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Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Forum with lots of safety info - a must for newbees
FredBGG
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Re: Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Postby FredBGG » Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:22 pm

Toby wrote:I always give the comparison with breaking on a car. It is a trained reflex as well, there is no thinking.
I will use this.... very good analogy. Says it all in a few words.

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Re: Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Postby Nugget » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:07 am

There is almost zero chance of someone pulling a safety release in mid air during a lofting. The only thing you can do is AVOID LOFTING and the conditions that cause it! There is no reason in my book that anyone should be lifted like that. You should have your hands in the center of the bar and your kite low when conditions are extreme. If you do manage to get lofted, you will be in control. The guy in Florida seemed to have held the bar the whole ride, thus powering up his kite. Some people just aren't meant to kite it seems.

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Re: Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Postby cometa » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:42 am

No one knows what they'll do in an emergency situation until it occurs. You can practice releasing all the different quick releases while you're standing on the beach, or when the wind conditions are light, but until the real thing happens, only the end result will be the witness of whether someone reacted correctly or in a timely fashion. Pilots use simulators to practice emergency scenarios and procedures, and also have a check list handy. We don't have those luxuries, but we can practice the 'what if's." Put yourself in the same position as the kiter in the recent video. Imagine yourself in each phase of his predicament, from the first feeling that this was too much power for him, to flying across A1A to hitting the final obstacle. Rehearse every step where you think you could have prevented this if it were you. Make a list of possible "what if" scenarios that could affect you while kiting, from launches to landings. Then write down what you would do if, "this happened' or "that happened". Talk to yourself, rehearse it out loud. If you don't know what the correct procedure is, forums are a great place to ask. And every time you read of an incident happening, on this forum or any other, go over it as if it was you, even down to the most elementary incident. Research shows that with experience comes complacency. 10, 000 hour pilots forget to do simple things like fill the fuel tanks, put the landing gear down, or forget their maps and charts. It's the same in any endeavor.

So when someone gets hurt like the Ft. Lauderdale kiter, try to recall, as you are criticizing his actions, what it felt like when you panicked at something. For a while afterward, I'm sure you turned the scenario over and over in your mind, so that you wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Let's hope Kevin recovers enough to be able to make those assessments and apply them to his riding. And may we all learn from his unfortunate accident.

Buenos Vientos y Sea Seguro (Good Winds and Be Safe)
Paco

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Re: Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Postby perroloco » Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:17 am

In my opinion the biggest mistake is to practice by looking at the release system. Your memory should be exercised by feel. I'm pretty sure that chances are high that in an emergency situation your eyes may be looking to another place. It's just like typewriting without looking. Imagine if you played xbox and had to look at each button you pushed.

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Re: Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Postby adams420 » Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:34 am

I totally agree with the SRR!!!

Kind of like riding a motorcycle, it's not a question of IF you are going to crash but instead a question of WHEN.
Same with flying a kite i think... it's not an issue of "you might one day have a problem" but instead an issue of "One of these days you WILL encounter a problem, and your preparedness might make all the difference in the world"

Something else i think is almost as important as the SRR... acute awareness of the current situation. I have yet to fly my kite, so i am not sure if my following idea is any good or not, but it makes sense to me.

Everyone practices flying their kite with one hand right? If you are coming onto the beach, and you know the weather is sketchy, why not already have a hand on the release? only makes sense to me... that way, if you even start to get lofted you can react instantly and maybe just get flicked across the beach like a booger and avoid the adventerous flight...

Same rule could apply to a crowded beach landing, or whatever else type of landing might get hairy...

And it would be easier than flying with one hand to put your board on because you could still easily keep an eye on your kite while landing one handed... I mean after all, it is all about kite control right???

i dunno, just trying to be helpful...

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Re: Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Postby FredBGG » Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:55 am

perroloco wrote:In my opinion the biggest mistake is to practice by looking at the release system. Your memory should be exercised by feel. I'm pretty sure that chances are high that in an emergency situation your eyes may be looking to another place. It's just like typewriting without looking. Imagine if you played xbox and had to look at each button you pushed.
Good point PerroLoco.

