Today I decided to self-rescue when the wind died at 3rd. Within seconds, a line snagged on my leg turned into a tangle of lines tightly wrapped around my ankle. I usually feel comfortable self-rescuing and I'm not sure what I did wrong - it's scary how quickly the situation went from slight annoyance to serious trouble.
I decided to bite the bullet and cut the lines, but my knife didn't have any effect hacking away at the tangle of lines under water. So I decided to swim to the upper launch. By the time I got there, I had most of my lines and half a bridle wrapped around my ankle, making it hard to even walk up the beach. A big thanks to the two guys who helped me separate my kite from my ankle, I'd still be sitting there if you hadn't helped!
Somebody showed me a diving knife, I'll have to get one of those before I even order a new set of lines. Any other tips on how to avoid line tangles and how to deal with them when they happen?