finally I`v got time enough to tell You buddies funny kitemare from recent past.
Couple weeks ago before this snowbreak began all over Europe I decided to go for snowkiting but since didnt found any suitable place with snow coverage thick enough I went to the frozen lake nearby which was shining like a glass ...so to say "will be faster". In a beginning everything was ok and I had a real adrenalin rush. Later gave for a while to keep the kite in a neutral position to my cousin but while moving back safety lash on my hand suddenly gust hit and I flew away with enormous speed and since I was not hanging in de-power loop controlling of kite was too hard. After a short while of struggling I found myself dragged well downwind and discovered high voltage wires on that beach. If I had a safety lash - no problem, just let a kite go but now I was fighting till the last moment and released bar only in a front of wires in order to get kite flying over the electricity line with a hope that kite will fly up and lift the bar over the wires as well....that wasn't a case and kite hit electricity line straight in between the kite and bar. As kite lines wrapped around the electricity wires and tightened all three wires together, shortcut like thunder occurred:) ...I stood there confused for a half of minute and then realized that it can cost not only the price of bar and kitelines. Some ice fishermen nearby advised me to escape `cos, as he found out by phone, part of city have no electricity anymore. I took a brutally landed kite(luckily no damage), left bar hanging 10m high but still decided to wait for local service guys and with a help of good negotiation skills and their manager who was a bit related to extreme sports got back the bar. Technicians arrived on two minivans and later skylift joined too. They said that my "peace of art" costs at least 800$. In a beginning I though they are going to kill me, ended up with a lost lines and a bit of nerve cells...
Only afterwards I begun to analyze what if:
- I would be then hooked in...wind was strong enough to lift me for 10m up to the wires
- even if bar could fly over the wires, there was a road behind them
So...I know what You experienced guys will say and I have read all of those accident logs but man is prone to learn only from his own mistakes. My perception was that just to release the bar is enough to avoid any emergency therefore I even didn`t noticed the trap downwind…
But from other hand I am even glad of such a result since got good school for cheap money and in a future will be much more cautious.
...however…pity, my cousin had a camera but we forgot in that mess to take any photos of accident
ERX