Yeah, this story sounds really familiar to my own 9m Waroo kitemare, which happened in February 2006 in Venice, FL on a strong NW wind.

My wife (who has done kite duty plenty of times) launched the kite, but a bridle wrap caused the kite to start looping right away. I got dragged over 100 yards but, luckily, the wind was perfect sideshore and I had about 4 miles of empty sand (and no bystanders) downwind of me. Otherwise, I could have been seriously injured or killed. I did not sustain a permanent injury, only incurring some minor cuts, strains, and abrasions. I had sand coming out of my ears for days, as well.

Still, my kite looped over 20 times in 25 to 30 mph and my wife got to witness one of the worst kitemares I've ever been involved in. I finally hit the quick release on the chicken loop (it's strange I didn't do so earlier, but I was a bit dazed by events and was still trying to regain control of the kite), and the kite then yanked my leash so hard that it ripped a leash attachment ring out of my Dakine harness. I hit the quick release on the leash, and the kite then drifted down and tumbled down the beach up against a volleyball net and depowered long enough for me to jump up, run down the beach, and grab the kite.

I was really freaked out and didn't kite again for a week or so after that. More importanly, I felt terrible for putting my poor wife through such an ordeal. The kitemare was brutal and for a moment she thought that I was going to get killed.

The accident was caused because I gave the thumbs up to launch before making certain the bridle was clear. I had a nagging suspicion that something wasn't quite right but I knew that the lines were straight, so I didn't catch on to the bridle being wrapped. The strong wind and gustiness amplified the difficulty of making certain everything was fine before I launched.

A wrapped bridle on launch is a preventable error but it is a relatively new type of potential problem for any kiter to encounter, especially a rider transitioning from C kites to a bow or SLE (as I was in February 2006). A bridle wrap can be very hard to see for the kiter holding the bar--the kiter holding the kite should give the bridle a quick look before launching the kite.

This drives home the point that launching any kite is one of the most dangerous moments of any session--if the kite is rigged incorrectly or a bridle is wrapped, all the safety features of a bow or SLE will likely not function.

My own 9m Waroo kitemare happened to me after I had been kiting for five years, as well, so experience alone won't save you. Good luck to the kiters involved in this new accident and I am glad the outcome was not worse. I can certainly sympathize with them. It sucks when a session that promises to be epic instead turns into an epic kitemare.