Self-rescue question ...

[Don Monnot]

I'd add to the objections about pulling yourself to your kite, and then wrapping up the lines. Not good advice in certain conditions. Where I kite there's often a lot of weeds in the water that snag lines like crazy and make the kite do strange things. Wrapping up the lines as you go reduces that tendency. Pulling yourself to the kite without wrapping up the lines as you go has (I observed it twice this season) resulted in lines getting wrapped around body parts and tensioning up. In both instances the water was super cold, and the kiter was so snagged they couldn't swim and had to drift in with really light wind. A slow process while you're approaching hypothermia. One was a rookie, but the other guy has been kiting for several years. The rookie was in Stage 1 hypothermia and the other guy was just damn cold. Had either one been farther from shore, it could have been much worse.

Don

[kitezilla]

I'd add to the objections about pulling yourself to your kite, and then wrapping up the lines. Not good advice in certain conditions. Where I kite there's often a lot of weeds in the water that snag lines like crazy and make the kite do strange things. Wrapping up the lines as you go reduces that tendency. Pulling yourself to the kite without wrapping up the lines as you go has (I observed it twice this season) resulted in lines getting wrapped around body parts and tensioning up. In both instances the water was super cold, and the kiter was so snagged they couldn't swim and had to drift in with really light wind. A slow process while you're approaching hypothermia. One was a rookie, but the other guy has been kiting for several years. The rookie was in Stage 1 hypothermia and the other guy was just damn cold. Had either one been farther from shore, it could have been much worse.

Don

Don brings up a good point.

I posted this response two years ago, when this subject (winding up the lines vs. swimming up one line) came up...nothing has changed, since then, and so I recommend going to this link, for a complete discussion of this issue;

"Here is a link to a recent thread on Best kiteforum. You should read this to become familiar with the current thoughts on the two major self-rescue techniques. Then, you should take a lesson from a certified instructor. Ask the instructor the questions that are raised in this thread, and question the instructor on the technicalities that pertain to your specific kite:

http://forum.bestkiteboarding.com/viewtopic.php?t=6877


If you want a complete list of the threads dealing with self-rescue, then, do a search on Kiteforum using the key word: "self rescue" and author "kitezilla". I have been involved in most of the discussions here for the last 5 years or so. There is a lot to consider and practice, before you will become competent at self-rescue."