Well it's been awhile since I've been really scared by a kite and even longer since I've had to pull my QR. I started my session today with a serious scare.
It was blowing 20-25mph dead onshore at Ramsey. I had just rigged up a new T2 9m, super stoked to check it out. Walked out checked my lines, looked good, clipped in my chicken loop and attached safety. So far so good. I positioned myself so I felt a bit of pulll from the kite, I could see my launcher moving into the wind so I knew it was powered, so I gave the thumbs up. The kite went up and rolled downwind, ok no problem as soon as it faces up I'll fly it up and away, no luck. Everything I did at the bar had very little effect on the kite. It was starting to go into a spiral in the powerzone, I got dragged a big, and I pulled my QR. Unfortunately I was upwind of the worst spot on the beach. The kite went into the wall and rocks pretty powered. There was a small tear in the canopy and a slice on the LE from impact...damn. I really wanted to try that kite. And I was fine. Thanks to those who grabbed the kite.
So what happened? Not 100% sure. From the descriptions I keep reading on kiteforum this sounds like a situation where a bridle line was caught somewhere on the wing. This issue happens with all flat kites. Most now have webbing to minimize it but it still happens. Last Saturday I caught 4 situations that may have ended up with similar results. Whether or not this is what happened here, if you are launching a bridled kite for someone, check those bridles. The rider cannot see any problem from their end of the lines.
Other than that start to the session, what a wonderful surprise the pre-storm winds were.
Near Kitemare
Moderator: MK
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steveb
- Posts: 2146
- Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2002 3:31 pm
- Location: sblain@frontiernet.net
Mindful action.
I was rigging up and saw this incident. I'm most impressed with Tighe's mindful action. At the moment of lost control he ejected without hesitation. The point is, there was no time for hesitation. I used to hang glide with a parachute, rehearsed in mind how I'd deploy if I needed to, but never had a real opportunity to practice it, thank God. Here, injury was avoided due to diligent mindfulness to stay from harm's way. We all learned from this one. Tighe, if all of your students saw this they'd have deeper respect for mindful rehearsal of safety release mechanisms.
My near kitemare was at Reddy this weekend. For me it was a little crowded and I was getting comfortable flying my kite high while advanced riders passed under my full kite line span. I was a little fatigued from riding, not fully mindful, and Nancy Blain was passing just downwind of me. I would have altered my course in mindful action. Instead I assumed I could keep my kite at 11 and pass by. My judgment was wrong, somehow the kite dropped and she was now between me and my kite. My lack of attention, inaccurate judgment, and reduced awareness had put her in harm's way. Nancy quickly lifted the my lines over her head and moved from potential danger. There was no time for anger or hestation. My lesson learned was to always alter course rather than speculate I can keep my kite high.
The unexpected happens. Harm is generally avoided through an alert mind and continual rehearsal of action to be taken in the "what if" scenario. I find the older I get the more rehearsal I need.
Finally, spending a couple days with some of you more advanced riders has been pretty inspiring and humbling. What a great gift these past days have been.
My near kitemare was at Reddy this weekend. For me it was a little crowded and I was getting comfortable flying my kite high while advanced riders passed under my full kite line span. I was a little fatigued from riding, not fully mindful, and Nancy Blain was passing just downwind of me. I would have altered my course in mindful action. Instead I assumed I could keep my kite at 11 and pass by. My judgment was wrong, somehow the kite dropped and she was now between me and my kite. My lack of attention, inaccurate judgment, and reduced awareness had put her in harm's way. Nancy quickly lifted the my lines over her head and moved from potential danger. There was no time for anger or hestation. My lesson learned was to always alter course rather than speculate I can keep my kite high.
The unexpected happens. Harm is generally avoided through an alert mind and continual rehearsal of action to be taken in the "what if" scenario. I find the older I get the more rehearsal I need.
Finally, spending a couple days with some of you more advanced riders has been pretty inspiring and humbling. What a great gift these past days have been.
Ride...just be it!
www.just-be-it.com
www.just-be-it.com
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SCOTT RIDOUT
- Posts: 651
- Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2002 12:45 pm
- Location: CHAMPLIN, MINNESOTA
Happened last night to me at Lake George, came in for the night to hang it up and while trying to self land my kite the wind dies off and my kite fades back into the window, normally not a problem with a bow, let the bar out and the kite regains it's speed without the power. Well this time no speed and the kite kept fading back, then you can guess what happened, kite dropped behind a tree, I ejected right away but as I did that huge gust, the kite took off and took the top dead part right off that tree, luckily didn't hurt my kite but caught me off gaurd, if I would not have ejected out of my kite I think by my estimation as too how fast my kite was moving I would have been drug up on shore and in the air possibly.
