Kitesurfing Disaster At The Vaal Dam
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Today’s #wipeoutwednesday is a valuable lesson of what NOT to do on the beach! This guy gets lofted to the top of this tree and through it! Kite size choice and the use of your safety system is essential to prevent situations like these.
The kitesurfer, ‘Designer Dan’, suffered a severe compression fracture of T12 vertebra, protruding into the spinal canal, thankfully he made an amazing recovery. Thanks to Dan for sharing this so we can all learn from it.
On 16 June 2011, a small group of friends went to the Vaal Dam to take advantage of the strong wind forecast. As a novice kitesurfer, I underestimated the conditions and made a series of bad judgments resulting in a very serious freak kiting accident on land.
Big thanks to Alistair Stuart, Alistair Thornton-Smith and Lize-Marie Robbertze for helping me during this emergency.
