[ricki]

Here's some more detail on what went wrong. The short version is, it was my first time out with a new kite with different performance aspects. I handled the kite in a way that I was used to but the kite was not! Outcome, Rick gets slammed, hate when that happens.

The Cabrinha Switchblade IDS has a purpose designed depowering function for solo landing and emergencies. Ignoring this function is not a great idea.

It was blowing out of the SE about 12 to 18 mph, I had just landed a 12 m SB IDS on the surface of the beach. I did this by bringing it down to near the ground, reaching forward and pulling in the trim strap assembly. I had just unhooked the chicken loop at this point and had forgotten to detach my kite leash from the harness. For some reason the kite landed more downwind than crosswind this time and very near some sea oats and dunes. (I learned later that tensioning the trim strap assembly on this IDS equipped kite will cause it to fall back in the window, whoops).

As I moved a few feet towards the kite, it started to drift downwind. I grabbed one of the back lines, pulled on it lightly to try to get the kite to stay in position. The kite started to loop, I dropped the back line but it continued to loop. I soon dropped the chicken loop thinking this would kill the power. Instead I was dragged by the kite leash about 100 ft. through the dunes. The kite never depowered despite my being pulled by the leash attached at the ring at the top of the chicken loop. By the time I thought to try to disconnect the leash attachment, which I was being dragged on, the trip of several seconds was about over. I wondered if something had snagged the lines on the ground but it seems I might have wrapped a wing tip with a bridle. I still don't know what caused the depowering function to fail but a wingtip wrap is seeming more likely as one wing tip was dragging on the ground around some sea oats.

I never thought to activate the IDS upon landing, first big mistake and once I unhooked the chicken loop with the leash still attached (REAL big mistake), I effectively disabled the IDS. The likely wing tip wrap disabled normal flat kite depowering. Wisely having left the kite leash attached (NOT) and with the QR beneath me and the dune rushing by, I was committed for the trip.

I was talked into going to the ER, was Xrayed, no breaks, just some messed up soft tissue. That was diagnosed today as two sprained ankles, a sprained neck and a displaced rib. The rib hurts more than the rest currently, ouch. Pretty light bill all things considered. I did this landing technique with no problems an hour and a half earlier. Probably because the wing tip didn't get wrapped. I did remember to detach the leash attachment that time. Not the second time when it really counted however. I had been off the water for about three months which likely contributed to what I did and didn't do.

Moral: New kite system, carefully learn and practice the New Stuff, FIRST! Don't assume old techniques will necessarily work.

I never used the IDS when I came ashore, if I had, none of this would have happened. There would have been no need to detach the kite leash either in this case. A hard won but fairly obvious lesson.