lofting

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sflinux
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lofting

Post by sflinux » Tue Jun 14, 2005 10:24 am

I just want to remind everyone that lofting a real hazard. A recent acquantance of mine got severely injured from being lofted last week.
"Blake Pelton, owner of Pelton Wind Sports located in Litteleton, Colorado USA, was involved in a serious kite lofting incident. Last
Wednesday, June 8, Blake was airlifted to Swedish Medical Center in
Denver Colorado. His injurys include a severed artery in his lower
back, a fractured pelvis, 7 cracked vertebra, bruised lung, bruised kidney and multiple other minor cuts and bruises. Fortunately, his
spinal cord suffered no damage. Blake was wearing a helmet and
believes that it prevented severe head trauma.
The last of 3 surgeries was performed yesterday in which a pin was
inserted into his pelvis to set the bones. It was successful and he is
expected to make a full recovery. Blake is determined to rehabilitate
quickly and has already begun physical therapy. He is in great
spirits and his enthuseasm, as always, is infectious."

I don't know the details of his accident, but I advise everyone to utilize the "low and go" rule when launching. Better to get dragged on the ground than lifted into the air, gaining momentum. And if you launch hooked in, always be ready to pull the safety. Everyone out there is using quick release chicken loop, right?
My experience is it is safest to launch unhooked, with the kite depowered using the sheeting system, having one hand on the bar and the other on the chicken loop to depower. I find that I can let go off bar and chicken loop with cat-like reflexes this way. If launching hooked in, there is no way you could unhook until you are already in the air, and then you'd have to fumble for your safety, something that makes me a little nervous.
And please don't hesitate to utilize your safety system when the wind is too much for the size kite you have up. The wind is much less powerful at sea level than 25M up in the air.
-bric

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Post by sflinux » Tue Jun 28, 2005 11:55 am

Regarding Blake's lofting accident:
"The wind was VERY strong (something like 40, with sailboards on
around 4m sails), & even though his buddy convinced him to use an 8
instead of a 10, he still ended up being lofted into a boat."
I can assure you that Blake is a very experienced kiter. If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone. It seem like lofting injuries occur due landing on hard objects (shore, trees, walls, fences, boats). It seems the general rule is to avoid keeping the kite near zenith when lofting is a possibility, especially when hard objects are downwind of you.

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Post by KillaHz » Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:39 pm

sflinux wrote:Regarding Blake's lofting accident:
"The wind was VERY strong (something like 40, with sailboards on
around 4m sails), & even though his buddy convinced him to use an 8
instead of a 10, he still ended up being lofted into a boat."
I can assure you that Blake is a very experienced kiter. If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone. It seem like lofting injuries occur due landing on hard objects (shore, trees, walls, fences, boats). It seems the general rule is to avoid keeping the kite near zenith when lofting is a possibility, especially when hard objects are downwind of you.
I actually spoke to someone in Colorado last week about this accident. It was actually not a lofting but just a really powered downwind dragging. The conditions were enough to keep the other kiters off the water.

Many draggings get thrown into the category of loftings. Loftings are unique to certain areas where the wind rises due to high downwind obstacles or land heating. In this case, I don't think a low kite would have helped. He was on the water riding when this occured, correct? The spot they were at was also responsible for a recent kiteboarding death.

It is good to hear that Blake is in good spirits and making a recovery. We all need to do our job in evaluating conditions and launches.
Gabe Brown
sometimes Gary Bronson...

