Just got back from the hospital, doctors orders to stay off the kites for 6 months......and paragliding as well......Got a nice big boost with my 14m (Don't freak Steve, It's my bad) and didn't have the helmet on....got the kite up into some ridge lift, picked me up a good 15 feet, and then blew me out of the ridge lift, started dropping me, I tried to redirect to get some float, and I overcorrected, not used to flying twitchy LEI's and it flew to the edge of the window and pulled me into the ground. Everything turned white, and really loud ringing in my ears. The next thing I remember are people helping me (pittifully) wind my lines and pack my kite. Oh well it will give me something to do tomorrow. Then I guess I called my mom, (dont remember doing that either) and woke up in a hospital bed with and IV in my arm and I had no idea what month it is...... So looks like I'll get that book written afterall, and I'll be around here alot for the next 6th months. Looks like I may hit traction kite guru :P So yeah, couldn't manage to talk my parents into that safety gear, and I told them It's not gonna click till im in the hospital is it? Well guess who's gonna have about $800 of safety gear coming his way in 6 months? Cuz yeah, I wound up in the hospital, and it clicked!

Cool beans,
NPW
i
c
k

You're lucky you weren't killed.

I'm sorry you were hurt but I'm surprised you've gotten away with doing some of the things you say you do without an injury prior to this point.

I like your enthusiasm and I'm glad you weren't hurt seriously but I hope this gives you pause and you start to appreciate more fully the risks involved and the consequences of doing something foolish.

Respect your gear. Respect the wind. Utilize the appropriate saftety gear and best wishes for a total recovery.

Here I thought you had smartened up and were wearing pads :duh:

Remember how hard I was on you at 1st ! THIS IS WHY !!!

You got off lucky but let this be a BIG lesson in mortality. You can only shake your melon so many times . Like all the injuries when you are young. You THINK you shook them off then you get to be my age. Missing a few brain cells and hurting in places people shouldn't hurt. It all comes back and is better avoided in the 1st place !

DON'T blame your parents for not buying pads. At 17 it's time to own up to your own mistakes. It's great that they are going to pitch in now but you only proved to them that you are still a bit bad at making judgments .

Do us all a favor and tell all those folks who come on here wanting to go straight to jumping why it's not a safe idea !

Glad you are O.K.

Up and over the lift band is a very rought experiece, usually kite or glider hits the ground before body....think hard about this one....you might not walk away from the next one....respect thy kite body!!!

I use to hear this when I was 12-17 yrs old....all the above posts I've heard before from the "experienced riders" when I was younger....
it all stuck, I silently made changes and agreed....YOU ARE 17 NOW? WAIT UNTIL 27....YOU'LL STILL BE YOUNG IN YEARS, BUT IF YOU DON'T THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND.....you might not ever kite again.....SITTIN OUT SUCKS.....and injuries get worse before they get better....KEEP TRACK OF HOW YOU ARE FEELING DAILY....sounds like your neck and head took a very good beating...

BRO...YOU MUST NEVER STOP THINKING...JUST TELL YOURSELF...."LIVE TO KITE.....ANOTHER DAY!"

THE NEXT SIX MONTHS INCLUDES THE SUMMER AND FALL MONTHS. and those are the best months for kiting....

----GET WELL AND TAKE CARE-----

AND....how about the kite manual you were working on?

No believe me this is understood, and I'm pretty freaking pissed off at myself, and I was looking for my helmet, but I couldn't find it, so I just went. Any other day I would have had it. And it didn't help that the kite hit first, the whole time it was accelerating me towards the ground. I just wished I had a QR, could have atleast gotten myself away from its power, better to have just fallen. And believe me the next 6 months are the best for kiting, has crossed my mind about 10,000 times now, as well as the fact that I got out of school friday, so yeah. I'll be able to cook out that kite manual now, and there will be a safety section in it, well a more in length section.

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAFETY SECTION IS A BONUS TO WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE DIALED IN!!!!

Sorry about the crash Nick. LIke Broc said above, I'm surprised you haven't really gotten hurt yet myself. Many times in your posts my eyebrows raise because you are talking about doing stuff too risky for me. Helmet is always a good thing. Maybe I'll wear mine even more now.

No QR?

I was plenty nervous giving my new 6.5 meter a try on a beach in onshore BF3 today on handles, kept me from really sending it as it only takes a half dozen hard launches to pump out my arms!

Would've liked to try a harness today, but I was lucky to leave it at home, as i don't have my QR sorted properly yet.

I also second bladerunner's thoughts on injuries while young and how they come back a decade or two later to haunt / pain you! I'm forty and I have a few injuries from my teens coming back at me! For me 33 is the dividing age, after that half-healed joint troubles start to come back, and maintaining aerobic ability and muscle mass starts to require training!

Sounds like you had quite a substantial concussion, but bounced back quick! Now that you've had one, be aware you'll find it easier to knock ourself out next time, and it may well take longer to bounce back. Sounds like you're tough and can shrug off a few more knocks yet, but injure yourself much more and it will come back to haunt you one way or another. At sixteen (is it?) you'll have at least five years left yet of that instant healing teens have, but after that things will change.... 22 is the dividing age for healing speed, after that age it always take a little longer!

Anyways, be careful, keep flying, us older folks are frankly scared you'll cut yourself off before you really get rocking!

cheers,

furbo

sounds like a good thump, sitting out sucks

no QR .....hmm always and never seem to be needed in this situation.

sit tight you'll be flying before you know it
peace chad

Come on now Nick, your giving us young bucks a bad rep! I'm happy you're still in one piece! Too bad you won't be surfing with me this summer! You can sit on the beach as I ride though. :D

But really, I am not surprised. The stories you tell me scare me to death, and I was half expecting this eventually! For awhile after the stories you told me, I thought I was a #@%$#! for packing up when it started gusting 20mph when I was on my Speed, but now I realize I'm not a #@%$#!, your just crazy!

Seriously, take it easy this summer! Lord knows you'll get your hands into something new and equally dangerous..and build some awesome stuff a long the way!

Again, I'm happy you're in one piece...but these stories are the ones that land owners see and have second thoughts about letting people fly on their property!

Hey Nick,

Glad you're OK!!!

But like the rest of the replies, kinda saw it coming...accident waiting to happen!

Hopefully you'll learn from this....

I had a bad paragliding accident and almost killed myself. Had no business trying to glide off a new site by myself. Right before I crashed into the side of the hill, I kept saying to myself, I can't believe I going to crash, I can't believe I'm going to crash.....and then BAM!!

....So now I have a club foot and walk with a permanent limp. Luckily I can still kite but after every session, my foot is sore and I limp really bad...pretty soon, I'll probably have to use a cane.

Don't be like me....it's not worth it!

Quote:

Originally posted by lunchbox ....So now I have a club foot and walk with a permanent limp. Luckily I can still kite but after every session, my foot is sore and I limp really bad...pretty soon, I'll probably have to use a cane. Don't be like me....it's not worth it!

Ah, but what a kick ass story to explain the limp!

Hey Barnes,

Yeah, that is true...

Reminds me of a story.....

Used to hit the bars/clubs quite a bit a few years ago...I remember going to this club in Santa Monica a few months after my injury.

Walked in with my cane and man, I couldn't believe the attention I was getting...guess chicks like guys with canes : )'

Funny though, every girl thought it was a prop and I was just using it to get attention....I'm thinking, are you kidding, a frickin cane??? Had to show them my foot to prove it. Guess I didn't make my case initially, because I remember feeling no pain and then spinning my cane above my head while I was dancing...don't ask...gotta blame that one on the Tequila. Had a blast though.

...Might have to try that cane thing again some time : )'