SLAMMED - I Forgot to unhook

[greg meintjes]

I have seen a few solo landing,s go wrong , I never do them due to the road being so close, the safest way to self land is put the kite in the window ,on the water, DISCONNECT leash, unhook holding the chicken loop, reach over grab O shit handle and then let go of chicken loop.

Controlled self landings on the beach when you are grabing the center line and trying to get the kite to fall flat on it,s leading edge are unsafe in the fact that there are too many unforseen scenarios eg. a dog which happens a lot down here runs through your lines causing the kite to flip up and then power up, I am also amazed that people still try and self land when there are other kiters that can help them land.

Greg

[ricki]

Originally Posted by greg meintjes

I have seen a few solo landing,s go wrong , I never do them due to the road being so close, the safest way to self land is put the kite in the window ,on the water, DISCONNECT leash, unhook holding the chicken loop, reach over grab O shit handle and then let go of chicken loop.

Controlled self landings on the beach when you are grabing the center line and trying to get the kite to fall flat on it,s leading edge are unsafe in the fact that there are too many unforseen scenarios eg. a dog which happens a lot down here runs through your lines causing the kite to flip up and then power up, I am also amazed that people still try and self land when there are other kiters that can help them land.

Greg

Yes, your launch and perhaps Ft. Lauderdale are likely two good examples of launches to avoid solo landings. There is so little room, buffer space between the water and the powerlines and the road. Not all kites have O'Shit features, so you can't always rely upon that. All kiters should be on the lookout to help guys land. The butt you end up saving, by example, may be your own someday.


More about this launch and precautions at:
http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=5813

[ricki]

Here's a view of leaving the beach I wouldn't wish on anyone. Good care should reduce the odds.


The swelling was already going down in this shot after icing it for a while and keeping it elevated, good thing.

This dragging outcome was pretty minor. Throw in one hard object along that hundred foot path and it could have been much worse. It is a good thing to work to avoid.

[conchxpress]

Leave it to you to get pictures en route to the hospital. We want hot nurses and hot EMTs next time. Although, I've taken people to the hospital in KW, and I didn't see any. You could start a new thread on kiteforum, "Sexiest Bodily Injury Picture." Or "Guess the Kiteboarder." LOL

Frank

[ricki]

Originally Posted by conchxpress

Leave it to you to get pictures en route to the hospital. We want hot nurses and hot EMTs next time. Although, I've taken people to the hospital in KW, and I didn't see any. You could start a new thread on kiteforum, "Sexiest Bodily Injury Picture." Or "Guess the Kiteboarder." LOL

Frank

Too late Frank, they've beat you to it already:

http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2346098

Actually, cell phone photos of kiting injuries have become pretty common on the net. If they carry a useful message, sounds good to me, otherwise keep them on your phone.

Since you wanted a more appealing nurse photo, I came up with this Frank:



I tried to get it to wear the nurse hat and get up but no go, it ate them, sorry.

[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.

[ricki]

Some of what I was doing and SHOULDN'T HAVE, appear at 35 sec. and 1 minute 3 sec. in the video

http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=5678

I don't think this illustrated technique in the video is a good idea with IDS equipped kites. The video was shot using last years Switchblade. With this years kites, just fire off the IDS to solo land and all done, sigh.

[Clew In]

Hey Rick,

Sorry to hear about your trouble I hope you are doing better and heal fast.

I self land lots of times and setting the kite free is not an option. I have to use the leash to keep the people on the beach safe. I have always felt comfortable with attaching the leash to one of the front lines(Crossbow 2006). I have pulled the plug several times and it has always flipped on its back and dropped out of the air. On the other hand I have another kite 17m Bow and it does not have front line attachment only OS handles on the steering lines. This set up always scares me. When I have pulled the plug the kite rolls and rolls until it is directly down wind(I always wonder if a line tangles would it take off). When it is light wind it is not much trouble; however, if the wind picks up and I am overpowered with a 17m it makes you think about what you are going to do if the kite does not come down and land correctly.
Also, the 17m kite has an attachment ring below the chicken loop and it is supposed to depower the kite if you pull the QR. I have released the kite in light wind and it seemed to have lots of pull and I would not want to release on that in a bad situation.
I like the idea of IDS and I like the front line attachment point for landing. Have you heard of any mishaps with the leash attached to the front line?

Clew In

[John-]

jesus Rick did this just happen to you?

I need to show you the sand bag solo land/launch trick, it's really easy and works,,, and if it doesnt it just drags the sand bag down the beach.

[The Kite House]

I self land all the time and to be honest, sometimes i trust it more than the people landing me!

I am a firm beliver do what you know and also at your skill level. I got into this sport to be solo, alone, not waiting on anyone. They are many safe ways to self land and launch.
The best sugestion is to know your equipment, and if you dont ask the person you bought it from what works and how. Then the next test would be to activate your system so you know what to expect. As i am sure rick can tell ya, there is no time to do research when the shit hits the fan.

Self landing is an advanced skill, which canchange on condtions, equipment and area. You can learn how to do it, but dont guess at it, practice in light winds after someone has SHOWN you.

All kite gear is different, you are worse off onsome gear if you unhook for a self landing, and others because because because theyare a cross between a c and a bow. The answer is in what kite you have as they all dont act the same anymore like "c" kites did.

be safe and glad ricks ok