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classic lofting condtions

Post by sflinux » Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:50 pm

A classic example of lofting conditions (where dark cumulus clouds move upwind and at the dark cloud the wind direction switches from horizontal to vertical, which effectively switches your wind window 90 deg up towards the sky. If it seems hard to understand why the wind would do this, think of a rip current, the pounding surf puts a lot of water near the shore and the water looks for somewhere to go to relieve pressure to allow water to flow back out to sea, causing a river out to sea):
Here is a description of classic lofting conditions (as opposed to gusty, overpowered, tea-bagging conditions) and the proper response (get back near shore and pull your safety!):
"I was alone at my local spot today. Rather gusty winds as usual, and
after about an hour it got worse. Short lulls seemed to reach zero occasionally and every now and then a strong gust made me catch some
good speed.
Kept an eye on a big and very dark cloud that was far up north, but
as the wind was straight onshore from the southwest, I'd thought it
would soon drift out of sight. For some reason, it didn't. It just
stayed where it was. The rest of the sky was almost blue with a few
white clouds here and there, moving as expectedly from the sea and
towards land.
A while later I noticed the dark cloud seemed closer than before.
Funny, I thought, as it must have been moving against the wind. The
gusts kept getting stronger and I mostly enjoyed being slightly
overpowered when they hit me.
Then THE GUST hit and I was lofted. Got an immediate bad feeling
from the intensity in it, so I headed for land and as soon as I got
closer I pulled the quick release and managed to put the V16 on the
shore. Not in a tree, not in the water, but from zenith to solid
ground with a total loss of power. Nice. Less than a minute later,
the wind was 20 knots straight onshore and increasing. That dark
cloud was now moving rapidly sideways towards me. Rolled up the kite
and stuffed it in the backpack as fast as I could.
Just when I was done and the dark cloud was almost over me, the wind
suddenly changed 180? to howling straight offshore, bending the
trees all around me. The intensity of it was scary even standing on
the ground with everything packed up. The sea was a boiling dark
mess with waves still coming in and the crazy wind forcing out water
against them.
Ran to my car while the sky darkened and just as I slammed the door
shut, a massive rain poured down. Luckily hardly a drop hit me.
On my way back home I though about how very fast everything happened..."

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yet another lofting example

Post by sflinux » Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:09 am

A 155 lb. (70 kg) kiteboarding instructor of about 2 1/2 years experience on a four-month holiday in Cabarete was rigged with an RRD 11.9 m kite. The wind had been consistently side shore 10 to 15 kts. He noticed a black line of clouds or squall moving in to shore. He came into shore at the west section of Cabarete Bay at Bozo Beach. He lowered his kite to within 3 to 5 m (10 to 16 ft.), off the ground for an assisted landing. He was then hit by a violent wind gust, that he described as an ìexplosion.î Wind records from nearby wind meters reported that average winds were 35 kts. with gusts up to 51 kts.

The winds had shifted suddenly from side shore to dead onshore. By the time the rider understood what happened he was flying inland over a building under construction with exposed rebar at an altitude of approximately 20 m (65 ft.). He didnít feel it was safe to pop his snap shackle release at this point. He continued to rise in the gust and at one point estimated his altitude to be 30 m (98 ft.) or higher.

Looking forward he saw no clear area to land but was rapidly flying towards high tension lines and trees. He noticed a pine tree and headed in that direction.

He described the kite handling to be stable but very ìtwitchyî with attempted control inputs. He had a few previous experiences hang gliding and paragliding and felt this time at least helped him manage the shock of the flight in part. He was traveling at approximately wind speed or roughly 40 to 45 kts. over ground. He then hit the pine tree, breaking a limb and then rebounded into the trunk.

He then fell down through the tree breaking limbs until he hit the ground. His kite then started to power-up again. At this point he released the snap shackle and his kite flew off to windward where it was heavily damaged. The rider was admitted to the hospital for observation for possible signs of internal organ injury and brain hemorrhaging. He was released two days later and returned to kiteboarding two days after that. He was not wearing a helmet but was wearing an impact vest. The overall horizontal distance traveled was reported to be 250 m (822 ft.) and the maximum height of flight at 30 m (100 ft.).

Lessons Learned

1. If a storm, black clouds or squall line is moving in, get off the water well in advance of the storm and while conditions are still stable and unchanged. Always be aware of weather conditions while you are kiteboarding and be prepared to act quickly if conditions change for the worse. Your kite should be down on the beach and thoroughly anchored well before any change in wind speed or direction or air temperature occurs. At a minimum it would also be a good idea to remove both lines from one side of the kite in case it is swept up in gusts.

2. If you suspect storms may be in the area, check out color weather radar if available in your area. If strong storm cells are moving towards your area, donít go kiteboarding.

3. Donít assume that the current wind direction and speed will persist if a storm hits as it may change both direction and speed violently several times.

4. Another approach that may have helped to avoid this event would have been to land unhooked:
a) fully pulling in on a long trim strap almost totally depowering the kite while still offshore
b) open the quick release at that time
c) to have held the control bar while near the shore and landing. When the gust hit, the bar should have been ripped out of his hands.

