Kite-surfer smashes into wall at Kommetjie |
May 26, 2003 By Jo-Anne Smetherham The most stylish of sea sports claimed a casualty yesterday when a kite-surfer, swept hundreds of metres through the air by a strong wind, abandoned his harness and smashed into a stone wall at Long Beach in Kommetjie. Capetonian Douglas Jenman fractured a leg and bones in his feet when he hit the wall around the Benning Drive house. He was "warm and comfy" at Vincent Pallotti hospital yesterday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said, but he was preparing for surgery to repair his fractures and did not wish to speak to the press. David Behr of Cape Medical Response, the medical emergency group that was called to the scene, said that shortly before the accident Jenman had "finished kite-surfing, but then he decided to do another five minutes". "A sudden gust took him 200 or 300 metres from the beach, and lifted him about 10m into the air," said Behr. Fearing that he might be carried even further, Jenman had freed himself from his harness and had fallen, landing on the wall. Jenman's leg was "very badly" fractured, and the bone was visible, Behr said. Cape Medical Response, which operates in the Peninsula, responds to about one call a year from kite-surfers. "We did a guy last year who bumped into a sand dune and broke his ribs. And four years ago, a novice crashed into the sand when he tried to kite-surf in a gale," Behr said. |
Kite-surfer smashes into wall at Kommetjie |
May 26, 2003 By Jo-Anne Smetherham The most stylish of sea sports claimed a casualty yesterday when a kite-surfer, swept hundreds of metres through the air by a strong wind, abandoned his harness and smashed into a stone wall at Long Beach in Kommetjie. Capetonian Douglas Jenman fractured a leg and bones in his feet when he hit the wall around the Benning Drive house. He was "warm and comfy" at Vincent Pallotti hospital yesterday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said, but he was preparing for surgery to repair his fractures and did not wish to speak to the press. David Behr of Cape Medical Response, the medical emergency group that was called to the scene, said that shortly before the accident Jenman had "finished kite-surfing, but then he decided to do another five minutes". "A sudden gust took him 200 or 300 metres from the beach, and lifted him about 10m into the air," said Behr. Fearing that he might be carried even further, Jenman had freed himself from his harness and had fallen, landing on the wall. Jenman's leg was "very badly" fractured, and the bone was visible, Behr said. Cape Medical Response, which operates in the Peninsula, responds to about one call a year from kite-surfers. "We did a guy last year who bumped into a sand dune and broke his ribs. And four years ago, a novice crashed into the sand when he tried to kite-surf in a gale," Behr said. |