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Re: My first long swim

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:13 pm
by edt
jakemoore wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:50 am

Two thoughts on this video from me, a rookie: 1) It looks like the board volume is holding him back in the water start and 2) is possible by keeping the kite high he could have body dragged in rather than swim, but the thought is clouded by stoke.
Board volume always helps, it never hurts on a water start. Notice that right before the kite goes into the water he jerks hard and pulls in on the control bar. This chokes the kite and it goes into the water. You throw the control bar out. He realized his mistake right after the kite hit the water and then tried to jelly fish the kite back up in the air. I would have spent 10 minutes trying to relaunch, the wind looks gusty so you could just wait for a gust to lift the kite up. But I wasn't there maybe he did the best he could. The thing I wanted to see the most was how he wrapped up his kite. I have had so many swims and I can never seem to keep water from getting inside my foil. I need to work on my wrap up technique so I can swim in without towing a water logged foil kite.

Re: My first long swim

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:35 pm
by edt
Dave_5280 wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 1:34 am
I knew and instructor that clipped a short bodyboarding flipper to the back of his harness as a backup, to help him swim, after he had an equipment failure and a long swim in.
I've always wanted to buy those "Shin Fins" you can wear them while kiteboarding but never did it yet.

https://shinfin.com/

Re: My first long swim

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 6:38 pm
by TomW
Thanks for the tips guys.

I've fixed my knife in the pouch and will wear it on my arm.
I've ordered a PLB radio.

I'll learn how to really roll up those lines good.

I'm not too concerned about ditching my foil. Most places I kite it will blow to shore. I don't think I want it to tangle and have additional leash that could tangle.

T

Re: My first long swim

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 6:39 pm
by plummet
The stuff of nightmares. I too agree, wrap the lines completely if you are self-rescuing to the kite. Or leave the like at full extension and swim in. If you have some wind cross on wind leaving the kite at will extension will slowly pull you in as you swim. Then if the wind pulls back up you can relaunch and go. I've done this 3-4 times now.

On a side note i spend a lot of time hundreds of meters out to sea and more foiling. My local has subsurface boulders close to shore. I am conscious of the worst case scenario. I'm thinking of maybe getting and epirb or similar.

Re: My first long swim

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 7:00 pm
by Mossy 757
plummet wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 6:39 pm
I'm thinking of maybe getting and epirb or similar.
A good idea, but for my $$ I think a waterproof portable VHF radio would give you more to work with. EPIRB is a passive beacon, whereas hailing the local coast guard station or any nearby boater on channel 16 can give you more opportunity to explain your situation and direct help to safely recover you and your gear in all the special ways kiters need/like to interact with powerboaters when their lines are in the water.

All things considered, both would be best, but it seems like you can do so much more with a VHF and there's a 0% chance of you getting in trouble because your VHF accidentally "went off." EPIRB, not so much.

Re: My first long swim

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 9:28 pm
by Pedro Marcos
The drama is much bigger with a Foil kite, with a Tube i feel 300% more safe in the drink :)

Re: My first long swim

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 2:50 am
by junebug
Tom, thanks for posting, and glad you are okay. Good reminder to always wrap my lines carefully if wind goes slack.

Where I live the wind is often side-on and it rarely totally bottoms out so I can usually just drift in if the kite goes down in light wind, but in the winter side-on can switch to side or side-off in a hurry. When I was first learning KBHF, I would go way offshore (because I didn’t know how to turn and I wanted more time on foil) and I was using a heavy 5 strut kite that was sketchy under 10kn. I had a few long drifts from 7-800 yards out, but I learned in the summer (intentionally) and our water temperature is in the 80s in the summer, so it was no big deal to just let the wind bring me in.

Where I live we have a few rivers and inlets that work on winter winds, so I rarely go into the open ocean in the winter. The temperatures you are dealing with and consequences of a downed kite in that cold weather are somewhat terrifying to me.

Re: My first long swim

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:09 am
by plummet
Mossy 757 wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 7:00 pm
plummet wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 6:39 pm
I'm thinking of maybe getting and epirb or similar.
A good idea, but for my $$ I think a waterproof portable VHF radio would give you more to work with. EPIRB is a passive beacon, whereas hailing the local coast guard station or any nearby boater on channel 16 can give you more opportunity to explain your situation and direct help to safely recover you and your gear in all the special ways kiters need/like to interact with powerboaters when their lines are in the water.

All things considered, both would be best, but it seems like you can do so much more with a VHF and there's a 0% chance of you getting in trouble because your VHF accidentally "went off." EPIRB, not so much.
I'm also in the mountains forest and sand dunes. Hf radio might not work in those instance's.

Re: My first long swim

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:56 am
by pitbulldoug
As mentioned before very glad Tom it was a happy ending there.Not certain if you were on a foil kite or LEI here but really personally with those conditions especially or even in warmer climates the foil kites are a liability compared to a conventional LEI tube kite.I recently purchased a 12m Hyper link within the last year and had 2 swims as well,not quite like yours but definitely enough to appreciate my LEI much more especially for conventional self rescue much much safer IMO,don't use the foil much at all any more, much prefer my boxer 6m thru 12m for foiling.like you said a good knife is a must with complete quick efficient roll up of lines when you reach the point of no relaunch into rescue mode.personally I ride a dual purpose foil/surf kite board with plenty of flotation/volume that can easily be paddled,if i can't paddle it Im not riding it and Im a larger rider works perfectly fine for me foiling or surfkiting just slap the fins on,again much safer.also a small 3-4' leash with small carabiners to hook temporarily add on to your kiteleash and board when self rescuing mode happens to keep board close by as you know foil boards will take off quickly if they get away from you swimming! heres a pict of my dual purpose foil board so you get a idea.BTW my 12m boxer lowend is very close to the lowed of my 12m HL so I see no reason for the slow turning slug foil kite and hi-potential kitemare rats nest when they go down just doesn't pan out unless you have a jetski or other assist close by at all time which is wishful thinking,but certainly not realistic,just my opinion.

Re: My first long swim

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:54 am
by Kykeon
Thanks for sharing your experience/lesson and glad it ended well.

Im sure pmu has now updated his "fact sheet" with the post above. lol