I suppose I was overdue a kitemare.

Big thank you to David with the red Cabrinha who had launched from Hampton and sacrificed a good part of his session to tow me in. PM me mate and I'll arrange to get a slab of beer to you. Also big thanks to the bloke who picked up my board and Sebastian the toy designer who helped untangle the lines. Love that so many in this sport go out of their way to help.

Ssummary of the incident below

Awesome session in Brighton today in a 25 knot Northerly. Side to slightly offshore so stayed in fairly close.
North Rebel hindenberged when I messed up a landing then inverted.

I was worried that the 5th line would rip the canopy so hit the QR immediately. The centre line had somehow wrapped around the end of the bar, stopping the bar from travelling very far up the line and only slightly depowering the kite. Once i had pulled myself to the bar and sorted it out the kite had arranged itseld into a bizarre bit of origami halfway between a bowtie and a rampant swan. This meant it wasnt lying flat and was pulling me down winf and out to sea. the power wasnt too strong though so I continued wrapping up my lines and preparing for a long self rescue.

Some one came out to check on me and took my board in, promising to keep an eye on me.

By the time I had sorted the lines and wrestled with the bizarre origami of the kite, I was alot further out, and after a few minutes of sitting in the water with the kite folded in half to make a sail it was clear that I was not going to make it to the point. Its a looong way to hit land after that so I was just resigning myself to deflating the leading edge and trying to paddle the inflated struts in when David shows up on the scene.

David made several aborted attempts, before I could grab a spare leash on David's harness. In one of these attempts he pretty much went under my kite and his fin got caught on the couple of metres of line trailing from the kite to the bar. Luckily he managed to untangle himself with no harm done. He slowly towed me in to the point with one of my hands holding his leash and the other holding on the kite.


A couple lessons from this.

1) When you hit the QR, dont assume its depowered- always check the bar has moved all the way up the centre lines

2) Be careful in how you wrap and secure the lines. If I hadnt wrapped the lines well David would have got tagled in them

3) if being towed , make sure the person towing is an experienced kiter, and go very slowly. At any speed the kite will pick up water and act as a sea anchor. The person towing should be dragging slowly with board on feet to help angle upwind. If they go too fast the kite will act like a sea anchor and pull your arms off.

4) Lie in your back when being towed its alot less tiring

5) - be prepared to jetison the the person towing if any thing feels wrong. They can always come back and get you.

Glad to hear you are ok. I think Brighton is by far the most dangerous spot in Melbourne - on the one hand it's good as it keeps the kooks and the newbs away, but on the other hand there is so little room for error when stuff goes wrong in a northerly. It's offshore, there's no ability to stand, there's a massive rock wall on one end... Good to see though that the crew that are there regularly look out for one another and are experienced enough to handle things when they go wrong.

From where I live it's only an additional 45 minutes to head down the mornington where conditions are a bit easier and i'll happily make that additional drive every time.

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Kitesplosh said..
...
. He slowly towed me in to the point with one of my hands holding his leash and the other holding on the kite.


...

3) if being towed , make sure the person towing is an experienced kiter, and go very slowly. At any speed the kite will pick up water and act as a sea anchor. The person towing should be dragging slowly with board on feet to help angle upwind. If they go too fast the kite will act like a sea anchor and pull your arms off

. .

Thanks for sharing the story; glad it all ended well.

With the leash grabbing thing .. how did you go holding onto it?

I once gave a kiter in trouble a tow with a leash, and as I took off, the leash pulled through his hands, and the clip on the end almost took his finger off .. .. handle on back of harness (if you have one), much preferred.

The trick to towing people is to go slowly. You're not trying to plane. You're just getting them to shore or away from whatever is dangerous.

Slow and easy application of power to start off then slow into shore. If necessary you can sit in water start position and bum drag in.

I towed a windsurfer and his gear away from rocks then back upwind to a safe beach to land. He dragged in the water holding my harness with one hand and his gear with the other.