I forgot to make that clear too.

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Re: Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Postby FredBGG » Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:59 am

Let me add to this thread that SSR is no golden goose solution.
Holwever much you practice it and you even become the fasterst quick release slinger
in the wild west, it is no replacement for making the right choices.

One thing for sure. If you are caught by suprise it increases your chances of survival and avoiding injury.

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Re: Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Postby Nugget » Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:06 pm

When I got into skydiving my instructor asked if I am one of those people that catch something they knocked over before it hits the ground or does it hit the ground before I realized I knocked it over. Some people just react slower then others. I was out last fall on an Ozone Frenzy WAY overpowered in gusty 30+. I saw my kite collapse, then get ready to power up again through the window. The second it started to pull me I pulled the safety. Had I waited a hair longer I assure you I would be in heaps of pain. You have to react quick in this sport and be sensible. I learned never to put that kite up in anything over 18.

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Re: Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Postby I Like Ozone Kites » Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:52 pm

great thing to do

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Re: Safety Release Reflex (SRR) please read!

Postby afflatus » Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:53 pm

adams420 wrote:I totally agree with the SRR!!!

Kind of like riding a motorcycle, it's not a question of IF you are going to crash but instead a question of WHEN.
Same with flying a kite i think... it's not an issue of "you might one day have a problem" but instead an issue of "One of these days you WILL encounter a problem, and your preparedness might make all the difference in the world"

Something else i think is almost as important as the SRR... acute awareness of the current situation. I have yet to fly my kite, so i am not sure if my following idea is any good or not, but it makes sense to me.

Everyone practices flying their kite with one hand right? If you are coming onto the beach, and you know the weather is sketchy, why not already have a hand on the release? only makes sense to me... that way, if you even start to get lofted you can react instantly and maybe just get flicked across the beach like a booger and avoid the adventerous flight...

Same rule could apply to a crowded beach landing, or whatever else type of landing might get hairy...

And it would be easier than flying with one hand to put your board on because you could still easily keep an eye on your kite while landing one handed... I mean after all, it is all about kite control right???

i dunno, just trying to be helpful...

Welcome to the show...

Might as well get up to speed on the state of the art thinking you'll find here.

First off, this SRR training is not a complete waste of time, one should be intimately familiar with the gear and have a reasoned outlook on exactly what you can, and cannot do:



On that note, consider, you can hold a kite with one hand, but you cannot steer it right and left with one hand unless you have a stopper to keep your kite from de-powering....

This is a no, no for beach work.

You can steer your kite down one handed but only in more or less favorable conditions

This of course renders the one handed landing to a fair weather beach trick; read: style points will be awarded.

As far as DICEY goes one must make a choice

1. Stick with it and devote 110% to keeping the kite under control as you jockey it down.

This requires two hands on the bar and complete concentration

or

2. just pull it.

This is done deliberately, it is purely a premeditated act.
----------------------------------------

The third option (halve your attention) is just not and option at all when it's DICEY

it is a fair weather beach move done for style points..

Practice all you want, but staying on the ground requires you pull the QR before you go airborne.

I'll say it again, "staying on the ground requires you pull the QR before you go airborne.


I ask you.

" IF YOU PLAN TO RELY ON PURE REFLEX," what are your chances you'll be still be on the ground when your hand gets the signal to flinch itself into action?

SRR is a non premeditated act--No, it's something you hope to accomplish within milliseconds after it goes bad and without thought...

and that's just how it is....and that, to be clear, is something meant to replace your need to think...(eh?)

Now, think it over, take your time....and I think you'll see a down side to purely SRR mentality...

Not anti SRR, far from it, just not buying the efficacy of it for beach work.

I think it's just another side effect of we kiters having Shit for Brains

Afflatus

There's no doubt, it's what you think !


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