Hi all,

I Came across this video I thought was worth sharing for safety awareness...

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I always educate students to release safety systems early when something goes wrong or when you are unable to control your kite, and this video is a PRIME example of what could happen if you DON'T.

In this case there was no way the kite could be controllable since the lines were tangled at the launching stage.

If the safety was released immediately, chances are the kite would've flagged out and none of the following would happen.

If you look closely at the 44sec mark, you can see the chicken loop has been finally released but the bar is somehow jammed in the harness hook for some reason. Looks like there is no way he could get rid of the kite easily at this stage unless he had a hook knife or could untangle the bar from his harness hook.

These are unfortunately becoming common scenes on beaches where people get dragged along and no safety systems are being deployed...

It's important we educate people around us to release safety systems early to avoid future accidents. Schools play a major role in this as well and too many students complete their lessons without releasing safety systems once while the kite is flying...which is unacceptable.

Stay safe,

Christian

Awesome post. Thanks!

He made it worse by shouting to the assistant to not intervene, when she (he?) looked like they were going to try and grab the kite. It got worse when he dragged onto other beach users -

... and on that note, I might I add... I cannot stand kiters that get into trouble on the beach and blame by-standers and other beach users for not "getting to the kite" in time or intervening. Take charge of your own kite nookers!!

Lucky man..
Did he wave off someone offering to launch him?

good find. so many things done wrong.

Great find cbulota - thanks for sharing.

It might sound a bit harsh but i think this guy got what he deserved. Hopefully this little kick in the but will teach him a lesson (and hopefully nothing but his pride was hurt)

Self launching right next to other kiters like that. It appears as tho he even told someone that was running over to help him launch to leave it alone. He clearly has NO IDEA what he is doing. I hate it when people that clearly have no idea refuse to listen to other peoples advice.

His lines might have been tangled but i don't think that is what caused this one to go so wrong. and a little surprised that the OP being a experienced instructor didn't spot this one. Have a look right at the start and look at his hands on the bar

Something this stupid could and should easily be avoided by an assisted launch. 1/2 of the job that the assistant should be doing is running their eyes down the lines of the kite so everything is double checked before launching. If there are other people there then you should not be self launching!

I wander if this is that John Claude guy from the biggest asshole at kite beach vid we saw not so long ago?

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Damo said..


His lines might have been tangled but i don't think that is what caused this one to go so wrong. and a little surprised that the OP being a experienced instructor didn't spot this one. Have a look right at the start and look at his hands on the bar

you're right I missed that part (hands the wrong way around, which I do correct my students on regularly).

I was paying attention at the crossed lines and the kite behavior. Mind you his bar could very well be rigged upside down in the first place (which is very hard to tell from the video as the lines are all tangled up). If the bar was rigged upside down (which I see some experience kiters do) then his hands placement was actually correct.

I like how in any accidents we always try to pinpoint very small details and forget to look at the big picture.

Of course, in this case there is probably a serious lack of pre-flight check and experience, but the big picture here is that death loops could happen for many different reasons beyond anyone's control and this is exactly when a proper safety reflexes training can safe your life.

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cbulota said..

Damo said..


His lines might have been tangled but i don't think that is what caused this one to go so wrong. and a little surprised that the OP being a experienced instructor didn't spot this one. Have a look right at the start and look at his hands on the bar

I agree, I missed that part, I was paying attention at the crossed lines and the kite behavior. Mind you his bar could very well be rigged upside down in the first place (which is very hard to tell from the video). If the bar was rigged upside down (which I see some experience kiters do) then his hands placement was actually correct.

Have a look at the way the kite was flying. That was a turn not a loop. When a kite is put into a loop because of twisted or snagged lines it tends to stays looping in a consistent, even turning circle all the way round and usually it is a much tighter turning circle than what this was. This kite turned sharp but then eased up and flew straight into the ground.

Also why the hell would anyone that knows what they are doing rig their kite up backwards.

Lots of lessons for people to learn from this one.

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Damo said..
Also why the hell would anyone that knows what they are doing rig their kite up backwards.

Exactly my thought, but if you think about it all bars are symmetrical... it's just colors...you can rig your bar any way you like as long as you know which is left and which is right. I've seen this a few times.

