy violently dragged by his kite on the beach, almost hitting a bystander, and then stopping just two feet before a big spiky trunk. It is a bit scary how dangerous Kiting is ... dying on a beach, not even sailing.


Last edited by dvCali on Mon May 15, 2017 12:11 am; edited 1 time in total
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Riptide



Joined: 15 Jan 2011
Posts: 411

PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 12:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"For those that did not know Brett, please allow me to fill in a few blanks. Brett was a very gentle, very sweet, very kind person from Marin. The world needed more of him, not less of him, but we are grateful we had him in our lives, even if we only just met him. Brett is survived by his loving wife, Carla, and his two sons, both in their twenties. His family is headed for some painful times, and we all feel deeply for them, even from a distance.
As has been established, Brett was new to the sport. We have all made mistakes and been through kitemares that could have gone worse, and his did. It is sobering, to say the least. A heartfelt thanks to those that tried to help Brett both before and after the accident. Lets all remember to keep your eyes out for the new people in the sport, and be assertive about making sure they are ok and safe. We lost a really good guy, and it hurts, but lets learn from it. Hopefully small steps of help will make a big difference for someone else in the future."
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Riptide



Joined: 15 Jan 2011
Posts: 411

PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

https://www.gofundme.com/brett-powell-fund
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dmount



Joined: 19 Mar 2001
Posts: 29

PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 2:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Last Friday at the stick when winds were gusting into the 30s, a kiter crash landed his kite to the left of the launch along the rocks. It can be a tricky place to climb over the rocks even for windsurfers. A kindly park visitor offered to help the kiter, but the kiter declined. He said the lines could cut him if something went wrong. Things can go awry pretty fast in those kinds of winds. Condolences to the family of Brett.
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pacspeed



Joined: 14 Sep 2000
Posts: 627

PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Precisely why I gave up kiting 5 years ago...

I had gotten pretty good, enough to wavesail (wavekite?) in Baja, Waddel, and Hawaii. One bad self-landing though, laid all that to waste. One minute I was happilycoming in to the bheach at Waddell, the next I was being yarded down the beach at the end of a tangled and failed safety release. Completely shredded my left knee: ACL, MCL, meniscus wrecked. Hamstring subsequently wrecked to graft the former.

And I got lucky it was only that.

Sincere condolences to his family.
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dllee



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 5328
Location: East Bay

PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I kited one season, 70 water days, 50 other's that I chose not to go in.
Saw at least 15 huge supermans, including one of a 240 lbs.ers who got launched 20 feet high, 200 feet distance at Alameda. He was fine, he was pretty far out.
I was on the rigging area when the guy got dragged by his kite up the beach, through the rigging area, 2 other guys jumped atop him, and the 3 got dragged almost to the road, but well past the hiking/biking trail, as the kite finally hit a stopped car.
I was windsurfing that cold day when Leo Lomelli got dragged hundred's of yards by his kite outside Lordships on a Jan sub 50 degree day.
On one of my last days, another kiter somehow flew his kite up between my 4 lines, got it tangled somehow as I was heading out, bailed on his kite, and I had to kite back to shore with BOTH kites up in the air, his tangled inside the lines of mine.
I finally got the hint when, a year later, Leo caught my kite at Marina Bay, tripped over a rock and fell, but toss the kite up into the wind, me getting supermanned from the rocky shore, OVER the bike path, to land dead square right at the side of the concrete bathroom located next to the playground.
I had stopped kiting and the following year, one of my old windsurfing buds, Don L..ter, got launched at Sherman Island from the water's edge to land squarely inside the bushes between kitebeach and windsurf beach.
It can be thrilling.
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dvCali



Joined: 23 Aug 2007
Posts: 1314

PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 7:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

zirtaeb wrote:
...
It can be thrilling.

It obviously can be deadly ... This year at La Ventana I witness a "beach landing", Kiter up in the air and then spitted down on the beach like a doll. Amazingly, no consequence for the Kiter. Day after a Kiter hit something on the beach, apparently he was heavily disfigured and the last I heard about the episode he was in La Paz Hospital in a coma.

Just today there was an idiot at Crissy going around with what looked like a long-board Kite. Completely erratic and out of control, swinging up and down with the board and flying the kite 2 feet from the water. He was clearly having some (clueless) fun, oblivious to any damage he could cause to himself or others.

Danger is part of the thrill, but one wishes that kiters were trained as well as rock climbers are. The opposite seems to be true.


Last edited by dvCali on Tue May 16, 2017 1:52 am; edited 1 time in total
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windoggi



Joined: 22 Feb 2002
Posts: 2743

PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been slammed hard climbing, surfing, motorcycling, and wind surfing. Any of those many episodes could've been fatal. But, here I am. Bad judgment and lack of experience certainly can kill. But then there are those other times when nothing can protect you. Fate is a cruel mistress. RIP to our thrill comrade.
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