we all know Christian goes that extra mile with his love of kiting,
but shagging a kite on a public beach is plain wrong

matey with no shirt is looking at him thinking, what the f... is that bloke doing, bloke with purple hat and board shorts is getting quite aroused and is doing the double hand ,hardon concealment stance

Yeah but check out the hands of the guy wearing the skirt

there was a Very happy reason why larger blow up holes became Popular

Fly on da wall said..
Great picture, great stance for self rescue. Hope some people learn this basic skill, it could really save you and your kite.

Not really I'd reckomend not having board near kite
1 klm out getting pushed up and down with swell or chop fin slices leading edge, oh f... why did I buy a single strut kite
I prefer to use the tip straps as holding onto a bridal as I found once isn't that great when the winds cranking and gusting over the swell
soon f.... up your hands
1 klm out would be a 3/4 klm self rescue

cauncy said..

Fly on da wall said..
Great picture, great stance for self rescue. Hope some people learn this basic skill, it could really save you and your kite.

Not really I'd reckomend not having board near kite
1 klm out getting pushed up and down with swell or chop fin slices leading edge, oh f... why did I buy a single strut kite
I prefer to use the tip straps as holding onto a bridal as I found once isn't that great when the winds cranking and gusting over the swell
soon f.... up your hands
1 klm out would be a 3/4 klm self rescue

It's a good point, but don't be too quick to judge as you weren't at the clinic and don't know what I was actually demonstrating and talking about when this shot was taken.

That picture was actually taken as I was explaining how careful you have to be with the fins if trying to self-rescue with the board. I then explained how to avoid cutting your kite with the fins while using the board as a rudder, as detailed in this short sample from my full self-rescue video.



This does take experience and I do not recommend learning to self-rescue with a board for the first few times.

The bottom line is people need to practice self-rescue as it is a very poorly taught skill by the majority of schools/instructors and therefore the most poorly mastered basic beginner skill.

Christian

cbulota said..

cauncy said..

Fly on da wall said..
Great picture, great stance for self rescue. Hope some people learn this basic skill, it could really save you and your kite.

Not really I'd reckomend not having board near kite
1 klm out getting pushed up and down with swell or chop fin slices leading edge, oh f... why did I buy a single strut kite
I prefer to use the tip straps as holding onto a bridal as I found once isn't that great when the winds cranking and gusting over the swell
soon f.... up your hands
1 klm out would be a 3/4 klm self rescue

It's a good point, but don't be too quick to judge as you weren't at the clinic and don't know what I was actually demonstrating and talking about when this shot was taken.

That picture was actually taken as I was explaining how careful you have to be with the fins if trying to self-rescue with the board. I then explained how to avoid cutting your kite with the fins while using the board as a rudder, as detailed in this short sample from my full self-rescue video.

This does take experience and I do not recommend learning to self-rescue with a board for the first few times.

The bottom line is people need to practice self-rescue as it is a very poorly taught skill by the majority of schools/instructors and therefore the most poorly mastered basic beginner skill.

Christian

Wasn't being quick, I spotted that soon as I witnessed it, I'm 400 klms away so difficult for me to be there, just thought I'd mention it as it's certainly an issue, ive witnessed twin tips slicing leading edges whilst guys have been walking from our pump up spot to launch spot, also when weighing down kites on the beach with boards, so if your in the water and you take your photo as a reference , you'll likely burst your kite and possible lifeline , also the video shows your lines not packed down and trailing in water , this also imho is not a very wise procedure , I've lost 2 mates through line wrapping issues, I'm not getting at you , I'm aware you make valuable contributions on safety, but sometime people take what they see
cheers mick

Fully agree. Chris is a real asset and I have learned so much from him and I have become a better (as in safer) kiter for it!
Love your work mate!

jms said..
Yup, at his suggestion I now self launch unhooked. Pretty sketchy feeling the first couple of times while I got used to it, but now it is SO MUCH SAFER. Good on ya.

That's interesting. I bought Chris' self launch video but don't recollect that method being demonstrated. Chris can you elaborate pls (or make a video)?

Not trying to criticise as I love your work too. Just making sure that everyone understands that "unhooked" in this context means hooked out while safety leash is directly connected to flag out line, i.e.not using suicide mode. I know you argue that such mode is usually not used by beginners anyway. True most of the times. But some people start using suicide pretty early in their kting "career" simply because when accidental unhooking happens, they can avoid that the kite completely flags out and falls onto the water. When in suicide, they can either rescue the kite while still in the air, or easily relaunch as it will sit at the edge of the wind window waiting for them. This can be handy in big swell or in extremely light wind, and not everyone using suicide is a wakestyle handle pass guru. Any thoughts?

I agree that self launching, if not tether launching, is safest done by means of holding the chicken loop i.e .hooked out, wait until there is tension on the lines, observe all lines are ok and free from branches etc, then hook in and launch the kite. Or, if confident, and launching hooked in, have a hand at the top of the chicken loop / on the safety so that if in trouble safety can be pulled instantly. Also, it is a good idea to support the chicken loop anyway with any form of launching in order to avoid accidental unhooking while launching. While not necessarily dangerous, it is annoying and I have seen some kites ending up in bushes, fences, other kites etc.