Cat's cradle with kites

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friggin old guy
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Cat's cradle with kites

Post by friggin old guy » Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:17 am

This weekend had three separate incidents at Waddell. Wasn't even that crowded but....

Twin tipper (inexperienced in waves apparently) jibed right in front of me as I was coming down the line off the top of a huge (for Sat) 3 ft wave, barely missed him.

Same day, cutting back on a wave almost put my kite through the lines of a guy coming out. Got the hairy eyeball from him after I redirected the kite out.

Yesterday, light wind, riding a wave when some gal on a twip tip pinches up close enough for my kite to go through her lines. She immediately bails, ejects completely. Kept my kite in the air, dragged in controlling her kite by the center line. Hubby unhappy and won't listen to me when I ask him to grab the kite instead of yanking on the center line, which is still wrapped around my lines. Clearly they think I'm to blame.

Key points: It's going to be an interesting season. I know this kind of stuff happens and I don't mean to whine too much......BUT......

-If you go to any surf spot, please do NOT expect the person on the wave to be moving his/her kite to avoid yours. They're likely to be concentrating on the wave, not on somebody pinching up close. Part of the act of avoidance incumbent on the person outgoing is to try to keep his/her kite out of the scope area of the guy that's riding the wave.

-If your kite does wrap with somebody else's, you don't need to auto eject. Sometimes you can untangle in the air........it can be worse if both eject prematurely. Key is getting at least one of the kites under control, and if you can still fly it without getting too much tension/abrasion from the other kite's lines you at least have some control over the situation.

-Communicate. The gal I tangled with was I think a German tourist and obviously not very experienced in the waves, and she was freaked. Her language skills were a bit stressed. It took me awhile to confirm that she was totally unhooked and ok. If you're lucky enough (heh) to tangle with somebody that seems to know what they're doing in such a situation, listen to them and work together quickly. A few seconds can make a big difference in the outcome.

I'm not saying I didn't bear any responsibility in the above situations. I tend to fly my kite low on waves to generate power, which is fine if people are giving me normal space even when it's crowded.....but obviously there are times when the rider on the wave has to make some adjustments.

Just be careful out there or you could end up like the guy at the end of the day Sunday with the quarter-sized chunk of scalp wedged in his board. He seemed to be ok but boy do those head wounds bleed......it looked like a horror show, certainly quite a few stitches.

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WindMuch
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Re: Cat's cradle with kites

Post by WindMuch » Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:11 am

Well, I was going to call you to ask how your coast session went yesterday, but I guess I don't have to!

Glad everyone came out reasonably well, +/- a few stitches...


Kirk out

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