In an emergency situation the colour coding on the bar is as much for other people trying to help you out as it is for the pilot.

Just because you CAN physically connect the bar up backwards there is absolutely no good reason to do so.

Maybe next time you see some muppet rigging up backwards it might be worth having a chat to them

... yep, this poor sausage put the bar the wrong way around in the beginning!

Ze Germans!


So amusing






Now I durstig

1st look at his launch position,he was positioned wrong, which rolled the kite, caught the wind like a hot launch which propelled him over his bar, the bar hooked onto his harness powered up and began to loop, this is when you wish you had a safety release on your harness,I'd say he wasn't a beginner due to self launching, he may of been unfamiliar with the beach, I've assisted launched quite a few tourists to my local and usually have to direct them to bring them in the correct launch position, arse twitching moment though, you could hear it in his voice

great post

also a great lesson on being extra cautious, or choosing not to kite if you are inexperienced, in onshore conditions.
this guy was super lucky it was obviously very cross shore conditions and he had a long fetch of beach downwind.

imagine if he'd gone over the dune direction, and dragged through a fence or carpark instead?!

Guys an idiot! Soo much time to pull the bar off his harness! Instead he just sat there waiting for help.

RPM doing a self launch Guy got what he deserved had so many different opportunities to get out of that situation, should have asked for a launch anyway, I would be pretty annoyed if someone tried to self launch 1m downwind of me.

Great Find cbulota

My perception of that kitemare
I think he forgot to attach one or two lines on one side of his kite
Between 0:30 and 0:35 he looks down at the bar and there are a couple of lines loose on the ground and the bar is fish polled
I put it down to being complacency
My guess is that he was a good kiter with between 200 and 500 hours of time on the water
Just when you think your getting good mother nature gives you a bitch slap

Excellent post, there's no doubt threads like this make the sport a lot safer!
It really does enforce the necessity of pulling the safety as soon as things go pear shaped, especially on the beach.
It looks like this guy had some level of experience, as he was attempting a self launch, and also had a gopro mounted on his helmet which indicates he was good enough to do some tricks to film once he got out. So its bewildering why someone with that level of experience didn't activate the safety.

I think those loose lines Ian are from the bar connected to the kite adjacent to him at that point on the beach

Slight tangent but a big safety concern for people unhooking is connecting the leash to the back of the harness. When a back Line or leash wraps around one side of the bar the kite death loops and it is impossible to pull from the back. A lot of pros ride with the leash clipped to the side of the harness (yes they do double handlepasses). Dunno if anyone saw 2014 KOTA, Hadlow got dragged from one side to the other at big bay but connects his leash to the side of the harness so could grab his leash and skim across the water rather than getting drowned.

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IanR said..
Great Find cbulota

My perception of that may kitemare
I think he forgot to attach one or two lines on one side of his kite
Between 0:30 and 0:35 he looks down at the bar and there are a couple of lines loose on the ground and the bar is fish polled
I put it down to being complacency
My guess is that he was a good kiter with between 200 and 500 hours of time on the water
Just when you think your getting good mother nature gives you a bitch slap

I think your a touch off
They aren't his lines you see, they are from another kite setup on the beach.
You can see all his lines attached to his kite when he launches.
He was holding his bar wrong and was trying to correct the first crashed but made it worse resulting in the fish poling and kite looping.
His kite looked way under inflated. I think a half kook who has only self launched a few times and has confused himself.

Hey cbulota thanks for sharing. I'm wondering if any seabreezers are able to translate the voice on the video... (other than what seems to be "faaaarrkkk")

I was hoping for a little more amusement than that.................sorry folks but as far as Death looping goes that was lame I've seen far better at my local.

Bring on the BID RED THUMBS

Apologies to the original poster i get this was an educational thread

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saltydawg said...
RPM doing a self launch Guy got what he deserved had so many different opportunities to get out of that situation, should have asked for a launch anyway, I would be pretty annoyed if someone tried to self launch 1m downwind of me.

Why bring me into it you gonad? This video is just a peanut kook who can't set up his gear and has no idea about kiting. If he did, he wouldn't have got himself into a pickle.

