RIDER SAFETY

Hello everybody,
Hope you all had a great day! Sucks that I had to work, but I will have my session next time.
At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite:
I just wanted to write something for anyone NEW to kiteboarding, or new to the area.
I will write my suggestion first, that way if you get bored with my story at least you get the point. Lol.
Riding in SW or West winds is not safe to do at Caissie Cape!!
Please only ride there in ONSHORE winds. e.i. South -SE.
I have seen posts to this forum from people saying they are going there, and I have heard people tell me they are going there at the WRONG time.
If you don't care about your safety, do it for your EQUIPMENT. If you have to release from your kite, or lose your board; it will be "byebye" eqipment.
I haven't been riding long, but I would rather say something then let somebody get in trouble or lose their stuff.
Well, thanks for reading, and I'll see you around.
Oh, and it's worth checking to see where the regular guys and girls are heading, 'cause the KNOW where to go, and everyone is so nice and helpfull .
Ok, here's my stupid story. It could happen to anyone. if you're not careful.
I got myself into trouble the other day, when I got in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was at Casissie Cape, standing in the water after a downwinder from the rec center, waiting for the wind to come up. When it did come up, it switched from South (as it was all day), to SW.
The problem for me was that I was too far to the east (or RIGHT when facing the shoreline, and for some reason I could water start to the right, but when I tried to water start to the left, I couldn't get up. Which pulled me wayyy to close for comfort to the wharf. So I tried to go out a bit to th right, and then tack back in. When I tacked back in towards shore, it put me passed the wharf, so I came in on the beach on the other side.
A short story long... This actually shook me a little bit. I totally forgot about body dragging, and was focused solely on water starting. My instincts let me down on this day.
Three weeks ago I broke two lines and had to self rescue... but the wind was onshore, which saved me from swimming for who knows how long.
A couple of weeks ago I had to release my kite, when my lines got tangle around the bar and the kit was doing deathrolls, but the wind was blowing directly on shore. Pheewf! My kite landed on the beach just as if I placed it there.

So.... safe kiting to everyone!! And tons of fun this summer too!!!
Bring on the critique...

I totaly agree! Shit happens, stuff snaps and break. it's part of the sport, you always have to keep the worst case scenario in mind.
I try to not go farther away from shore that I am willing to swim, and honestly I swam for 30 minutes once and it was a LONNGG 30 mins!
When I broke my chicken loop I had a big kite up in a lot of wind and was I ever glad I was close to shore!

That is good advice and makes complete sense. Equipment can fail, winds can shift and change strength, temperatures can plummet... play safe and live to kite another day. The sport is relatively easy until something out of the ordinary happens and knowing what to do and reacting quickly at those moments can really make or break your session. Probably a good idea to visualize a few nasty scenario's before starting each session and rehearse the recovery procedure for each one in your mind. Good way to stay grounded and not get overly enthused maybe

Yesterday the winds started acting up, shifting and died down, and I just got back to shore in time. It doesn't happen often but I have seen it do that before. Can't take your eye off the wind for a second in this sport I find. One second a big grin on your face and the next second you're going arggggg!!! what happened to the wind?!!