"When our units arrived, we had very strong gusts in the area."
Of all the many persons who play on the ocean, I have had least experience with kitesurfers. For the wind to be strong enough from them to ply their trade, it also has to be strong enough to chew waves into boiling white messes and thus I am nowhere to be found when they are dancing their dance though, as a sailing man, do admire their harnessing of nature.
In any case, a Florida kitesurfer died, yesterday, after unexpectedly high winds off the coast of Fort Lauderdale scooped him up and smashed him into a nearby building.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Chief Stephen Gollan, addressing reporters near the scene, said, Fred Sulter, 61, “was attempting to kite surf in the ocean behind the address here, actually, just two doors down, when strong winds came into the area unexpectedly, and he was not able to release from the kite in a timely manner. When our units arrived, we had very strong gusts in the area. We had a storm come through just prior to the 9-1-1 call, so went from relatively calm conditions to extremely dangerous conditions in a short period of time.”
The witness who called 9-1-1 said, “The wind just picked him up and threw him against the building and he went down.”
Friends said the father and grandfather would often kitesurf in the area and was very skilled and would be out on the ocean often.
A great tragedy.