Kiter battles out of control kite (video)

[corbett]

I'm not a big video watcher but this is the worst I've ever seen. It seems he wrapped lines around his hand in an attempt to hold onto the kite and the kite then drags him forcefully. This is what it seems anyway.

Ground handling an inflatable kite is difficult and this is why I no longer use mine. On land, it's open cell for me all the time and I love them:) I've never had an out of control open cell, never.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMWJ_YNJfy8

[edt]

4 year old video 7 year old control bar. moral of the story don't buy old control bars some of them were deadly. this particular model jammed more often than it worked. if his qr worked there would not even be a video. it would be went snow kiting hit my qr and it worked. Went home the end.

thank goodness modern control bars are so much better now

[geopeck]

Good video, thanks to the originator and poster. A person (like RickI the safety guy, appreciate all your work ) could spend a bit of time spotting all the opportunities for things to have gone better like testing the QR, no hand wrapping the line etc. but I just wanted to mention this snowkiting scenario has that extra risk of time and effort commitment. Just the fact that these dudes hiked in and pumped up inflatables in soft snow means a lot of time, some calories burnt just to get to the point of launching. This time can really affect your judgement about conditions and decision making since you've already got so much committed to riding. I find it's easier to make mistakes and more tempting to cut corners on the snow, I'm also hiking in to most areas I ride. I could totally relate when all the red flags were going up and he went over to get into his snowboard.

+1 for buddy system, +1 for trees

[geopeck]

This video just makes me happy that snow season is wrapping up and water is starting.

[corbett]

EDT just wrote that this whole disaster was due to his QR not working and his inability to simply take the CL out the hook.

Well actually, I have no idea how he got into this situation. I watched the video obviously but didn't analyze it much,

[geopeck]

EDT just wrote that this whole disaster was due to his QR not working and his inability to simply take the CL out the hook

Yeah but there are so many things before the point where he went for the QR that should have either called for a stepped up safety regimen or waiting or quitting.

Weather changes from broken skies totally overcast, low vis. Red flag
Jam cleat is slipping. Stop and investigate
Wind is changing directions and ground snow picking up. This is when I get out my thermos of coffee and look around for a while.
Kite is clearly underinflated and is having a hard time breaking out of the snow. He was in a hurry.
Didn't test QR before session. Cut corner.
Buddy is riding already and filmer wants to ride. Easy there cowpoke.
Filmer is filming. This affects judgement.
Getting dragged downwind. This would be a good time to look into the QR.
Bushes. Good way to get cut, poked, eye injury.
And then at 7 minutes, when he says the wind is going to 40kn, find out QR isn't working.

I'm sincerely sympathetic, like I say. It's super easy to make a bad decision when you're standing atop a stack of them.

[therussiann]

I don't know if I would cut the lines but I think that is the smart thing to do as soon as your arm would get tangled up in the lines.

[foilholio]

I don't know about you but whenever I have a kite emergency I like to sit and think about it for a few minutes and if that doesn't work I'll phone a friend and have a chat with him for a few more minutes, if the problem gets worse I'll consider wrapping lines around body parts while perhaps sitting and thinking about it some more. At the end of it if I can't use my hand again that's ok, whats important is my kite isn't too damaged.

[Toby]

Amazing video how uneducated kiters are!

How long to try to release, getting dragged around?

Then pulling the safety line and still not going to unhook?

OMG...no wonder people die in this sport.

Back then with no quick releases and fully powered kites we were way more cautious. Schools need to step up and teach more about safety!

And people should stop posting stupid selfies and rather read the forums to be aware of the dangers and how to handle situations like that.

More people to die for sure...unfortunately.

[edt]

guy made a ton of mistakes but you have to remember this is from 4 years again when he was a newbie. I'm sure he's heard all the advice again and again and is now a competent safe kiter. so let's not give this guy advice he's heard it all before. instead, we need to focus on lessons for us. My feeling is the most important lesson in this video is he didn't have a working QR. You might disagree that we should learn something else, I just feel that is the most important lesson from this video. When is the last time you threw your quick release?