As I used to work for AKS, Christian would know that my self launching and landing is of a high standard. I always triple check my lines and gear is set up properly before doing it. Never had any dramas in 8 seasons.

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RPM said..

saltydawg said...
RPM doing a self launch Guy got what he deserved had so many different opportunities to get out of that situation, should have asked for a launch anyway, I would be pretty annoyed if someone tried to self launch 1m downwind of me.

Why bring me into it you gonad? This video is just a peanut kook who can't set up his gear and has no idea about kiting. If he did, he wouldn't have got himself into a pickle.

As I used to work for AKS, Christian would know that my self launching and landing is of a high standard. I always triple check my lines and gear is set up properly before doing it. Never had any dramas in 8 seasons.

Similar high standard as your posts I suppose? Teaching newbies the "right" attitude of hate ey... You should go back into teaching!

just this season I've changed to drag launching by holding onto the chicken loop in my hand rather than hooking in to launch. once the kite is happy bouncing on its wingtip then hook in
bit safer if it happens there are tangles or problems like this guy had. you can just let the chicken loop go and the kite flags to the safety line if its real bad, rather than drag, oh ****, hit safety. I haven't had a bad drag launch for a few seasons now, touch wood.

my preference for launching and landing is with a leash attached from chicken loop to something if there is no one to launch you.

Also if the guy in the vid had just let the bar go, things wold have been so less dramatic.

Check out all the plastic and rubbish on the beach..

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RPM said...

saltydawg said...
RPM doing a self launch Guy got what he deserved had so many different opportunities to get out of that situation, should have asked for a launch anyway, I would be pretty annoyed if someone tried to self launch 1m downwind of me.

Why bring me into it you gonad? This video is just a peanut kook who can't set up his gear and has no idea about kiting. If he did, he wouldn't have got himself into a pickle.

As I used to work for AKS, Christian would know that my self launching and landing is of a high standard. I always triple check my lines and gear is set up properly before doing it. Never had any dramas in 8 seasons.

Remember when u made the thread "new years resolution" where u basically said im a grumpy ahole dont ask me for a launch everyone should self launch? This bloke has a simmilar take on it to u. Ps i dont need ur self launch life story haha

Say you haven't taken the proper precautions and you are now lying on your stomach on the beach with your bar tangled into your hook and no chance of releasing either safety, would an appropriate course of action be to grab a front line and reef it in and hold it causing the kite to flag out? I realise this would not be a good idea if the kite was looping as you could easily get your hand tangled in the lines, but if you got it before it started looping you might have a good chance. This would be what I think I would do I am wondering if anyone has any arguments for or against this course of action.

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JacobMatan said..
Say you haven't taken the proper precautions and you are now lying on your stomach on the beach with your bar tangled into your hook and no chance of releasing either safety, would an appropriate course of action be to grab a front line and reef it in and hold it causing the kite to flag out? I realise this would not be a good idea if the kite was looping as you could easily get your hand tangled in the lines, but if you got it before it started looping you might have a good chance. This would be what I think I would do I am wondering if anyone has any arguments for or against this course of action.

If you've got time and space, otherwise cut the bugger away.

... you do have a knife, don't you?

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JacobMatan said..
Say you haven't taken the proper precautions and you are now lying on your stomach on the beach with your bar tangled into your hook and no chance of releasing either safety, would an appropriate course of action be to grab a front line and reef it in and hold it causing the kite to flag out? I realise this would not be a good idea if the kite was looping as you could easily get your hand tangled in the lines, but if you got it before it started looping you might have a good chance. This would be what I think I would do I am wondering if anyone has any arguments for or against this course of action.

id take my harness off.

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JacobMatan said..
Say you haven't taken the proper precautions and you are now lying on your stomach on the beach with your bar tangled into your hook and no chance of releasing either safety, would an appropriate course of action be to grab a front line and reef it in and hold it causing the kite to flag out? I realise this would not be a good idea if the kite was looping as you could easily get your hand tangled in the lines, but if you got it before it started looping you might have a good chance. This would be what I think I would do I am wondering if anyone has any arguments for or against this course of action.

with the kite fully powered up it will be hard pulling against it especially only holding onto a thin line. It could be really sketchy but you might be able to run towards the kite to make slack and then somehow do whatever u gotta do to flag the kite out