Hi, I hope to let you guys know what happened to me in order to prevent repetition.
It was my 10th or 11th day Kiting. I launched from a palm studded island, on the edge of the island with the wind 14-18 knots. My wife launches and she does it well, and I had a few good rides, and then I come back to the island to chat and have some water, she is all alone there. Some other friends had left a rope of about 30 ft long with a caribiner on the end tied to the last tree in a row, about 5 ft up. I would kite up close, keeping the kite high because of turbulence from the palm trees, coast to a stop and then the board sinks in about a foot of water, I step out of the straps, grab the board, and park the kite on the water in the direction I just came from. I walk back to the caribiner hook it in the chicken loop, and take pressure off the harness, unhook, and then disconnect the safety leash. The kite just lies there, and I had done this many times before.
To have another session, its the reverse order, approach bar, kite is lying at the edge of the window, nicely parked on the sea, I attach safety line, hook in, take the strain, unclip caribiner, and grab the bar, fly the kite up, and away we go..
EXCEPT...
I walked up hooked in my safety, hooked in the harness, and could not get the caribiner undone because of sand, then.....A lull, combined with possibly a wave moved the kite downwind, it lost wind, it turned on its back, the wave left, the wind gust came, (All of this was worked out later I saw none of it) The kite went straight through the power zone to the opposite side of where it was parked, I was at the apex of a line that went from the tree to me, then to the kite like an 'L' or to imagine it better, like a drawn bow string with arrow attached.
I was plucked out of the footstraps, off my feet and lost consciousness from the whiplash, I flew (According to witnesses) horizontally and like the arrow released hit a palm tree that was exactly 30 feet, the same as the rope, away from the anchor tree.
Two CAT scans, severe concussion, bleeding from nose, ears, and vomiting, back pain for 4 months, headache for a month, no beer for 6 WEEKS!!!! etc...
What did I learn?
1 Keep the anchor line short, like one foot. That way you cannot be flung in an arc of acceleration.
2 When hooking in, stand facing the kite, and don't take your eyes off it, learn to hook in by feel alone.
3 Kiting is safe, but can be dangerous in an instant. I never knew what happened, this is all pieced together after.
4 BEWARE OF SOLID OBJECTS.