Perils of foil caught in a fishing net

[Slappysan]

All kiters should carry an Eezycut knife on them at all time. I wouldn't mess around with a traditional knife as the chance of self injury is too high.

The Eezycut is legit, trusted by scuba divers and when they get tangled their life 100% depends on it.

https://eezycut.com/

[edt]

"It occured to me later, that solution for a kite was probably quite simple.. I could have dropped the kite on downwind side of the net and attach a chicken loop to the net itself!!"

good idea. Why did you get getting your feet tangled? Were you kicking with your legs to stay afloat?

[cwood]

All kiters should carry an Eezycut knife on them at all time. I wouldn't mess around with a traditional knife as the chance of self injury is too high.

The Eezycut is legit, trusted by scuba divers and when they get tangled their life 100% depends on it.

https://eezycut.com/

Yes, this is what I carry on my hip. Happy to have it with me all the time.

[Herman]

I carry a Myerchin dive safety sheep foot knife, , which has a rounded nose. They do not have any handle mouldings so they are slim to carry, but you may feel the need for a wrist lanyard as they do not float. They are expensive, very sharp and a good tool in my experience.

If I were really worried about a significant risk from this type of netting I would consider a pair of decent reasonably sized scissors as backup. Not very macho but I know scissors proved their worth during inverted dinghy entrapment trials. Though perhaps, more of a rescue boat item than personal carry.

[fun2kite]

Yes. Kicking to stay afloat.

"It occured to me later, that solution for a kite was probably quite simple.. I could have dropped the kite on downwind side of the net and attach a chicken loop to the net itself!!"

good idea. Why did you get getting your feet tangled? Were you kicking with your legs to stay afloat?

[fun2kite]

Yes, kicking feet is a problem..

Good reminder to carry a knife. I have been caught up with fishing lines but never a net. With the fishing lines I found I could body drag around so long as I kept my body streamlined and parallel to the surface. As soon as I tried to stop to free the foil I would tangle my feet. I did not cut the lines because my body was free and I just had to wait for the fisherman to reel in the foil.

[edt]

Yes. Kicking to stay afloat.

"It occured to me later, that solution for a kite was probably quite simple.. I could have dropped the kite on downwind side of the net and attach a chicken loop to the net itself!!"

good idea. Why did you get getting your feet tangled? Were you kicking with your legs to stay afloat?

Yeah have to let the legs stay limp. Ok to tread water with the arms but you get wrapped up as soon as you do one kick. Think about this. If you had attached your chicken loop to the net and then swam in without the kite you might have downed. You would have kicked your legs once got them trapped and without a kite to pull you out that would be it. Probably better to go to shore when this happens no matter what and get a knife.

[OzBungy]

I have three times been tangled in fishing line. The hook knife worked fine. I would not want a sharp knife with an unguarded blade. The risk of stabbing or cutting yourself is too great.

My hook knife lives in my harness. I could not imagine wearing an extra knife strapped to an arm or leg. It would be more junk to carry and more stuff to get caught in lines.

[foilholio]

You can also with fishing line wrap it onto your harness and snap it off with the kite. The fisher can be in for an upset.

The only solution to avoid tangles by swimming is to not swim so you need flotation. You can wrap yourself in the kite's line and drown, it's why you should always wrap up line on the bar when self rescuing or retrieving a kite in the water, say to fix a tangled foil kite.

[revhed]

https://www.ukairsports.com/product/aer ... ng-cutter/
https://www.ukairsports.com/product/jac ... ng-cutter/
Double blades, replacements.
R H
Just saw this,
https://www.ukairsports.com/product/car ... ne-cutter/
could be even better for us, smaller with holes for fingers, but no replacement blades.
Learned that good quality white silicone grease on Stainless steel, inox, will help guard sharp edge.
I have ordered one!
I opened up my older "jack knife" by filing plastic allowing thicker diameter
line cutting, like 8 mm spectra, amazing how easy when lines under tension and due to twin blades.
R H