my kitemare

[Nancy]

OK, as embarrassed as I am about this, I'm going to post my weekend kitemare in the chance someone else might learn from it! I've been nursing a shoulder injury all summer, it's just about 90% now but some golfing this week had tweaked it a little. Bodydragging was really tough on it so I decided to leave my board leash on. Wind died, kite dropped straight downwind, a line or two tangled around my board/leash, tried to get my board free asap but then the kite powered up, spiraled downwind. I have a pre-kite mantra "top hat - leash". Thinking that I pushed the top hat, still spiraling. Went for the leash....oops it''s about 4 feet away from me so I twisted (I was being dragged sideways/backwards and 1/2 the time under water), pulled in the leash, pushed it & it released...I'm STILL being dragged/kite spiraling. Something was hooked up. I remember seeing the end of my kite leash out there in the tangle, but am also guessing my board leash was tangled with the dragging board causing a pull on at least one line. Thankfully, I was getting very close to shore and could finally touch bottom, but still not enough purchase to anchor and stop the kite. It either hit the shoreline or Steve grabbed it, not sure which came first. So, WHAT I LEARNED: I have reversed my kite leash so the release is right at my harness, no more board leash ...if I feel my shoulder is that bad I will stay on shore or windsurf...., new mantra "top hat - leash - knife", I wasted valuable time trying to listen to Steve yelling "pull the leash" and replying "I did" twice, I can't help but let out a few whoops even though I am not entirely panicking which makes other people think I am totally panicking! Seriously, how do you stay quiet during that?! (except for the underwater part) I hope this info may help somebody.

[champlin]

Crazy scary, I'm glad your alright Nancy!!!!

[RobH]

Scary stuff - glad things ended up okay. Thanks for the reminder on how fast things can go wrong. Good reminder for the rest of us to test our release systems, remember where our knifes are at and what would we do if lines got caught around us

[Denis]

Wow! glad you're ok Nancy. Did you hook your kite leash bakwards that day or has it always been like that with the long end attached to your harness? Kudos to Steve's quick response too. I would add to the lessons learned that kiting with a buddy (or a hubby) is always good. I think that you had the right reactions to try to free yourself from the kite. You are one of the safest riders I know, so yet one more lesson is that scary situation can happen to any of us. We always have to be prepared.

[Tighe]

wow, scary Nancy. Sounds like you did all the right things.

I think most manufacturer's leashes have a design flaw. The leash needs to have something asymetrical about it so that you can't put the QR end in the wrong location. Naish is the only system I know that is like that.

Even though I preach, "keep the red side toward you" I see it attached reversed far too often. I suggest hooking the kite side on your spreader bar when not attached to your kite (instead of on the same ring as the other one). This way you're reminded to hook it on when you put your chicken loop on your hook, and you are sure which end is correct.

Sounds like that was just one of the issues. So glad it didn't go worse.

[Jordan]

I agree with Tighe. I just changed over to the Cabrinha leash because it has an asymmetrical characteristic that makes it basically impossible to put the QR on the wrong end. It can also be directly attached to your spreader bar so you get pulled forward rather then backward or sideways.

mackiteboarding.com has a good photo of how it can be attached to the spreader bar.

At under $30 it is well worth it.

[Tighe]

Yes it looks like the Naish system

[Rookie Renstrom]

Hey Nancy, Glad your ok!

I have to ask; What good is a leash hooked up to your bar to your spreader bar? When you deploy the safety above the chicken loop, It will give you say 12" to 24" of extension. equating to about one second. But still in the same situation that you were in before deploying the safety? To me its just adding to the confusion. I picked up a spinning spreader bar, I plan to hook it up a leash from the spinning hook to a homemade extension rope to the flag line. ( suggested from a previous chat about leashes on cabs ) Hopefully it will work for my spins, but riding unhooked is another issue and year. So what is the purpose of a leash hooked up between the two bars?

[Tom L]

Glad to hear you're OK Nancy.

Another thing to watch for: The clip on the kite side of the Cab leash pictured above can accidently "capture" a line, totally defeating your safety system. A "trigger snap" is less likey to capture a line although nothing is snag proof. I use the cheaper brass trigger snaps from the hardware store. Under a very, very severe load they will deform and release on there own, which is usually about the point when you'd want ditch everything anyway.

A kiter in Florida suffered a heart attack & died last year when his snap captured a line prior to his attempted safety release. The resulting death spiral on his bow dragged the out of shape kiter to the point where he suffered the attack. Sad story. Be safe out there.

[chanrider]

Having the kite go down in a lull in deep water is such a pain and has led to some sketchy moments for me too. What’s the best way to wait it out and keep everything (including the darn board) tangle and snag free?

Lately I have been leaving the board on to slow downwind drag and create more needed pull on the kite for relaunch. I find I need to be pretty careful though cuz if a gust does hit it can yank the bar into the floating board, so I try to keep the board under water by squatting on it and keeping angled 45 degrees or so underneath me.

