Quote:
Originally Posted by davewolfs
So based on the speed that he was flying if he had simply pushed the bar out the kite would have given up? Sorry for my ignorance but I am an amateur who is looking to get into this sport, I've never used any of this equipment aside from a training kite and this video simply scares me.
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Fear is a healthy perspective for something like this, has excellent survival value! Indifference which we seem to be plagued with, tends more toward grief in wx extremes.
Big point, YOU NEVER WANT TO TRY TO DEAL WITH A LOFTING ONCE YOU ARE FLYING.
The outcome is ALWAYS uncertain and biased towards the grim side of things. You want to take great pains to never escape gravity and start what may be a one way flight downwind.
That said, what you do if you're lofted and in flight? One approach is to detach from your chicken loop and drop to the ground. This may hurt and injure you. Then again, your injuries may be less than a frontal impact against a house, car, rocks, whatever. Pushing out on your bar if you are flying a flat kite will reduce the power but I think it might glide for a while. You'll burn off forward speed but will it help? Got me, goes to kite performance and accident specifics. If it were me, I would Emergency Depower well before the first gust came. If I was already in flight, I might try small control inputs to see if the kite is maneuverable and if there is something soft to glide into. If not or if I was still rising, I might just drop and free fall to an uncertain impact without the kite.
Do you see how bogus and uncertain all this is? That is why you need to take great pains never to be lofted and particularly not lofted in a spectacular fashion (i.e. 165, 800 or even 1750 ft. horizontally as have happened already).
Were I you, I would be worried about something FAR more important. That is interviewing and selection the best professional kiteboarding instructor that I can find. You DO NOT want to take this sport on solo. The odds of trashing your gear, yourself and our access are just too high. Ideas for interviewing and evaluating instructors appear at:
http://fksa.org/forumdisplay.php?f=45