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Safety question from newbie

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Flanner89
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Re: Safety question from newbie

Postby Flanner89 » Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:40 pm

Thanks for all the great advice. Nothing beats hearing from the voice of experience. I'm trying to move my trip up to October now so I don't have to wait so long for my lessons. Please keep the tips coming.

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edt
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Re: Safety question from newbie

Postby edt » Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:29 pm

Flanner89 wrote:Been windsurfing for 27 years and am thinking about going to a 3 day kite camp in April to try out the sport. One item I just can't understand: I hear about continual safety improvements on the kites over the years yet there are still experienced kiters getting killed. I can't tell if it's:
  • the safety equipment isn't 100% reliable even when enabled (i.e doesn't release power fast enough)
I think the safety equipment is reliable on just about every kite, but there are a number of ways you can get into an accident, you touched on one of them:

"The victims didn't have time to react"

If you get lofted while your kite is on land and it's gusty, it's possible to travel hundreds of feet in a second, it's impossible to react in time. That's why everyone tells you that you are supposed to keep your kite not directly overhead but pointed towards water. It's easy to get complacent though because getting lofted like this is rare: there are only about 15 kiteboarding fatalities worldwide per year.

And there's another thing that can happen with all water sports, and that is if you get knocked out you can die because you drown. This can happen wakeboarding or even sailing a little lazer, the boom comes around too quick, knocks you out and you drown in 3 feet of water.

So yeah, wearing a helmet will help protect you but . . . most people don't bother with a helmet.

Another way to drown is if for one reason or another you let your lines go slack. This is dangerous because then the lines can very easily loop around your leg and if you power up again, the kite can drag you underwater.

About 1,000 people per year are killed while golfing, now I know there are more golfers then kiteboarders, and they die while getting a heart attack trying to blast a ball out of a sand trap, but still that gives you a little perspective, since golf is just about the most sedentary safest sport you can play, but people still die playing it.

One of the reasons that I brought up golf is that you hear of somewhere around one or two dozen golfers dying per year from a lightning strike, yet, I have not once ever heard of a kiteboarder getting struck by lightning. I know people have gotten a zap when jumping and picking up a charge in a storm, but in all this time, I would think that there would be at least one kiteboard that got hit, but nope, all the fatalities are from either a crash that knocks you out so you drown, getting dragged underwater from a slack line, getting smashed by a gust while on land (or kiting in onshore winds) . I've have heard of one kiteboarder that got bit by shark and died that's pretty rare. You would think that some kiters would have died from getting swept out to sea, but it seems that they always get rescued.

It seems that most fatalities happen when a wind gust picks you up and smashes you against the land and there is simply no time to pull the safety.

here's a good quote from http://www.kitemare.com/Kitemares.htm

"I'm old enough, and experienced enough that I should have known better. I've windsurfed for nearly twenty years, barefoot water-skied, skydived, flown helicopters and experimental jets and spent my professional life. A windsurfer launched me in a gust somewhat downwind. The last thing I remember is the pull felt VERY STRONG as he launched it. I awoke dragging to a stop by my safety harness on my wrist. I had launched about 80 or 90 ft. onto a hard divot made by a truck going through soft ground weeks before. X rays showed eight rib fractures and a punctured lung. And I was lucky. Nothing I've experienced prepared me for the sudden acceleration that can occur in a gust. There is do way I could have unhooked! Expecting to unhook is like trying to catch a bullet after pulling the trigger of a gun!"

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Re: Safety question from newbie

Postby piccio » Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:06 am

Start with 12 14 knots only,sandy space around you, new kite and boom , rig and prepare calm with time ,never alone.
ciao

FredBGG
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Re: Safety question from newbie

Postby FredBGG » Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:44 am

Speed of reaction is the most important thing.

Do a search on the forum for SRR or Safety Release Reflex.

I recomend it as a daily practice.

Cheers

Fred

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Re: Safety question from newbie

Postby longwhitecloud » Tue Jul 20, 2010 7:18 am

my advice is buy a trainer kite and use it many times before your course to the stage when you can boss it around and make it do almost anything you want it to. I dont see the point of starting flying a kite from scratch - you may as well be a expert before you start lessons (2m2 kite you want).

. Kite flying and saftey issues are your goal you got most of the other skill. Your course will sort out the safety stuff, you have to become a competent kite flyer first and foremost so you can react correctly to any situation.

On my IKO course years ago teh guy told me don't teach them to loop a trainer kite - well i think that is the biggest crock of shit ever, sure you explain the possible severe consequences of doing it with a full size kite, but as a kite flying expert you are 100 times less likely to mess up getting out of the shit if your kite starts to loop accidently...


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