Let's talk risk (KOTA)

[plummet]

Timing a kicker incorrectly can be very dangerous! Ask Neil Hutchinson, who ran into a wave that just had closed at his approach...he came with speed...and his shinbone went through his knee...it's like hitting a wall.

i saw something else interesting - launch desperation....

We spend time hunting around for the perfect kickers to launch from in super high winds as we know we can go into a messed up rotation and slam hard as a result.

In the closing minutes I saw riders try and use kickers that were just wrong....

i think in super high winds i dont like the idea of risking a kicker that is going to throw me out of sync in the dying seconds.

..

Yep. You really want to hit the kicker before it pitches. Any amount of white wash can stuff you up. But at the same time you want it peeking just before pitching..... That gives you the best height.

Personally this is what i love most about kitesurfing. Getting those wicked days of good swell period, nice bit of flat between the waves, sweet ramps combined with a howling cross shore..... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST.

[Starsky]

The facts are pretty simple. A board off is a dangle based trick. Doesn't matter who does it. Your buddy, Toby, Tom or Kevin. They are suspended more or less directly beneath the kite when they do them. Thats not really the direction scoring has moved over the past decade, be it freestyle or KOTA. You can spin to win, and do whatever with the board while your at it, all of which can add up to super degrees of difficulty, but it simply lacks the power of horizontal lines, the airspeeds, and the hot landings we see in todays freestyle and mega loops. Add a boardoff to a loop and its the loop that is the risk component. Take away the loop and you just have a dangle. Take the loop away from Arron's KGB or Jessie's flat 3 and you still have a powered move with no dangle. Kota are not looking for dangle. Their looking to avoid it and explicitly detail that in their criteria. Even if you boost to the moon and glide forever down the beach getting the crowd to oooooh and aaaah, your not gonna win. Yeah I'd say thats simple.

Again, no one is saying you can't do them, or shouldn't do them, or that when Kevin or Tom bust a huge one they are not great examples of kiteboarding. They are simply not the future of KOTA andy more than course boards are the future of racing.

Most of us around here are average Joes some of us boost big. some can't. All of us have plenty of dangle in our game. Doesn't mean we want to see it in competition. We simply expect more.

[Starsky]

Maybe, the judging should be changed, that the riders have to do 1 trick out of all 4 big air categories:

- megaloop
- handle pass
- boardoff
- simple (like rotation, deadman etc)

This way judging will be much easier, plus a wider range of tricks shown. Then the judges, and spectators can much easier follow and understand the results.

If Red Bull would want that, is another question. But, for me the best of all judging possible.

OMG! Trust me, it's not your style, its simply you!

[Toby]

Starsky, you need to understand that your opinion is not the one of the whole world.
I have different talks then you. And it is clear: they love boardoffs. And yes, they want to see it at KOTA and are bored by other tricks, that are real dangling. The boardoffs shown in KOTA are not dangling, a high handlepass is.

Accept other opinions. And don't tell me I don't.

[Starsky]

I remember once we had an argument about 7-8 years ago about the future direction of freestyle competitions.

I'm no freestyle fan, but proposed that we would one day see all the competitors on the tour competing in boots. You of course were horrified by this.

You were so out of touch and it's evident that will never change.

[Toby]

because it happened what I assumed: it got boring for the mass. Why are KOTA and Big Air back? It is not boring for the mass.

Now back to you.

[longwhitecloud]

I think any multi rotation in these winds is risky - board off or not, i bust out a big double in high winds and slammed about 10 times harder that any wake style trick i did. - second rotation i am flying the kite forward while off axis/upsidedown on the second rotation as i know i have to do - pulled bar for forwards as usuall - but too much and downlooped myself so i couldnt breath for quite some time... i really thought i had made all my ribs into spare ribs!

Kite design can make a big difference to the risk - slow kites like the fuel/combat/legacy have a different riding style to the super fast ones - torch not suuper fast but still way fast in my mind - it was a torch that kicked my ass - they slowed them down this year, i got a 2014... my ankles do like the fast kites for kiteloops and dont like them for rotations!

sending good vibes to lewis.....

[Toby]

another topic of risk:

GEAR !

I must say, I am impressed, how good the gear holds up.
But, we all know that stuff can break...this is the worst, since then the rider has no chance of bailing out in whatever way.

While kiting I had:

- broken steering lines
- line pulled out of bar end
- line slipped off knot (after powered 1.5 hour session, one would assume it is tight...)
- broken strut
- exploded front tube
- broken chicken loop (worn out, but you cannot see it really)
- broken depower line (worn out)
- broken 5th line (worn out)
- chicken loop opened
- harness hook broke
- harness opened and ripped harness apart
- bar end ripped off

Luckily I never had a broken bar.

Imagine this happens to one of the riders in a megaloop in these conditions.

Unfortunately, it is a question of time until this shit will happen.

[longwhitecloud]

i know nothing about breaking kit during kiteloops except at exact point of take off or landing with kite still looping and your an anchor in the water (lines snap)- have snapped lines like this.

Has anyone in history ever heard of anyone snapping a line at altitude? I just don't know - may have heard just a rumor once ever..
even boosts i have never really heard of gear failure at altitude... always at takeoff - max load tension.

I have broken absolutely everything including bars, depowers and even 2 lines and a bar both at the same time. I did blow out a leading edge at low altitude but it was a very worn kite...!

pre flight check - just another example of how kiteboarding isnt sailing and why i am so against kitesurfing associating with sailing at all.

[Westozzy]

Alright starsky lets for one instant entertain once again your definition of risk... The loop.

Plenty of rotations with loops, check.

Unhooked with loops, check.

Full Board off with loop ..... Ummmmmm

Rotations with board offs .....ummmmmmm.

Even a huge King of deadman. Nope.

Even in the name of variation it would be worth doing.

Although as you said the best riders in the world must not bother doing them cause they are too simple.

The more I read your stuff the more I'm realising you've never pushed yourself to any level at least in the board off camp. I would suspect the others as well.

It's not personal man I respect what you say most the time but right now my bullshit meter is screaming off the chart.