Hey guys,

I saw my first bit of REAL wind yesterday afternoon on the Tweed Coast and got my Cabrinha Revolver 11m up and managed to get up and riding for the first time! (absolutely stoked just quietly ) Such an awesome feeling!! I rode mostly downwind and even did about a 1m jump over a wave as I cut east on my toeside! As I was riding however, I dove my kite a little bit too low and it hit the water and crashed. Now as I was going downwind at the time, I continued on the board toward the now stationary kite, slackening my lines. Consequentially, the leading edge fell back downwind and the kite effectively turned inside out and back again, crossing my front and back lines on either side of the kite. I could still fly the kite and I body dragged myself and the board back to the beach but as I was now about 400m from my friends I had nobody to grab and park my kite for me. because it was crossed over I didnt think it was a good idea to ride (back upwind) like that in case it ruined the lines. How do you stop a kite from flying when you are alone!? I couldnt seem to crash the leading edge into the water good enough to make it stay. In the end I moved my saftey leash from just near the chicken loop to the flagging ring, disconnected my chicken loop from the harness, walked my way over and picked up the flagging kite for my 400m upwind walk It was a bit of a pain but I'm just stoked that my first real ride (without teabagging) was in the surf and I even got a jump in!!

I realise that if I turned and cut cross/upwind when the kite crashed that it wouldnt have been able to turn inside out, but has anyone got any other tips for me of what I should have done?

Cheers,

Travis

hey dude. i personally wouldnt worry that much about your lines being twisted if its only turned once the kite still flies fine, i had a xbow 3 had nearly another 2 hours on it with the lines crossed like that .. didnt seem to make any difference. so if you were able to get upwind it would have been fine. Your right the only thing you could have done to aviod your kite doing the back flip is edge harder away from your kite. look as far left or as far right as you can and your board will follow. You did the right the thing with flagging the kite out as well in higher winds sometimes its your only choice. Congrats on your first ride it only gets better from here

sweet as. your first ride on the board is always the most exciting. goon on ya mate!
heh heh ... the "carrying on riding while your kite remains stationery" is a classic.
Firstly, did you never go through the "how to self-rescue/land your kite" when you got lessons!? Not good.
if you managed to get to your kite, without getting tangled in the lines, well-done! but be sure to learn how to properley 'walk-up' your lines to your kite when you're in the water. vitally important as if your kite powers up and you've got a line wrapped around your leg/arm/neck, its tickets for you mate!

Secondly, its OK to ride with your lines inverted. i've done it plenty of times. although it does put additional strain on the lines (like when you do a few loops).
the quicker you can make it back to the beach, the better. then just land, and re-run the lines (or if you know which way to turn it inside out...better!)

actualyl thats a good point.. you can untwist your lines by putting the bar inside the middle two lines then rotating it full circle.. hmm really hard to explain.. but its doable.. ask someone at the beach to show ya :)

Thanks guys, I wasnt too sure about using it with the lines crossed so I just erred on the side of caution (dont wanna hurt my new baby! ;)) In the lesson I had we went through all the safety features and precautions at length but I dont believe we went as far as self launch/landing. I was pretty hungover at my lesson so that may have played a factor I'm glad I got lessons with the instructor I did though, my friend had lessons with a different guy who didnt focus much on safety and put him on a board in the first lesson! Yesterday he ended up getting dragged up the beach and crashed his new kite in the trees! (Both kite and rider are ok thank god!)

I didnt have any trouble walking to the kite, I just kept the flagging line tight and pulled the kite towards me as I walked in. It worked pretty well but I did stand there for a few minutes thinking it through before I attempted it! I just hope the wind is still blowing this weekend, as its time for some flat water practice :D

H20fly, I understand what you mean, I considered it as the best and quickest way to untangle, but when the kite was still powered up it was impossible! Once I'd flagged it I figured I'd end up more tangled than before so I just relaid the lines... unfortunately thats when my mate ended up in the bush so I got a bit spooked and called it a day! (Much to my girlfriend's relief who saw my mate get dragged! )

I think one of the most important things to teach in a lesson is self landing. What fing drugs was ur instructor on to leave it out.

Its totally cool to fly with your lines twisted (I counted 5 once when the old turbo desiels were prown to inverting). My lines ended up snapping at the end (no where near where they used to rub). It does get a little hairy though as there is a lag in the responce time of your kite. Good to see ya out there doing towside airs... just dont end up like me

God damn echostorm! What the hell did you do?? Thats exactly what I'm trying to avoid by being super cautious and attentive to the safety issues! I might have to go back and get another lesson, I just wanted to make sure I was a competant kite flyer before getting a board lesson, and I couldnt help myself so I had to get out on the board! :D

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Travesso said...

God damn echostorm! What the hell did you do??

Read this post:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33639

His review of what happened is a few posts down - just scroll.