This is how I start on a wakeskate behind a boat and seems to be a good starting position for kiting too especially when the kite is on the water and the pull is low like a tow boat pull. Once the kite is back in the air letting the board float to the surface is ok.

Anyway, glad everything worked out ok… as an “out of shape kiter” I try to pay attention to kitemare lessons. Thanks for sharing!

[steveb]

It's hard kiting around here when the lulls are light enough a kite will fall out of the sky. We all know that wondrous feeling when the kite falls half way and then powers up in the power zone, ripping you out of your skin.
I too have often wondered if ,once the kites down and there's not enough wind to relaunch, it's best to keep the board on the feet. On the feet under the water or on the feet in front of you creating drag and keeping lines tight for when the wind gets up. I also some times just take it off and hold it in one hand while I wait.
In front can, as it did for Nancy, result in a tangle. Of course the tangle happens at the exact same moment the wind gets up again. Under the water can hurt the knees if you get a very powered relaunch. In the hand can also get you all twisted and tangled too. So I'm buggered if I know the answer.
We were nicely powered right upto the moment the wind just switched off, both our kites came out of the sky, so it was not even a case of choosing bad conditions. Just bad luck and Karma.
What scared me is the only way I was able to help was Nancy got dragged towards me, my kite was still down as the wind that powered her up again had not reached me yet. I managed to swim into a intercept position and grabbed the kite. I knew my kite, which I was basically ignoring, if the wind got to it would just sit on it's wing tip and not launch, but I was worried it would have enough power to negate me swimming to her kite. Having to relaunch and kite to her would have made me late.
Fortunately my kite going on it's wing tip, my feet touching the solid bottom of the lake and catching Nancys kite all happened in the right sequence to be dealt with easily. ( go figure)
I have always thought I would be able to help and that we were pretty safe, this taught me we have to be able to take care of ourselves when the doo doo hits the fan.
Nancy did a great job releasing her safeties under preassure ( under water, high speed, side ways body drag.) and doing what she should do with a powered looping kite, but things still were not perfect and there was an additional tangle.
The only conclusion I have is check your safeties, release your leash before you go out and put it back together, make sure there's not months of sand and grime built up in there. I know I rarely checked mine in the past. Release your releases make sure they're not gunked up or damaged.
Practice grabbing your knife, until it's second nature.
Visualize yourself in these " ugh " situations and go through the actions you're going to take.
It was a light airs day, neither of use were remotely challenged as far as the conditions were concerned. It turned nasty. I recognise in these conditions I was far too relaxed. I checked our lines for damage when we rigged but that was it. Takes a scare to make you rethink a little.
So think about is everthing going to work, check it and be sure.

[Denis]

To add to Tom's trigger snap comment, I used to have a symmetric leash with the trigger snaps, and it would open during hard crashes. Essentially, I would hit the water hard, the snap attached to the harness will have the trigger drag in the water and the pressure will open it. I think that using a loop at the harness and a trigger snap at the kite is a good way to go.

Steve, I didn't know you were trying to manage your equipment too during the rescue, I thought you were on the beach. Ballsy! Well done in getting everything figured out.

[Stroh]

I have to say something about tom's coment as well. the hard wear store clamps are not as strong as the ones the kite companys sell.

I lost my 9 cb on milly because the hardwear store one broke in half and it didn't take much power in the kite... luckly jerry saved it for me.

Flexifoil has the answer to the new style leash clips. it has a sheeth that slides over the clip after you have hooked up your leash.

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[Stroh]

another thing that can hapen with the new style leash. this is why I always pull the cover over the clip opening on my leash

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compleet story
http://www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopi ... ight=leash

Jon

[Dean Rizer]

Nancy, thanks for posting your kitemare. When I read your post I was impressed with the way you proceded through your saftey progression, mantra. Sence of urgency, but no panic. You had a plan and you worked it when you absolutly had to. Hopefully the "why" of your experience will eventually surface. So here is another of the many kiting tips you and Steve have given me over the past few years. Have a plan, mantra, practice it until it becomes routine. Thanks again for the post.

[TomG]

I just wanted to say.. also .. that im glad to hear you ok Nancy. I know exactly how you feel. I wish I had the patience to sit and type up some of my old stories espically the Lake calhoun ones see ya out there.

Tom

[Nancy]

Thanks everybody for all the comments/discussion. I have replayed this scenario in my head a million times. I think the main problem was from my board leash and the released kite leash just got stuck in that somehow...they are attached at the same side on my harness. The conditions were just nice...mid teens gusting low 20s so I felt semi-OK using a board leash considering my shoulder, even tho I know better. Contrast to a couple weeks ago, wind died, kite went down straight downwind and I just floated half way across the lake for about 20 minutes, board in front, lines on top just waiting for a friendly gust. Proves Murphy's law I guess and that I need to always be ready for anything. See you on the water!