Tighe and everyone is right when they say go through the motions in your mind before you go out. I think personally that everyone should go through there safety system anyway and pop it just to see what your kite will do and more importantly what you would do. Things happen so fast that it really does not matter what level rider you are, if you never ejected from your system or at least not in a while you probably should.
Tighe and everyone is right when they say go through the motions in your mind before you go out. I think personally that everyone should go through there safety system anyway and pop it just to see what your kite will do and more importantly what you would do. Things happen so fast that it really does not matter what level rider you are, if you never ejected from your system or at least not in a while you probably should.
Liquid Force Regional Rider.
I've had the bridle lines on a CB get hung up on the nipple of a strut, resulting in a death spiral. This has happened to me about 3 times, during self launches. As Tighe says this can be almost impossible to see from the bar. Single point inflation sytems have less chance of this happening. Be safe out there guys & girsls!
I did a bit of research on Kiteforum and the concensus seems to be that you can't put that responsibility on the person launching your kite. It was pointed out that if a bridle line is caught you should be able to tell when you tension the lines by your bar not being even or perpendicular to the lines.
While not the launcher's responsibility, I think it still is a good idea to check. BTW the lines many times look right, e.i. no twists or slack elements, but upon careful inspection you can see one line caught on a pigtail or flipped to the rear of the kite.
While not the launcher's responsibility, I think it still is a good idea to check. BTW the lines many times look right, e.i. no twists or slack elements, but upon careful inspection you can see one line caught on a pigtail or flipped to the rear of the kite.
Tighe
'Roo no Boo Hoo!
Noticed the strut ends on my 'Roos have some ribbons to prevent the line from catching on the tips. Got alot of launching practice on Mem-Day & had a couple of kites do exactly what you describe. I'd also like to add that it is alot easier for the kiter to find the proper wind angle for launch than to make the guy holding the kite to move around...they are doing you a favor, so make it easy on them! My $.02, JN
Yeah Jim, I think most manufactures are now putting webbing from the strut to the canopy. I haven't seen lines catch in that area yet. I've seen lines catching on V bridle attachment points, pigtails, and behind the canopy.
I agree with you re: rider vs launcher responsibilities. I teach that the launcher should position themselves 90 degrees to the wind while the rider checks their lines (canopy flapping) then the rider should walk into the wind to put the kite deeper in the window, while watching the canopy tighten up. Once tight, a few steps more and she should be good to go.
Having said that, if you're holding someone's kite and it wants to fly into the wind, take a few steps that way and you'll relieve that pressure. Also, if the rider gives you the launch signal, thumbs up, but the kite is pulling downwind, it isn't flying yet and most likely will just roll downwind. The kite should be lifting upward out of your hands if it is powered and flying. If not I'll usually keep a loose hand on it and follow it downwind uptil it starts lifting up.
Also, one thing I notice a lot is people hooking in prior to checking their lines. Not only does this add time to the whole scenario if you need to fix your lines, but it also is quite unsafe. I highly recommend not attaching anything to the kite until you've checked your lines. If your launcher was to accidentally let go of that kite and your lines were attached wrong, it'd be a bad day.
I agree with you re: rider vs launcher responsibilities. I teach that the launcher should position themselves 90 degrees to the wind while the rider checks their lines (canopy flapping) then the rider should walk into the wind to put the kite deeper in the window, while watching the canopy tighten up. Once tight, a few steps more and she should be good to go.
Having said that, if you're holding someone's kite and it wants to fly into the wind, take a few steps that way and you'll relieve that pressure. Also, if the rider gives you the launch signal, thumbs up, but the kite is pulling downwind, it isn't flying yet and most likely will just roll downwind. The kite should be lifting upward out of your hands if it is powered and flying. If not I'll usually keep a loose hand on it and follow it downwind uptil it starts lifting up.
Also, one thing I notice a lot is people hooking in prior to checking their lines. Not only does this add time to the whole scenario if you need to fix your lines, but it also is quite unsafe. I highly recommend not attaching anything to the kite until you've checked your lines. If your launcher was to accidentally let go of that kite and your lines were attached wrong, it'd be a bad day.
Tighe
About Randy's comments above: Randy & I were cruising towards each other. He was on starboard so it was up to me to get out of the way. There was someone just downwind of him, but also someone just behind me so I couldn't turn around. I had to surf downwind and kept my kite really low to get between Randy and Downwind Guy. I was much much closer than I like to be to all of these riders. For the guy behind me, he's a much more advanced rider than us and was just grinning ear to ear as we all were that day...probably didn't sense a need to turn around. You good guys ride really close to each other all of the time. So question...do we have a recognized turn around signal? Windsurfing we've made circles with an index finger (like when you were a kid and saying "big whoop"). Also, maybe the more experienced riders could give a little extra buffer zone to us less experienced people. In this situation, dropping my butt wasn't an option because my high kite would have been in Randy's way. Suggestions?