I'm a newbie at kiting and recently had a pretty scary experience which I'd like some advice for.

So I'm up and going from the shore when the wind literally stops and the kite drops, lines going loose, downwind to me leading edge down and I start getting gently pulled towards the beach at an angle. As there's no wind I'm unable to spin the kite on itself and get it airborne again.

Eventually I realise I'm about to hit the beach where, typically, a bunch of kids are playing. So I figure I release my safety so the kite should depower and drop. However as I do this the wind picks up again and the kite and bar are pulled out of my reach and again I'm dragged beachward the kite twists round itself and I'm saved by a guy on the beach who grabs the kite before I do any damage.

My question is in this type of scenario should I release the safety or keep it attached. Any advice? It's the first time I got worried doing this.

Thanks,

Sapatos

What kind of kite have you got Sapatos?

Most bow kites have an extra flag out connection.

On my kites in the above scenario I can disconnect my (sensible) safety leash from the mini-5th line on the 'Y' of front lines and hook up to one of the outside "Oh sh!t' rear-line loops. The idea is that releasing to one line that pulls a lot further thru (and from one side only) collapses the kite and stops it from unexpectedly powering up. EDIT: sometimes they can still 'death loop' a bit tho. (some kites only release to one front line and they are'nt fun apparently).

I've only had to do this once and it was in exactly the scenario you described Sapatos. I probably could have made it in still connected to the mini 5th but with punters and kids in the vicinity I was prepared to wear the extra tangles to be sure.

You should know BTW that wavelsave has a (BIG) thing about safety leashes. He's entitled to his opinion but I reckon they are largely safe and the small danger from them is paid back in kind from the many benefits.

Sapatos, sounds like you attached your leash to the "suicide setting".
If so, releasing the safety does not depower the kite any more, the bar is pulled out of your reach and the kite continues to pull you out of control.

Check with your bar manual where the correct leash attachment point is (most manuals can be downloaded on-line if you haven't got one).
Or ask someone who knows the model of your kite well (what kite is it by the way?)

Some kites do loop when on the kiteleash. I cant say if thie one in the video is on the kiteleash or not - it has tangled with another kite, but I have seen a leashed kite looping in a similar way. I think flaggong to both front lines is better, or having an unbridled kite.

Bridles tend to contribute to it.

sapatos..if u kited further away from the kids to start with you could have just calmly got out of the water and relaunched on the beach. Space is a hugely important and regularly overlooked safety necessity for all kiters.

probably not the answer you are looking for, but give it some thought.

waveslave said...

terminal said...

Some kites do loop when on the kiteleash.

Tragically, some folks have been killed because of stupid kiteleashes. ^^^

The above vid is a horror movie.
Death-looping kites generate a huge amount of power.
So beware,
when you attach yourself to a power kite with a death-leash ...
you do it at your peril.
If you think you can detach yourself easily at the pull of a pin,,,
ask yourself why the victim in the movie didn't simply cut the kite loose.

Good point Slave... another thing to consider is that funnily enough, many quick release mechanisms on the market at the moment don't release easily under load. How many of you have tried releasing your chicken loop (and safety line) under the weight of yourself?

I was gobsmacked at how hard mine was to release, no way you could have done it in the heat of the moment.

In that video you will probably find that he released the bar onto the flagging line and the outer lines have got caught up in the other kites lines and then twisted around the bar to prevent the kite flagging on the centre or 5th line preventing it from depowering........

As a beginner you are taught to release the bar onto the flagging line which is the safe correct practice but in the video it might not have been the best option I have had similar experience as in the video and could have avoided the situation by keeping my kite parked on the edge of the window and taking a moment to try and work with the other guy to try and drag back to the beach.......but is hard when you are 25 meters away depends on the skill of the other person...

In your case the best thing would have been as you were getting dragged to the beach to unhook and make sure your centre line is at least a meter and a half wrapped around your bar so that if the kite does power back up the outer lines are slack and no chance of it lighting up, then start wrapping your lines around the bar to prevent them getting tangled around you and to save you two hours on the beach try to get that mess untangled.

Always test your safety system in a controlled way to understand what your kite will do and to get used to knowing how much force is required to release it.....I used to practise releasing the kite in a shallow area onto the flagging line a few times in the water so I knew how far the bar would slide up the lines and to be able to recover from it also how much force it still had when it was 100% flagged.

sapatos said...

I'm a newbie at kiting and recently had a pretty scary experience which I'd like some advice for.

So I'm up and going from the shore when the wind literally stops and the kite drops, lines going loose, downwind to me leading edge down and I start getting gently pulled towards the beach at an angle. As there's no wind I'm unable to spin the kite on itself and get it airborne again.

Eventually I realise I'm about to hit the beach where, typically, a bunch of kids are playing. So I figure I release my safety so the kite should depower and drop. However as I do this the wind picks up again and the kite and bar are pulled out of my reach and again I'm dragged beachward the kite twists round itself and I'm saved by a guy on the beach who grabs the kite before I do any damage.

My question is in this type of scenario should I release the safety or keep it attached. Any advice? It's the first time I got worried doing this.

Thanks,

Sapatos

Maybe you where going out in too light conditions and too near people for your skill level, it actually requires more skill to kite in very light wind,to know what to do when your kite is falling,you should keep your lines tight and do what ever it takes like ride away from the kite as soon as they start to go slack or down-loop or do both at the same time but def learn theses skills AWAY from people before trying to ride in very light conditions.

Sapatos, come in to see me and let me go through the safety system on your kite and explain how it works and what to do in that type of situation if it ever happens again.

There is a simple technique that everyone who kites in populated areas needs to learn. Basically you enter the water and hold your board in front of you with one arm to body drag well away from the beach. Using this technique you can drag out past the end of the groins and do your water start in safety without having to worry about anyone else on the shoreline.

If the wind is too light to relaunch your kite and your getting dragged towards danger.Hit your safety and grab some hand full of front line ,or better still fifth line and pull the kite towards you.I've done this on a fifth and a four line kite in about 20 knots and managed to get on top of the situation ,once you get to the kite your laughing ,just float in like a big life raft.

sapatos

is

kitepower

Certainly on bow-ish kites if you get a rear line wrapped around your bar they'll loop like that. I've always found that if I take a second within the mayhem to lift the bar up out of the water so that I can see what line is going where, I've been able to untangle it within a few seconds every time. If you try to do it by feel it's much harder even though this may be your first gut reaction.

The other time a bow will loop crazily is if the bridle wraps around the wingtip. In this case I generally use brute force to wrap a few turns of front line up (sb3 doesn't have a front line flagging option) until the other lines are slack and then either the kite will sort itself out or I wind my way up to the kite for a self-rescue. If this doesn't work within a few seconds because the kite is too powered, I clip my leash onto a rear line and flag it. It still may still loop, but a lot slower and with less power than if the front lines and a rear line are under load.