xenosd wrote:What seems strange to me is the fact that non kiters take the responsibility of trying to launch you up. I personally select known fellow kiters to launch my kite.
non kiters have zero clue.
So a fellow kite girl at the launch sees how windy it is and sees some spectators and thinks it would be a good idea to have one of them hold her down by the handpass loop while she walks out to the water. Spectators are clueless don't ask them to do anything don't even ask them to hand you your board, don't let them do ANYTHING.
The spectator comes right up to her grabs the bar by one end and kiteloops them both for a terrifying trip a trip to the hospital and a few stitches luckily nobody died.
Spectator obviously thought she wanted help with her control bar. They don't know the difference between a handle pass loop and a control bar.
Do no ask spectators for help. Do not ask them to hold your kite do not ask them to hold your board do not ask them to hold your beer.
It is ok for them to take pictures. That is the only thing you ever want a spectator to do.
I was out kiting last month solo and some spectators nearly called the sheriff. "We saw the wind pulled you in, the wind pull you out, sometimes the wind pulled you high up in the air but you couldn't get back to shore so we were about to call the sheriff."
They do not know anything.
No matter how terrifying the conditions are, it is always safer to launch and land solo than to ask for help from a bystander. And if it is too windy to launch solo just wait for a kiter, don't use a spectator.