My close call - Be Careful

[edented]

I'm in (if that wasn't obvious). Hopefully the wind will pick up enough early enough. I know there are a lot of other events happening same day.

[WindMuch]

I'm counting two people interested ("brad" and "edented") so far. Vincent (le noun) said he was in as an instructor/assistant.

I'm not sure that's enough people to go all the way to Ocean Beach (I live in Oakland) on a day with an iffy forecast.

Are there others who are interested/planning to attend? If so, please chime in now.

Kirk out

[y2kbug]

I'm still interested (as a student).

[WindMuch]

I propose the following: Let's look at the OB cam in the morning and see if it's foggy or blowing. We'll make the call by 11:00am for a possible 1pm meet time. If it's on, I'll post here before 11:00am tomorrow.

Kirk out

[WindMuch]

Here at 10:45am it's still foggy in Oakland and OB is socked in as well. I don't see enough wind happening to make it work to launch/land kites there today.

I'm officially calling it off for today - let's keep an eye on the forecast for a future date.

In the mean time, I'm the guy in the image below. If you see me at a kite spot somewhere, come say howdy and we'll see if we can do some self-launch/self-landings there.

KV.jpg (152.35KiB)Viewed 3862 times

[edented]

Yes- we'll try again another day. Separate thread etc.

I'm pretty sure i've seen you at Sherman a couple of times - I'll make sure to say hello next time and introduce myself.


Thanks and cheers

[y2kbug]

Kirk, thanks for the offer. Do you go to Waddell/Scott often? I might be there tomorrow or next weekend if the wind improves.

[nick_80044]

Great thread with lots of good tips, links to videos, etc.

Here's one more lesson, which I learned the hard way: Make sure your kite actually depowers when you pull the safety. I found out the hard way that mine didn't--not much, anyway. It went into the water in light wind at the Toll Plaza. I pulled the safety, but the kite had the high-Y design with two attachment points and this caused it to stay powered. Pulling the line actually made it worse--the kite kept tumbling and dragging me, not coming close to settling down. The tumbling wrapped the lines around the leading edge--finally, I tugged a little too hard and the leading edge popped. That was it for that kite. I later learned from the kite's rep that the design is intended more for ease in relaunching if you're riding unhooked and lose the handle than for depowering and self-rescuing. Wish I would've known that earlier.

[WindMuch]

Here's one more lesson, which I learned the hard way: Make sure your kite actually depowers when you pull the safety. I found out the hard way that mine didn't--not much, anyway. It went into the water in light wind at the Toll Plaza. I pulled the safety, but the kite had the high-Y design with two attachment points and this caused it to stay powered. Pulling the line actually made it worse--the kite kept tumbling and dragging me, not coming close to settling down. The tumbling wrapped the lines around the leading edge--finally, I tugged a little too hard and the leading edge popped. That was it for that kite. I later learned from the kite's rep that the design is intended more for ease in relaunching if you're riding unhooked and lose the handle than for depowering and self-rescuing. Wish I would've known that earlier.

Would you care to share the brand/model of that kite and bar so other users can check their gear to avoid a similar problem in the future?

Kirk out

[1/2inMexico]

As far as Naish kites/bars... The user has the option of a single front-line safety, or the 2 front lines as described by nick_80044. There's a grommet in the de-power strap to hook to which will give you the 2 front line in a release. Or the single line flag option which is a yellow line with loop.
I choose the single line for %95 of my days. But on rare days when it's light & steady, and I want to practice tricks with crashes... I will use the double, as the re-launch is easier.
The double attachment will still give you about %40 of the kite power (a guess)
The single is almost nada.

On my older Ocean Rodeo Rise a few years ago.... everything was 2 line/Front flying lines safety.