Kelpie
Well-Known Member
Way more fun than a RIB
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Sometimes it's fun to get back to basics .....
- Thread starter Baggywrinkle
- Start date
Way more fun than a RIB
Kelpie
Well-Known Member
Baggywrinkle
Well-Known Member
There is a very sad side to my Topper experience on Tuesday last week.
I found out that while I was filming the Topper, a 53 year old wing foiler lost his life on Ammersee, he was in the same bay I was in. I saw kayakers and another boat around a drifting wing but didn't think much of it at the time - the surfers come out in their hundreds when the storm warning lights come on and the lake is usually filled with brightly coloured sails and kites tearing backwards and forwards.
The story is here ...
Wing-Foil-UnglĂĽck auf dem Ammersee: Gilchinger (53) ertrinkt in Herrschinger Bucht
I've been sailing on this lake for 20 odd years and this does occasionally happen - the water is relatively warm but once the wind gets up there is a reasonable fetch and the waves build quite quickly (they felt bigger than they appear on the video). For an exhausted surfer it can be very difficult to keep your head above water without adequate buoyancy if you are unlucky enough to be parted from your board. I am guessing, but this seems to be what happened here.
Time for me to reflect on my own lack of safety equipment I think.
I found out that while I was filming the Topper, a 53 year old wing foiler lost his life on Ammersee, he was in the same bay I was in. I saw kayakers and another boat around a drifting wing but didn't think much of it at the time - the surfers come out in their hundreds when the storm warning lights come on and the lake is usually filled with brightly coloured sails and kites tearing backwards and forwards.
The story is here ...
Wing-Foil-UnglĂĽck auf dem Ammersee: Gilchinger (53) ertrinkt in Herrschinger Bucht
I've been sailing on this lake for 20 odd years and this does occasionally happen - the water is relatively warm but once the wind gets up there is a reasonable fetch and the waves build quite quickly (they felt bigger than they appear on the video). For an exhausted surfer it can be very difficult to keep your head above water without adequate buoyancy if you are unlucky enough to be parted from your board. I am guessing, but this seems to be what happened here.
Time for me to reflect on my own lack of safety equipment I think.