PSA: Check your harness - Friend of mine got luck, really lucky

[lindseym]

Greetings all,
A good friend got really lucky on Monday when then webbing on his harness snapped while he was at the summit point on a boost. The wind was about 35mph and he was pretty high up. He landed in about 4 feet of water and hit the bottom. He's recovering now with a minor concussion and but expected to make a full recovery. I grabbed these images from the original facebook post from his gf who is also a kiter. Please note that this is not intended at all to brand bash or speak negatively of Ride Engine. I am simply sharing this because it was a strong reminder to me to check my harness webbing and I wanted to share this in the hopes that you will do the same. Ride Engine is a fantastic brand and this is in no way to dissuade anyone from buying their products.

I liked what she wrote in the original post so here's an excerpt.
The point of the post is this: If you have a Ride Engine please check where you cinch down your strap when you tighten and lessen when placing the harness on. It was determined the failure point is right where the strap drags across the serrated teeth Ride Engine uses to “bite” into the strap. Essentially if you do this enough over time is basically saws away at the nylon strap to the point of failure. Let’s keep this focused on safety and not brand bashing. We are friends with Coleman (original inventor of Ride Engine before Slingshot purchased it) and still has his custom Ride Engine harness Coleman made him 5 years ago.

[Kitetwin-1]

Just checked my R/E harness, 3 years of use 400 sessions, no wear at all

[tautologies]

Yeah that sounds sketchy and definitely something we all need to keep an eye on. Another lesson is, of course, to not boost super high in 4 feet of water.

[FLandOBX]

Hey, Lindsey. Sorry to hear about your friend. This is a good reminder to check all gear periodically. Thanks for that.

I've had harness straps and spreader bar hooks break at the peak of a boost, but I've always managed to "crash gently". If a strap breaks on one side, you're usually supported by the strap on the other side. You'll be lopsided in the air, but not totally unsupported. Also, if I had to find more than 4 feet of water for a boost, I'd never leave the surface. 4 feet is a lot of cushion.

I'm wondering how your friend ended up with a concussion and in the hospital. Did he hit his head on the board, or lose control of the kite and slam his head into the water? I don't want to take anything away from the purpose behind your post, but I'm curious exactly how the injury occurred.

[lindseym]

Hey, Lindsey. Sorry to hear about your friend. This is a good reminder to check all gear periodically. Thanks for that.

I've had harness straps and spreader bar hooks break at the peak of a boost, but I've always managed to "crash gently". If a strap breaks on one side, you're usually supported by the strap on the other side. You'll be lopsided in the air, but not totally unsupported. Also, if I had to find more than 4 feet of water for a boost, I'd never leave the surface. 4 feet is a lot of cushion.

I'm wondering how your friend ended up with a concussion and in the hospital. Did he hit his head on the board, or lose control of the kite and slam his head into the water? I don't want to take anything away from the purpose behind your post, but I'm curious exactly how the injury occurred.

Yea, I am wondering the same myself and haven't spoke with him yet. I think it was from him falling on the side and the bar had gotten away from him so he wasnt able to redirect the kite too much. From what I understand he slammed down pretty hard...belly flop competition winner style. I'll get more details this week.

[JakeFarley]

Had the same problem years ago with an old harness. If the strap goes into the buckle at the same place every time you tighten it, it will eventually eat through it. I caught it prior to failure and doubled it over and sewed the strap so it would wear at another spot on the strap. Hope your friend heals quickly.

[gator1]

Dual compression straps are the best in my opinion. Spread load over 4 straps on one side instead of two, and if one webbing breaks you still have another webbing holding in place.

The old Ride Engine webbing designs were flawed with that one thin webbing to hold down the spreader bar. All the weight of the spreader bar is taken by the bottom webbing attaches to the harness. A major fail in design that was there so you couldnt use other brand's spreader bar.

The new Ride Engine dual compression straps from 2018 is a big improvement.

[Toby]

Hopefully he is ok.

I always have wear on my harness webbing.
And that is without teeth. It is a single point, but some cm wide, but still wears off.
I then have it cut, take the wear out and then they sew it together again until it wears off again.

[nothing2seehere]

If you watch Antons videos - 'learning to Fly', he goes into all the wear areas he has identified on harnesses over the years. Its not just the wear at the clip. He mentions wear and failure at the point the straps are stitched into the harness. Possibly worth buying Episode 2 of the series just for that information alone? Good videos all the same.

[Toby]

Yes, I have that problem too.

But luckily not anymore breaking hooks, which I had with dakine.