Need a new term for being lofted horizontally!

[Laughingman]

yarded
superman
dirt body drag
11's
mowing the lawn the hard way

Yep I 2nd this .... Yarded

[Hugh2]

.

You don't need a new term for this event, you're hardly the first kiter to keep the kite too high when hit by a gust.

Put it low, dig in, if necessary, slow down till a standstill during the gust. In between the gusts, don't let your boardspeed get too high.

My kite was not high, it was low. I've often been lofted and land most of them, but could do nothing in this situation. Certainly could not dig in, was simply launched horizontally!

edt, I like "superman"

Toby, it was mostly manageable, Grigorib and I were doing jumps, albeit not trying to get very high. Just the gusts were sometimes really extreme.

Here's the recording from our nearby home city from Windalert.

[RickI]

I am glad you weren't injured. Inland conditions can be dangerously gusty but that isn't news to you. If you continue to go out in those kind of conditions, I wish you good luck as skill may not cover things in all instances.

Anyway, the term "lofting" covers what you experienced. It is defined as: "Lofting is the involuntary lifting of a kitesurfer in a gust and getting blown downwind ..." The term was coined in 2001 under the impression that lofting would be quite common in the future of kiting. I had only my case and two others to look at the time but it seemed like it deserved its own name given the problems it seemed highly likely to create in the future. Gear has improved a lot as has awareness, still folks are getting lofted at times in the old fashioned ways, just not as often fortunately.

More at: viewtopic.php?t=2311536

[Hugh2]

Thanks RickI, you've been around longer and seen more than me. Agreed that "lofting" could cover this kind of thing as well. And that the design of modern kites makes this situation much more manageable than with the old C-kites, where it would be extremely dangerous, indeed I cannot imagine being out in those conditions with my old C-kites, and I never had one that small.

For Toby, we've kited on days like this before on our lake, one spring day even stronger with our best kiter going out first on a 3.5m, and I've kited in Cape Town in conditions similarly strong where I had to go down to a rented 4m (while Kevin Langaree was still on a 9m! Sort of like that famous video of his from last season). So it is manageable with the right kites and enough experience, but obviously a bit risky. Indeed, I did come in after that lofting and took a break, and by the time I went back out again, just after 2PM on that graph, conditions had mellowed and one could do controlled jumps instead.

[Toby]

Normally it works out, but....

http://kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2401060

[Zen_Rider]

I'd call this a tea bagging!

This is outrageous! You're making tea all wrong...



I always used to refer to those horizontal lofts as a 'Yanking'.
Though now I say it, horizontal yanking sounds a bit sketchy...

[Hugh2]

"Yarded" does sound better! Since this was "scary fun" I called it Halloween Kiting.

Painfully aware of the hazards when you have solid objects downwind of you, Toby, and I posted in that thread. We had no obstacles downwind, and stayed away from the shoreline as it is lined with trees which accelerate the wind even more near them. Our "beach", a manmade strip of course sand, is just wide enough to make for fairly safe launching and landing.

[jeromeL]

teabagged lol

[plummet]

Wait for the death loop...then we talk

When was the last time you owned and flew a 5-6m kite in gusts to 40 knots Toby?

I'm guessing pre 2010.

I'm not sure you can make any experienced recomendations on flying in these winds with the current kite technology when you openly state that you only own 18m and only use it in lighter winds and have done so for many years.

Current small kites are far safer and easy to fly than the crazy on/off power, shitty safety systems, long bridled kites tip catching death looping machines you have experience with.

Death looping is almost a thing of the past these days. Bridles dont wrap around windtips easily anymore. As long as you have the skill to fly in those winds, the death loop is relegated to equipment failure.

I had such a failure a couple of months back. A squall came through, measured wind gusts hit 50-60 knots. I was in the shallows and my 6m kite center strut burst (its a 2012 kite) chucking the kite jellyfishing and looping into the powerzone. I got dragged through the shallows for a few meters before i hit the safety. Kite fell out of the sky and I was fine. The kite was still too powedered on the safety to walk the line and secure the kite. So i held onto the safety line until squall passed then I secured the kite.

Now tell me about your last 5-6m 40+knot session. When was it, What kite were you flying?
I honestly think you are out of date when giving advice on high winds. I think you need to get a small kite and go and fly in high winds for a while so you can re-aquant yourself to highwind flying and get an impression of how the latest kites behave in those winds. Then you will be able to offer advice based on current experience.

[Peter_Frank]

Teabagging is the word, have been there for years...

Actually, vertical loftings never occur

But seemlingly almost vertical yes, true, can happen.

Peter