PS Brighton was nuts today. The beach was insanely gusty and the inshore area was horrible. It was fine further out. Even more crazy was a couple of boofheads deciding it was a good day to teach their mates to kite.

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laurie said..

With the leash grabbing thing .. how did you go holding onto it?

Didn't find holding onto the leash too bad. The guy towing me was pretty gentle so I found it easy to hold on. That said if he had pulled hard suddenly the clip on the end of his leash could certainly have done some damage. Probably better to grab the handle if you can - but given it took about ten tries before I managed grab the leash, grabbing the handle could be harder the you think.

What was disconcerting was the kite kept on trying to flip over as it was being dragged. My advice is don't try to fight it- let it flip over from its back onto leading edge and back again- another reason to make sure the lines are well secured. Just be prepared to let the leash go if it gets too much.


Yeah Gorgo - saw those boofheads doing lessons with the under inflated 12m bandit at Brighton as I walked back. They looked like they were going to take out some people near the south end of the beach.


Couple of other thoughts:
. Having helped out more people than have helped me - I realise I ask the wrong thing. Normally I come up to people and say 'are you ok?' Most of the time they give a sheepish grin and say yes.

Having just had the roles reversed, I realise that when in trouble I wouldn't ask someone to tow me. Towing is risky for the person towing, and I don't know their skills well enough.

The lesson for me is that next time I come across someone in trouble I will be specific in what help I am offering: ''shall I take your board in' or 'you won't make it in, let me tow you' is a much more useful thing to say to a slightly embarrassed floater than 'are you ok?'

I have towed people with their fingers hooked over the top of the harness. It's big and secure and no drama if they let go.

I have tried the leash but that's scary because one end is attached to the chicken loop. It pulls the chicken loop to one side and gets a bit sketchy. The potential for that to go wrong is massive.

Rule 1 of any first aid/rescue is to not put yourself at risk. Doing your first rescue is not the time to teach yourself to tow people, especially if you're not really solid at kiting in the first place. Better to practice with a mate on quiet day. It's quite fun to play towing body drags with women.

why would you leave the leash clipped to the CL? that's asking for trouble. clip it on the harness at both ends so it forms a loop- it's easy to grab and there's no risk of the clip slipping trough the towee's(?) fingers

That's better and I've done that, but you still run the risk of the kite coming unhooked. Both are kind of scary, being unhooked with a load attached to the leash , being unhooked with a load attached to you and no leash attached to the kite . Both result in a very panicked "Let go!!!!"

Simplest and best to grab the handle on the back or hook your hand over the top of the back of the harness.

I think David had a spare leash. Personally I always kite with a spare after a scare I had 6 or 7 years ago. I wouldn't recommend using the leash attached to the kite or disengaging the leash.

Using it as a loop is a good idea. As is practicing towing. It is easy to mess up your approach and get caught up in the kite or any floating lines.

On the side-topic, I've been out the past few months with a broken rib (yes, from kiting) but I'm ready to go again and will be offering practical masterclasses in how to semi-diplomatically persuade people who are being stupid with kites at Brighton to desist.

And yes, just cos advanced kiters are out in Northerlies doesn't mean everybody should be. Many times I've rocked up, nobody out, and decided to give it a whirl. This seems to bring all the ditherers out - "look, he can stay upwind in this, it must be ok." Then, 30 minutes later there's a procession of rookies trying to relaunch as they drift past the reef at the South end.

At the risk of labouring the point - unless you're a solid intermediate to advanced rider (not so much in terms of tricks but ability to read shifts and work them to your advantage in both lulls and gusts) and comfy with the idea of a long swim in, the give Brighton a miss in Northerlies. (And chino, surely you're up to taming those crazy offshore gusts by now!? Lookin forward to a session with you soon bud.)

If you're going to tow someone, yeah, be sure to approach slowly from upwind to avoid their lines (which should be wound up by the time it comes to a tow anyway).

See y'all soon.