5. Yet another approach would have been to emergency depower the kite while still away from shore.

6. Always wear safety gear including a good helmet, impact vest, gloves and hook knife at a minimum.

FKA, Inc.

transcribed by:
Rick Iossi

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Post by OliverG » Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:33 am

Yikes! Scary stuff. Although it may not ever be quite that bad, some of our winter storms can offer some major gusts.

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Post by sflinux » Wed Aug 03, 2005 8:18 am

June, 2005
My deepest sympathy goes out to Mitch's family and friends and all his kiteboarding friends in the community. It really hurts me to post this news of what happened. I really didn't want to but Jake thought that it would be a good idea, to give the community some idea of what happened. Sorry if my words are a bit messed up, I a little shaken up right now, but I'll try to relate what I have seen. I hope that I don't offend anyone with this.

Jake Buzainas, Spencer (me), Nate (a friend I was training today) and Peter (a beginner kiteboarder), went out to Rush today around 1:30 or 2pm. The wind was light but picked up enough for Jake to ride his 15M on his wakesurf. Jake road 30-45 min session. Peter road his 13 or 15m, but not quite enough wind, he came in. I went out at about 2:45pm on a 13M and road for about 20-30 minute session fairly powered. A local police truck arrived about 3pm. Mitch arrived right behind them, by himself. I came in from riding about 5 minutes later. Mitch setup his kite, I had a talk with the Police, they said that they just came down to watch us ride for a bit. Jake was packing his kites up and was headed out. Before Jake left, he talked to me and apparently Mitch, about a microburst that may be hitting soon and to watch out. I have riden there along with Jake, Mitch, and many of you during these microbursts, and during the bad ones I have always had to dump the kite before it really hits.
The Wind was relatively steady and I think that Mitch had his 13m slingshot i think which seemed about right for the wind. About 3:10 or so Mitch had his gear setup, he was really pumped to ride. I launched him. He went off riding having a good time. I then went, and set me friend Nate up, for a launch on my 12m. This was about 5-10 minutes later. I setup my friend Nate and the wind really started to pickup, he wasn't getting teabaged yet, but there was a lot of upward force. He road for only about 1 minute, and got teabagged in hops of 5-10 feet high, due to a lot more wind and lack of experience. I then looked behind me at the front that had been pushing in from the south. We had seen some lighting and the rain but, it was probably about 15 to 20 miles off. I then saw the dust start to pick up to the south. I knew that the microburst was going to hit in a few minutes, as I had seen this happen several times before. I told Nate to release his kite which he did. I went over and collected the kite in the water about 200 feet from shore. I had noticed Mitch still riding upwind of us and the main launch point, several times. He had his kite low, but seemed to be managing it well. The dust was starting to fly at this point. Mitch was maybe a couple hundred yards upwind (south) of me. I'm not sure if he ever saw the microburst coming. I start waving and yellin franticly and point behind him, to look, I'm not sure if he saw me. He was probably about 200 feet off shore, but he went for another pass to the east. I turned my attention back to my kite and my friend and was walking it into shore and back up to him. That's when the gusts really started to hit. Harder than I have ever felt there. I was running through the water and passed my kite off to Nate, I looked over my shoulder and new Mitch was in trouble. He was massively overpowered, nearer to the east side of rush about the same north south as the launch area. I saw his kite at 12 noon and thought that he was going to release at this point. He was lofted seconds later, probably 50-75 ft maybe more and flew about 200-300 ft. He was really picking up speed, but seemed in control, as he was flying the kite down. He had already lost his board. He hit the water moving at about 40 mph, i would guess. His kite was still straight up and I thought that he would release at this point. his hands were still on the bar. He got lofted a second time bigger the second time and faster. He flew it down again, but he was moving really fast. He hit and I think that he was knocked out at that point, his head didn't come up. His kite went down low on the water and was pulling him very slow, I thought that I could make it too him, so i started to run swim through the water. I had only made it about 100 feet when his kite launched again and he was lofted several times to the north north east. I knew that the only chance was the Police on the shore, who I think were not sure if he was in trouble or not. I yelled and signalled at Peter who was on the shore and at the Police, Peter yelled and signalled them to head down wind. They took off immediately. Nate and I raced for shore where we dumped all the gear with Peter on the down wind of my truck for some protection He had to jump on it to hold it all down wind. The wind was blasting at this time. Nate and I hopped in Mitches Van and headed after the police down the lake frontage dirt road. When we arrive the police had cut his lines and had called in EMT's, Lifeflight, everything. The police had Nate and I fill out reports. I won't relate any specific details at this point, other that I know that he was not concious after that second major loft. The accident occured approx. 3:30pm give or take. About 5-10 minutes after we arrived at the accident site the first EMT arrived and started to work on Mitch. I helped where I could. Nate headed back to get Peter. Over the next 20 minutes about 7-10 emergency vehicles arrived and also Life flight (who were called off as they just arrived). They all worked on him for 1/2 hour or more. It really hurts to relate this, and I wish I would not have been there, or could have done something more to help him. Mitch passed away.

