Almost accident

[romain]

I saw and helped at several accidents but today it was my turn. Huge thank you at everyone today at 3rd upper launch when I got dragged after a failed launch and 3-4 people grabbed me and cut the line. Overall I just got a few cuts that will be gone in one week.

Some lessons learned or "refreshed":
- in doubt, rig smaller
- check the leash release before each launch and get one that you can reach when quick released
- I was used to the Cabrinha quick release, on my North Trust bar the kite went "death" looping
- get a kite knife (probably won't be for you but for the other kiters)

Again, thank you so much.

[yeaboyyy]

can you elaborate on what happened? Was your release jammed? Could you not get to your QR because you were getting dragged? Did you blow your release and then something got caught and you got dragged?

I've only been kiting a few years but never felt I didn't have enough time to at very least get to my QR. Trying to understand these instances recently where people didn't get to it in time.

Appreciate the insights. Trying to understand what went down so I can prep myself to prevent a similar situation.

=- =*

[jzderm]

I walked out to the upper launch to see a guy getting dragged and 3 people jumping on him to stop the chaos. Then I went out to ride and saw someone pulling another self-rescuing kiter in with his own kite.

I was feeling lots of 3rd ave comraderie yesterday. Glad to hear everyone was OK.

[ddubwinokur]

Hey Romain - I'd be curious to hear the details on what happened too. I was one of the people that came to jump and hold you down while your kite was death-spiraling.

My memory was that you pulled your safety, but somehow your lines got twisted and your kite did not depower. And my guess is that somehow the line twisting tightened a steering line, which put the kite into a death spiral.

Then, we tried to eject you completely by pulling your leash safety. But this did not work for some reason, it seemed to me like perhaps the leash safety was caught on something. That's why we opted to cut the leash line eventually.

Do I have those details right? Would be interesting to hear more information.

I too was really pleased with the 3rd ave upper launch camraderie yesterday... accidents will always happen, I was excited to see so many people intervene so qiuckly and helpfully.

Dan

[Sonny]

I don't know why the older north bar has so many issues like this. I had to jump on kites death looping, dragging kiter backwards.

[peta]

Sonny, the QR on even the old North bars is about as easy as it gets thats why its system is copied by lots of manufacturers. The leash release is about as basic and simple as it can get and I do not know why either release yesterday did not work. Very much interested to know what exactly happened. What I had happen w/ North kite laying out the lines sideways at upper launch is that the closer line towards me snagged on itself and created a loop around itself therefore shortening that line and if you dont look very careful you can miss it and when launched the kite can go into a death loop right away.

As previously mentioned always do check the function of your saftey system.
Build muscle memory to know how to release and where the releases are.
When in doubt punch out

Just about every session I go through a mental what if and lightly "finger" my QR as well as my leash release

[Sonny]

Sonny, the QR on even the old North bars is about as easy as it gets thats why its system is copied by lots of manufacturers. The leash release is about as basic and simple as it can get and I do not know why either release yesterday did not work. Very much interested to know what exactly happened. What I had happen w/ North kite laying out the lines sideways at upper launch is that the closer line towards me snagged on itself and created a loop around itself therefore shortening that line and if you dont look very careful you can miss it and when launched the kite can go into a death loop right away.

As previously mentioned always do check the function of your saftey system.
Build muscle memory to know how to release and where the releases are.
When in doubt punch out

Just about every session I go through a mental what if and lightly "finger" my QR as well as my leash release

I don't know about the accident yesterday but many problem I saw with the North death loop in the past was not the quick release issue but the safety line being inter twined to the front line and they get twisted enough that they don't slide. One guy I know thought he was dead for sure but was able to get out his harness when his kite stop the death loop long enough when the kite hit the old San Mateo bridge.

[Aloha]

I've seen in a repeated loop situation where the QR is released under high tension lines sometimes get thrown into a bit of a tangle - all it takes is 1 rear line to get jammed up / taut to keep the kite romping. Feel better Romain

[amir]

I death looped a 5th line years back. It started when I just got confused and pulled the wrong side of the bar after a spin. Looping 10+ times crazy. Hit QR in a panic. Got worse because I rigged the the centerline to a wingtip. Fortunately it was at alameda far offshore in shallow water on a lighter day. Now I tripple check everything before heading out. A quick safety check is well worth being 2 minutes late on the water!

[gtilde]

North has an excellent system, in my oponion, from the above bar sheeting to the Qr function. That being said, there is alot going on especially on the. 5 line version. The safety line can get snaffled on the cleat area, and twists/crosses in the lines down low can cause problems. The spinner below bar helps on thenewer bars. Having had personal experience with release issues I always check that the lines are clean, flipping the Qr accordingly and make sure the safetlty is on the opposite side of the cleat area.