Kiter hit by a car in San Francisco

[mogunn]

narcissist

[isobars]

I just now noticed that Godsey says some people were disparaging kiting. That implies derogatory intent, none of which I've seen here.

[jp5]

"If you want the ultimate thrill you have to be prepared to pay the ultimate price" - Bodhi.

People die skiing.
People die surfing.
People die riding motorcycles.


It's always sad when somebody does. Be safe out there.

[swchandler]

"Admirable sentiments, Mike, but there's a flip side to the coin.

The cancer forums I'm in include some people who believe the forums' sole purpose is to administer solace. They try to thwart anything but "Oh, you'll be fine." One wife (of many wives in the forums) gleefully reported that her husband had gone into a hospice, but was expected to be released soon. She thought that meant he would be fine ... not dead. We had to break it to her what a hospice is and definitely is not.

No, they won't be fine. All will suffer and many of them will die, often due to bad decisions borne of patients' and/or doctors' ignorance. The other 80% or so in the forums want advice and facts on heavy medical science (some leading oncologists are in the forums), impotence, incontinence, treatment options, their side effects (which are often worse than the disease), cure likelihoods, risk factors, doing nothing, and MUCH more. I know of two who left the forums because they couldn't deal with the realities of the disease.

We of the 80% have prevented dozens of HUGE medical mistakes, and have opened hundreds of eyes to those and more aspects of dealing with cancer. I caught a lot of flak when I foisted the realities of treatment side effects upon the forums a decade ago. Now physicians worldwide are coming around to acknowledging that -- to closely paraphrase a leading oncologist regarding some forms and hundreds of thousands of cases of cancer -- "most treatment decisions should be based on their side effects rather than their cure potential, because the former is MUCH more certain".

Doesn't the chance to save a few naive kiters and bystanders from unnecessary harm justify discussing the realities of kiting vs WSing whenever the topic arises, the consequences are vivid, and the interest is piqued? My experience with introducing side effects in hundreds of cancer treatment discussions, where the duration and quality of many lives matter every day, says, "Yes."

The primary difference in this forum is that the cause of the threat is more obvious, more preventable, and can be alleviated even after it's diagnosed, even if it's nothing more than taking WATUPWITU's advice to engage one's brain before launching."


I'm having a hard time understanding why isobars offered the above post. Sometimes it's better to offer heartfelt condolences, and forget the weirdness and nonsense.

[summertime]

I agree that limiting conversations to niceties only are just that- limiting and also not a conversation. You forego the opportunity to share views, experiences, knowledge, and emotions that sometimes stretch other people's understanding, help them work through thoughts and emotions, etc. Sure you can just line up to say your nicety and then go back to your own thoughts privately- but that's not an interaction. Nothing wrong with having a conversation along with expressing your sorrow. Anyway- it is really sad. I can relate to wanting to do something so bad but not having the right gear, weather, enough daylight, buddy system... whatever- and just going for it anyway. It's really sad and I'm really sorry for his family and girlfriend.

[hemmy007]

to paraphrase a sig on my
my other 'favorite' surf forum:

iws.com forum...
Where fear, panty-bunching & pomposity
meets bull$hit, lies and the need for a
good remedial reading program.

[Sunny15]

To the family and the girlfriend of the victim ... I just wanted to say how deeply sorry I am for your loss. My heart breaks for you. It is a horrible thing to lose someone you love and especially so when they are young and the situation is a tragic one such as this. I am so very very sorry for your loss.

Please don't be offended by the remarks of others. Unfortunately the dangers of kiting is a very hot topic but I don't think people mean any disrespect to your love one.

Again I am so very sorry. May you find solace in remembering the good times you shared.

[theq]

First of all, my condolences to the friends and family of the deceased kiter, and my sympathies for the people driving the cars that hit the poor dude. Awful scene for all.

That said, these arguments/discussions/diatribes, etc., go on because the kiting population will not stipulate that which has been made obvious time and time again through the years. If they just collectively came out, ending their fight against the numbers that make their position indefensible, and admitted that kiting is more dangerous than windsurfing, it would all end. Something like:

"You're right, kiting is more dangerous than windsurfing. However, we kiters choose to take our risks in the pursuit of our rush on the water. It's that simple. See you on the water, pole-surfers."

At this point, it is ridiculous to continue to claim that windsurfing is as dangerous as kiting. It should now come down to arguing, if there was any point, about just how much more dangerous it is. .5X, 2X, 3X....? That will be harder to nail down. But to continue stating, believing, rationalizing, that kiting and windsurfing pose equal dangers, is beyond ludicrous, it's insane. The numbers, and severity of the injuries, just don't get close to bearing it out. NJMHO.

Kevin K's analogy was a good one, IMHO.

Again, RIP fallen kiter. I know that he derived much joy from his water-time, and hopefully the other aspects of his life as well, before he went down.

[zpp66]

As a windsurfer since 1979 and kiter since 1999, I have to ask, why does it matter if/that kitesurfing is more dangerous than kiting? This is a very odd discussion.

As to the far distance from the beach to the road at OB, I've seen people in death spirals dragged farther than that on a number of occasions. And people have been lofted like 200' in the air, so it could have happened that way too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMZcwo9PMhg

More details would be nice.

[windmaddness]

The title should be changed to "A car got hit by a kiter in San Francisco"