Fred Salter is shown kitesurfing in 2019. Photo: Fred Salter/Facebook
On Wednesday morning, an experienced kite surfer died in Florida. According to reports, he was carried some 400 feet before slamming into a house at Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida. Friends on social media identified the man as 61-year-old Fred Salter.
Officials from Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue said that Slater had yet to enter the water when the accident occurred. While preparing to go out, a strong gust picked him up and violently threw him into the building.
“He was attempting to kite surf in the ocean … when strong winds came into the area unexpectedly, and he was not able to release from the kite in a timely manner,” said Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan, spokesman for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, to WSVN-TV. “So we went from relatively calm conditions to extremely dangerous conditions in a short period of time.”
When ambulance attendants arrived on the scene, they took the kite surfer to the hospital at around 10 am. Tragically, however, he was pronounced dead three hours later.
The Daily Mail reported that the man “ignored friends’ warnings of dangerous weather” before the accident. A weather advisory for Broward County had been issued just minutes before the accident.
Kite surfing rigs generally have a quick release button on the harness to detach from the kite if things go wrong. It’s not known why the victim wasn’t able to release from the kite. “He could be a little bit reckless at times,” said Graham Goodwin, owner of a kitesurfing business in Fort Lauderdale. “But he was out there often. He was very experienced.”
