Video of Ram Air Inversion Disaster

[andylc]

What a disastrous 10 metre walk back to the beach, to admit to himself there actually wasn't any wind.

[joriws]

Inferior kites as it inverted and bursted creating dangerous water anchor - see how exhausted the kiter was. Almost died. It's true..

https://youtu.be/ragHH47IrBk

[Pump me up]

What a disastrous 10 metre walk back to the beach, to admit to himself there actually wasn't any wind.

Ok, ok, I concede that in THIS CASE the walk back to the beach wasn't too bad. But in MANY situations, walk/swim backs with ram airs ARE disastrous. ALL kiters experiences a few gear failures (eg broken lines) and COMPLETE wind dropouts every year. Inflatables can be "sailed" (self-rescued) or swum to shore. If things are REALLY bad, the inflatable structure can support your weight, eg http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2368004

In contrast, ALL ram airs eventually become hopelessly waterlogged, un-relaunchable, and unable to support body weight.
eg http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2346569
eg http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php? ... 90#p608890
eg http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php? ... 6&p=617396
eg http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php? ... 2&p=704984
eg http://www.foilzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8130

The following is an example of "diraklib's" experience with ram airs in wind dropouts:

"the SA-19 is huge and can whack you silly if you let it get down wind of you in a low wind launch. It is downright scary - be ready with the QR at all times if not up and riding!!! I can't say I agree with claims that you can ride the SA-19 in anything lower than a steady 8 knots. I made a personal choice to not ride the SA-19 any more. It went down twice in lulls and managed to bow-tie on the way down - there was no way to relaunch. I was not as lucky as others that self rescued. My kite was full of water by the time I dragged my very tired and frustrated a$$ to shore. It sounds simple, "wrap the lines around the bar, fold the kite in half, roll it up on your board and paddle in"... noooo... there are lines everywhere under water that wrap around your feet as you are trying to manipulate the kite. You just pray that a gust won't pop the kite up and slice of an appendage. The kite ... is just too scary when it goes down. My attitude now is - if my LEI won't fly, I shouldn't be on the water. Anyone interested in a slightly used SA2-19m??? Cheap???"

For the full epiphany, checkout http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php? ... 9&start=40

The following is the experience of "pmaggie" with ram airs in wind dropouts:

I rode foils only a few times, so these are really my two cents. The problem I experieced with foils in very light wind when they suddenly fall. In my home spot, in very light wind days, sometimes the wind really goes to zero for 1 minute or so. When this happen, both foils and inflatables suddenly fall. In this cases, my inflatable, since it's far heavier than a foil, fall directly into the water with no line tangling and I just have to wait for a gust to relaunch (when possible, that means about 7 knots for my Core 17). When a foil falls with no wind, being very light, it's common that its lines roll over it and became completely tangled. At that point, it's not that easy to relaunch.
The other big problem with foils in very light wind is when the wind completely stops. With an inflatable, you just get your kite and swim attached to your little floating boat. With a foil, you have 20 sqm of tissue to carry home with you!

For the full story, checkout: http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2376332

Here is the experience of "FredBGG" with a line failure:

The other day I had a front line fail.
Wind was slightly off shore...
I really needed a tow to the beach.
I had the kite safely on the 5th line folded in half (flysurfer Foil)
I waved down two kiters.... both expert judging by their riding.
Both refused to help.
One even yelled if you can't relaunch it's your problem.
Anyway after a difficult ordeal in the surf and current I got back to the beach.
I had to rest a bit but my board was still out there.

For the full admission http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2362065
The problem here isn't with the other kiters, it's with Fred's choice of kite. If Fred had an inflatable, he would have been able to "self-rescue" by grabbing the tips and "sailing" to shore. The other kiters refusing to help is understandable: Fred opted for less safe equipment. It's his problem and he shouldn't impose on others to make up for his equipment deficiencies. Also, towing a ram air to shore is like towing a sleeping bag full of water - difficult and dangerous.

[andylc]

Where have you been? You completely failed to hijack the Chrono V3 thread, most disappointing.

[kiterocky]

Is it possible to perform self rescue with ram air..? Like with inflatable using grab handle...or too many lines?

[foilholio]

Yes you can self rescue, you can roll them up and swim. You can also avoid collapses like that with over sheeting ie not depowering like in the video. You recover from inversions or twists and relaunch, you can relaunch with water in the kite, you can swim with a kite with water in it, you can file them off their bridles.

[abel]

Respect to the guy that dared to surf under such no wind conditions.
Perhaps with an hydrofoil he'll be more successful.

And yeah,... I wonder if a LEI with an Hydrofoil would do the job in such conditions.

[edt]

Is it possible to perform self rescue with ram air..? Like with inflatable using grab handle...or too many lines?

Yes. Now, of course there is an element of truth in "Pump me up" screed against the ram airs.

It is absolutely true that if you are kiting a few miles offshore you are safer with an inflatable and the simple reason is that if the wind completely dies and you can't relaunch and the current is pushing you out to sea and you can't get back. Well, you can turn an inflatable upside down climb up inside the kite and lay there waiting for a rescue and the airplane will be able to see you much more easily from the sky. When you self rescue on a foil kite there's this procedure you go through, you grab the end of the kite, undo the flap so the air can get out, roll up the kite like a log and then secure it in place. I always get water in the kite when I do this, so after swimming back to shore, it takes me a while as I get all the water out of the kite. Drying is as fast as an inflatable and you can put the kite back into the air even if it holds 10 pounds or so of water to shake it out and help dry it quicker.

The good part is that swimming back to shore with a foil kite is much better exercise.

[PullStrings]

He's dicking around pulling the depower strap once the kite is up when it should have been pulled in / trimmed before kite was launched

You see a small twist in his front lines it is not a very big deal but if you rig your lines properly you should not have that

Terrible first dive of the kite to get going since he stalls it at edge of window and it balls up with zero board speed

Lucky guy that it happened in knee deep water close to him and not in the deep end of the slick pool...wind seem to blow offshore...which is the worst for disabled ram airs

Amazing how fast the kite sucked it water....disastrous indeed

This rider is quite inexperienced and should not be on a ram air...& there was plenty of wind 10-15 knots...kite has trouble inflating...you can see the sleeves flapping flapping flapping

With proper training / instructions with a tube kite you get out of this stall situation with a quick tight downloop

Hello PMU

[grigorib]

Holy dammit!!!!
Did guy live? I hope rescue came fast.
We all need to keep in mind that incidents like that is exactly why we lose beach access.
Also it is a danger to sea life - fish gets really stressed seeing that.