On Monday the 9th of April, I was ridge soaring at Mt Tamborine on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. I had my right wing facing the hill and I had good height and separation from the ridge. Suddenly I was hit by a strong bullet type thermal on my left wing. It pushed my left wing upwards and sent me turning right in strong sink toward the ridge. I weight shifted left to counter act the turn and steer out of it but nothing was happening. Realising my only option was to speed up and turn right I weight shifted right and speed up but it was too late and I'd lost too much height.
I clipped the 35m high treetops and began plummeting to the ground. I was now just a passenger. Branches in face, then bang.. hit a 6inch thick branch which broke off. Bang again hit another thick branch which broke off. Then crunch, bang I hit the ground. Fortunately I think my right wing hit the ground first and crumpled, which broke a lot of my fall.
I couldn't breath and desperately tried to get some air, but nothing. I was winded and had partially punctured lungs. Finally I was able to get small bits of air in my lungs. I was still zipped up in my harness head down in the forest. It took a while to get out of my harness, but once I did I realised that except for being shaken and in a lot pain, I was basically alright and had survived with no broken bones. It was a miracle.Getting out of there took hours, lots of help, ant bites, leeches, mossies, stinging leaves and branches. But I'm out and will make a full recovery.
The lesson here is if you get kicked toward a ridge and you have enough height, steer with the kick. Had I just turned right after being kicked I would've been able to turn over the treetops and get away from the ridge.
