Hi Wind Story

[ricki]

Circle round cause we've got a story for you. It is about a kiter who has been riding for about four years. He was out yesterday close to sunset in about 25 to 35 kt. winds. He was flying a 7 m high depower C kite. He had just done a low transition about 3/8 mile offshore, fortunately! His lines somehow tangled on his bar and the kite smacked down on the water leading edge down. As he was trying to sort it out, the kite self-relaunched in the high winds as kites will do at times, particularly C kites. The line was still tangled on this bar resulting in uneven flying lines making the kite do some radical turns. Each time the kite "death looped" he was lofted about 10 to 12 ft. off the water and hauled a good distance horizontally. He popped his chicken loop after second one and then set the lot free after the third when the kite failed to depower. No reason it should with a line bar tangle unfortunately. He may well have covered a couple of hundred feet by this point. If he had been closer to shore he might have been seriously messed up hitting sand or whatever on the beach. As it is, his kite went float about as he trudged into shore. He started putting the word out on his lost kite which is how I heard about this. Fortunately, it turned up about 3 miles south on the public beach this morning by a lifeguard and it was returned to him.

In high wind, strange things can happen sometimes extremely fast. He was well offshore, a very good thing. How many guys stick to the shore as if they are afraid of the ocean in most conditions? Lots. Wear an impact vest, develop strong swimming skills and use a nice buffer offshore. How many times have you busted a move and come in poorly? Strange things can happen, bridle wrapped wing tips, line on the bar, even line on you! Anything that makes the lines uneven can result in heavily powered "death loops." High wind kiting comes with higher risks for advanced kiters who ride in such conditions. It pays to make your moves as deliberate and problem free as you can and accept in the strong stuff a blow can come out of left field before you know it.