Lost Kite Reddy Creek ... Kiting Storm fronts use caution...

[John Rangel]

Lost my 20m Airush Lift C kite Neon Greenish Yellow, and Slingshot Bar and lines.... Somewhere in the woods on the other side of the Road Near Reddy creek... yesterday. Anyone sees or Hears anything please let me know.....
John three two zero 4 two zero two999.....

I had to pull my quick release and let her go... As it was my only choice... Winds were nice and light... perfect riding . Me and a few others were out on 20, 20, 16 bow..... without notice winds picked up Big time!!!!!!!!! I was a ways out so it was all good..... I was spending alot more time in the air than on the water with my kite fully depowered.... I tried to flag it out, land it, Crash it, whatever... I tried everything..... winds Just kept increasing.... I couldn't even bring my kite to the side of the window because the wind would grab in and pull it right back to twelve o clock... after about 30 minutes of fighting it out.... I began getting lofted very consistently...... At that rate The shoreline was nearing...... Nice long lofty floaters, one right after another...... While about 10 feet in the air floating along, I knew the shore was nearing. I looked down and unclipped my leash.... I told myself if when I land and my feet don't stay on the ground I'm letting it go.... so I came down and right away it picked me up... Man, whoever makes the quick release on those slingshot bar and lines really knows what they are doing... them things are Sweet.... My kite flipped upside down, Bar and lines hanging and floated away..... Never to be found... A lost love. I then had to go help my comrads.....
I took a hike back in the woods but never found it..... If anyone sees or hears anything please let me know....

[RobH]

Hey John - Im glad your ok and made the right choice. Its tough to let the kite go completly and no doubt some of us would proably fight letting it go till the point of no return. There is always some risk with fighting it as well, since a line could get wrapped around your body or gear where it would be impossible to release the kite with the saftey.
Its a good reminder for everyone to think about releasing the kite completly, perhaps sooner than we would like too. We had unpredicted strong gusts yesterday from Waconia to Mille Lacs, be carefull out there when strong storm systems are crossing the state.

[avery]

John sorry for your loss. Does your slingshot bar allow you to flag your kite on one line? This might be helpful in future flights.

[Rick R]

It was crazy , CRazy strong wind. I also learned a lesson yesterday at milly, double triple check my leash setup, I was trying to flag out my 20 machine, me and john were trying to figure out how to help each other, anyway my fitfh line point that conects the flying line to the heavier fifth line leader has a knot above the barell that the depower and fifth line feed thru. it (the knot) got yanked into the barrel so my 5th line was worthless( wisch I didnt realize til I was on the beach)., the knot was in the barrel and the .connection point was above it so the line could not slide more than a 1/8 inch, I let my bar go and I realized that my 5th line wasnt working, ohhh fxxxx. I thought. I was thinking bail on the kite when I noticed the eject handle was on the oppiste end of the line 7 ft away and I was holding onto the leashs 5th line but the kite was standing on its side tensioned on the 4 lines. I dug the wrong end of the leash out of my leg and slowly worked my way to the loop you hook the leash to, sweating bullets the whole time. I held onto that and swaped ends so the eject was at hand if needed. Luckiy 4 me about this time I saw johns kite fly over head and I saw him coming to help (THANK YOU AMIGO).

It was the craziest gustiest wet dirty sand day I have ever had, we were very fourtante that nobody got hurt. Later on the beach we commented that we were like that idoit in florida who got launched into a building, except there were 3 of us .

I am glad I wasnt kiting alone. thats one thing we did right, for the conditions that came up we did make mistakes but overall we kept our heads and were very lucky

[JRN]

Glad you guys are all right. An old kite isn't worth risking your life, so you made the right choice. Lucky no bystanders or cars on the road got nailed. I saw a Cabby get off the leash last year @ Reddy and land in the tree tops across the road. There must be an updraft along that shore. Did you have a 5th line safety? I had a 21 m BFK and it did a similar thing on the snow, but was able to cleat the 5th line enough to de-power & then release the bar. I sold it on-line the next day. I wonder if a bow or sle/hybrid would have allowed you to de-power. Maybe it did you a big favor by flying off. There a lots of TD 17's on sale all over & they seem to do well over-powered, & my W-17 does great in the gusts, too. Think of it as a good excuse to go shopping. Stay safe!

[John Rangel]

Yeah, My kite didn't have a fifth line. I actually decided to fly it four lines for the first time that day as the winds were so light. and I had buddies with to land it.... Bad choice...... Rick had a fifth line on his 20 and that caused him some problems........ I know it flagged out for him but then something went wrong and the other four lines tightened up and it started pulling him even harder....... and his bar was way far away and he couldn't control it at all then.... Brent was on His 16M Bullaroo.... SLE he's about a two hundred and fifty pound dude.... And he Got stuck where he was.... he said he couldn't move do anything cause if he did it would pick him up..... Rick had to run way down wind and help him land his kite after I landed his.... So Not sure what might have helped me in that situation... I guess a fifth line probably would have been golden, provided that it worked right.. don't think I would have been able to pulll it in though..

[ice_kmauve]

It's one of those contingencies you hardly give much thought to--a slow but sure increase in wind speed until you start running out of options. It's a long, slow descent into madness as you try to decide: should I come in or try to wait it out, or, how much can this thing take before it comes apart and throws me 100 feet into a dock? At some point you have to opt to save your own bones regardless of what happens to the kite.

I bet that 20m flew clear across the road and into the woods so far it will probably rot in the trees for the next 30 years.

[seamonkey]

I've sent a troop of boy scouts to try and find it. Hopefully it will bring us good fortune and good moose steak for the troop. God bless us, everyone. (that includes the Scottish ale)