Utah Windriders Association

Jason was getting a MRI because, he felt a pop, while riding his glide last night at ULLB. They will not let you put metal in there, so since his board has inserts the only way to make sure the pop wasn't the board failing was some hands on testing. I left His knee up to the folks at the U since thats what they do, I took his board to UT lake since thats what I do! The good news is the board worked fine for me in even the lightest of wind and that is all there was. Bad news is the pop was his knee, (I thought it would be since everyone knows glides have no pop ) Good news is its a super simple suck and smooth so I won't have to keep his glide company long

Billy, very kind of you to assist in diagnosing Jason's injury . Question... since I'm not as young as I used to be and want to kiteboard for a long long time, what are the most common injuries in the sport and how can I can try to avoid them?

kitesurfing injuries are easily avoided by sitting on your couch.

Kent most injurys are trauma due to impact, with tera firma. Some knee injurys due to jumping(well landing really)and the forces used while doing any board sport.

So far this year we have seen a broken fibula, A torn ACL and a miniscal tear. Another kiter lost a toenail while hot launching on the beach and having to run to keep up with there kite.

I would treat kiting like any other sport and stretch before you kite. Doing all of your luanching and landing in the water will also help keep you safe.

Or... you could just sit on the couch

There are some more serious injuries that can occur as well. We have had one serious brain injury and one fatality in Utah. The brain injury most likely could have been prevented by using a helmet. The kiter who died (our good friend Mitch) was using some old equipment that did not have multiple release options and he tried to kite through a severe microburst. More caution on his part and better gear would have most likely saved him from injury.

http://www.kiteforum.com has a lot more information concerning injuries. It can be pretty sobering when you read about how many kiters have been seriously injured and killed. That being said, I have had one injury from kiting in 8 years. It was preventable (I was using too large of a kite while land boarding). It has been a good learning lesson for me. I am just glad that I will only be out a number of weeks and no permanent loss due to my lack of good judgment.

Or....you could switch to poleboarding.