Anyone else ever have this happen?

[UpNorth]

So I was kiting on Lake of the Woods yesterday, winds were in the mid to upper teens with some gusts up to 20 mph. I was flying a 10 meter Frenzy and doing just fine with it, I was powered up pretty well even with the trimmer strap pulled in all the way. My nephew and I had been kiting for around a half hour and having a pretty good time. Anyway, I was making a slow speed turn when a gust hit the kite, or at least thats sorta how I remember it. I caught an edge and did the classic superman to belly flop move. Before I could steer the kite back up towards zenith, it slammed into the snow, but quickly powered back up. While this was going on I attempted to roll over and get my skis back in front of me only to discover that my chicken loop line had completely wrapped around my spreader bar hook. Well, it got ugly then as the kite proceeded to loft me off the snow and slam me back down again, at which point I lost both my skis, which was probably a good thing. The kite didn't do any loops that I remember, but as I was bouncing along it became apparent that pulling the chicken loop release wasn't going to do any good with the c/l line wrapped around everything. I finally reached up and pulled the frontline safety release which defnately slowed me down and I was able to get hold of the brake line webbing and get control of the kite.

This was a scary experience to say the least, but as they say, it coulda been worse. This is my second season of kiting, and this is really the only beating/crash that scared me. If this had been a water situation, I can't imagine it would have been good. I'm still not sure how the c/l line got wrapped around the hook, but I am wondering if anyone has ever toyed with the idea of putting some sort of cover or "latch" over the spreader bar hook to prevent that sort of thing from happening. Not sure how to go about doing something like that, just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.

Jack

[Tighe]

wow, that's pretty scary, and why I now ride with a knife. Things like that happen. Lucky for you the Ozone's have that release independent of the CL.

I like your idea of a closure for the hook. For the majority of us, we hook in till our session is done. You could maybe put a rubber flap that extends the hook back, flip it down to hook in/out.

I'll give it some thought.

glad to hear you're ok.

[Tom L]

From years of kiting I have found that any line including the Cl can get wrapped around anything else in your bar system. It's Murphys Law or the "$hit happens" law. The best practice is to prepare for the worst case scenario. I actually had my entire bar get jammed under the hook once (check...it will fit just about perfectly). Stay calm, think fast, grab your knife if all else fails.

[JRN]

YES! Glad it happened on the snow, & not the water. I don't know if SS still makes them, or if it would have helped, but the Surefire spreader bar has a tab that goes over the throat of the hook, & best of all, the hook pivots open to release the CL. I have them on both my harnesses & think they're GREAT! I'll show it to you at the Xing.

[johnz]

I'm kind of a chicken, anybody who's seen me ride probably has figured that out , but the culprit is slack lines. I used to have a lot more problems with tangles until I realized that it's a lot harder to get something wrapped around something else or tangled up in this or that if the lines are tensioned.

So now, when I get in an unexpected situation like you were in your turn, my focus is more on keeping tension in the lines than which way I'm going, if I'm getting lofted or whatever. I figure I only need a couple seconds to even out my hands and let the kite fly back up to neutral so I can regroup. The knife is a necessary 'plan B'.

Hope this helps and I'm glad you are o.k. - sounds scary!,
John Z

[wings]

I've had similar things happen and hotdamn is it freaky!

By the time I'm riding again, I'm going to have a serrated knife strapped to me somewhere.

[Bryce]

Yikes that is no fun! I'm glad you are ok.

I've had it before when I have hooked one my of back lines to the harness hook when I was trying to take of the kite. It looped and pulled me but I had managed to get it off.

[UpNorth]

In thinking about the cause of the wrapped line, I'm wondering if it didn't happen when I transitioned from my belly down position to my back. I'm wondering if I didn't wrap the line at that point. Of course it happened pretty quickly and it's kinda hard to recreate the event in my mind, but that would seem like the most logical explaination for the wrap. I don't think I had any real slack in the lines at any time, but who knows?

I'm definately interested in seeing the SS spreader bar setup and I'm gonna figure out a way to carry my serrated river knife where I can easily reach it.

One other thing I did learn is that you need to keep the ice core cleaned out of your ice screw after removing it. I tried to put down an ice screw with one hand and just couldn't do it while holding the kite with the other, it just added frustration to an already bad experience.

Jack

[monkey1031]

ice screw... clean it out with the donkey di(k.

over'n'out

[JRN]

ANY TIME SCREW AND DONKEY ARE MENTIONED IN THE SAME SENTENCE...was that supposed to be funny, or am I that sick?

[UpNorth]

Ozone's donkey dinks are pretty flexible for a job like that, some viagra (or something sharper) would probably be in order....

[JRN]

JACK: Didn't get a chance to show you the SS surefire spreader. You can see them by clicking on the Slingshot link to the right, & looking under accessories. They have 3 versions for $100...I'd buy the PRO. Good Luck & Safe Kiting!

[UpNorth]

Thanks for the tip JRN. I didn't meet ya at the crossing, but met lots of other great folks. I think I might go with the Ozone Access harness without the spreader bar, no hook to catch anything on and just hook the chicken loop directly to the D-ring. People that have them seem pretty happy with both versions. I may consider the ss spreader bar for water kiting though.

Jack