Mitch seemed to me to always have the most energy, the most stoke out there. He always made me laugh when I saw him flying out there just on the edge of control. Mitch was a great guy and helped me several times with my gear and suggestion with kiting. I was always impressed with him helping his friends and teaching them. Even though I only new him in the kite world, I along with many of us will miss him.

-Spencer"

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accident in gusty conditions

Post by sflinux » Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:16 am

"Rob's Accident at West Point
Date: 11.04.2005
Time: 11am-12pm approximately
THE FIRST HALF
Witness:
Beach: West Point, WA
Beach Condition:
At high tide there is very little or no beach, launching area is
tall grass strewn with large drift wood. Parallel to the water
about 100 to 150 feet from the water's edge is a row of trees and
shrubs.
Wind Condition:
Wind is gusty and has holes. At pump up stage wind is strong 14m
conditions. Rain squalls can be seen in the distance. Doug
launches from the small strip of beach, takes two or three tacks and
the wind begins to spike. By the time Rob launches, the wind has
spiked rapidly and is now more like strong 9m conditions.
Self launch was perfect and in control.
ï 10sec: Rob has control of his kite it hovers above the
ground, rises to 3o'clock and then to 12o'clock.
ï 10-20sec: Wind spikes, Rob begins a semi controlled drag
inland from the beach.
ï 20-30sec: Rob gains control of the kite, and begins going
back toward the waters edge.
ï 30-50sec: Gust hits the kite again Rob loses footing is
slightly elevated or lofted and an out of control drag inland
begins. He is drug through the log infested tall grass, across a
concrete foot path, through more tall grass, and is then flung into
a birch style tree that is about 15 feet tall. Rob is now stuck in
the birch tree his feet are 4 to 7 feet from the base of the tree.
ï 50-55sec: Kite is still at 12o'clock. Lofting appears to
have ceased and Rob is either motionless or looking down trying to
find his safety still in the tree.
SECOND HALF
Witness:
Stuck in the Tree
ï 55-58sec: Gusts begin to hit the kite, Rob is lifted higher
in the tree.
ï 58-62sec: As Rob is lifted higher in the tree we think a
branch catches one side of his control bar causing the kite to dive
downward tomahawking from 12o'clock.
ï 62-1min10sec: As the kite dives the gusts reach their peak
speed and in combination with the apparent wind Rob is ripped up,
out, and down from the tree at a 45 degree angle towards the road.
He cleares the road and comes in direct contact with the top corner
of a 3 foot tall by about 8 inch thick concrete retaining wall. His
harness and kite were literally torn off of his body at impact, flew
over the bushes, trees, and second retaining wall of the sewage
treatment plant. Rob is propelled about 10 feet away from the point
of impact and lay upside down motionless half on the side walk half
in the parking lot. For the first 30 seconds after the collision Rob
struggles to breathe, unconscious, his left leg is twisted at a 90
degree angle as if he had two knees."
"Rob compounded his left femur and sustained a bad concussion with 12 staples to the back of the head to close it up. He was not wearing a helmet and it wouldn't have matter if he went in head first. Fortunately, he hit the wall feet first, the leg broke and he somersaulted onto the back of his head and shoulders. He also suffered multiple impalements from tree branches
He's due to be released in a day or 2, basically a week later."

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