Algemeen / Freeride

Great reaction Jonas, nice to see the discussion on the German board. Cheers, Adriaan.

[illegal]

Hi JonasRotterdam (and others),

I think 3 basic things (at least) went wrong in the judgement of those kiters who decided that it was safe to go out at Slufter beach. Nationality may not have been necessarily the main cause, but a lack of knowledge / interest in local conditions and poor judgement seem to have caused not only a dangerous situation for those involved, but also a lot of unnecessary negative publicity. You mention that the circumstances were exceptional, but I think the point of many here is, that circumstances were not that exceptional for the North Sea coast in autumn.

1. Offshore
The wind Sunday was probably at best side-shore for a short stretch at the Slufter. At best. Once you kite /or drift passed the Slufter beach you are basically lost. The same holds true if you go out a bit further from the Slufter beach, you are out of options rather quickly as is indicated above on the map. How you could have known this? Well, in order to get to your 'downwind safe beach' (Oostvoorne, Rockanje, Haringvliet dam?) you would have needed to cross a forbidden zone. This is well indicated. Since it is illegal to be there with a kite this should never serve as a backup plan. Moreover this has been discussed on this very message board (and other, even foreign boards) over and over again.

2. Currents
You mention that the current was unexpectedly strong. This is surprising, since currents are known to be very strong in the Delta in front of Slufter beach, especially with extra high tide. This is due to the volume of water that is moving in and out the Haringvliet, through the rather narrow open dam. The currents do not automatically lead towards Oostvoorne as you may think. With tide going down (as was not the case at the moment of this rescue though) currents can bring you to open sea instead. There are excellent apps that show these currents and tides at the Dutch coast and I am sure you could find them on internet. In its magazine KNRM has discussed the currents of the Haringvliet Delta in depth (for sailors, but still an interesting read for kitesurfers as well). Moreover the currents at Slufter more in general (as a warning, explaining why Slufter is not for beginner-riders) have been discussed on this board more than once.

3. Wind
Finally, you mentioned that the wind was exceptional. I don't think it was. I was at the other side of Maasvlakte II (Hoek van Holland to Kijkduin) and in that area the wind (including the downtime) corresponded almost spot on with the forecast. The thing is, that NW-NE with showers / rains are always a bit tricky on the North Sea coast, especially with strong gusty autumn winds. This in itself should trigger extra attention on your behalf. Never only rely on models like windguru / windfinder, but always also check regional or local interpretations of the models such as KNMI or Surfweer etc. These give you a lot of extra information on the conditions and safety. Finally, also check the wind again when you are at the spot. Sunday, you could have noticed that before the wind really picked up there were already a couple of windless 'shadows' (that cause kites to fall out of the sky rather suddenly) in or around the rain showers and you could have told that behind the front, wind would pick up suddenly. Moreover, you could have noticed that the direction of the wind was not stable.

Luckily the KNRM was there and they are doing a great job. They are normally not very judgemental (also problems of small yachts that they save are often caused by misjudgements of the sailors on them). The most important thing is of course that there were no personal injuries, but I understand very well that people on this board are extremely concerned about the behaviour of fellow kite surfers, because the Slufter as a kitespot is already endangered, so a mess like this should be avoided at all cost.

take care, Adriaan.  

Ik kite af en toe op Oostvoorne, bijvoorbeeld zaterdag nog. Als je goed hoogte kan lopen hoeft er niks veranderd aan de spot en kun je met bestaande afspraken, drukte en scholen prima uit de voeten. Wat me wel opvalt is dat de ligging van die gele boeien niet overeenkomt met het kaartje dat hier in deze thread staat, vooral niet als je verder richting Haringvliet. Misschien kan daar nog eens naar gekekne worden?

ben gisteren nog even langs alle boeien gevaren maar ze liggen toch (of weer?) goed. (wel zag ik weer dat er ongeveer 30 man in het vogelgebied zat

Ik kite af en toe op Oostvoorne, bijvoorbeeld zaterdag nog. Als je goed hoogte kan lopen hoeft er niks veranderd aan de spot en kun je met bestaande afspraken, drukte en scholen prima uit de voeten. Wat me wel opvalt is dat de ligging van die gele boeien niet overeenkomt met het kaartje dat hier in deze thread staat, vooral niet als je verder richting Haringvliet. Misschien kan daar nog eens naar gekekne worden?

allemaal hartelijk dank voor jullie tips, aanbiedingen en hulp. We hebben een tweedehands Youngblood boardje gekocht. Zie jullie weer op het water! Thanks! Adriaan.

Hoi,

Wat voor board voor iemand van 11 jaar, 1.45 meter, 35 kilo. Hij is nog aan het leren, maar wil ook lekker doorgroeien met het board. hefet iemand goede ideeen?

dank je!