Crissy Buddy system to the rescue. Yeeha!

[Stefaans]

Been reading this forum for the past 3 years and this is my first post.

MondayAugust 14th turned out to be the day of all days for me. I have been rescued by the coast guard before and have spent many hours making my way back to the beach but Monday was different. I was out at Crissy with my friend Chris that I met 3 years ago as my ìkitebuddyî bodydragging on kites from the 1990ís it felt like.

IF YOU EVER WANT TO KITE AT CRISSY AGAIN THIS MIGHT NOT BE FOR YOU!!!

After an hour or so everybody head back to Crissy field and I was all alone at the North tower for a good 10 minutes till I saw Chris in the distance making his way over where it just turned into one of those days where you think by yourself ìthose guys will not believe how butter this is right nowî which was also the last words that came out off my mouth before I sent the kite for a barely 10 maybe 15 foot jump and my SS Surefire spreader bar completely busted in half. For you guys who knows these would know that your 5th line attaches to the bar which now leaves me in the water with my board in an Ebb not at max yet but soon to be 4knots watching my kite drifting 100ís of yards downwind. At this point Chris is on his way over to me and everything still seems in control till we start going through our options.

Attempt 1.
Plan is for him to go grab my kite by the 5th line while I swim to it. I immediately got myself a marker on the Sausalito side and very soon realized I am loosing ground very very fast and whistled as loud as I could. Chris came back and I took a breather as this already took tons of energy.

Attemp 2.
Plan is dragging me as far into the front of the north tower as possible without taking him down too. I released and started swimming north as the plan was for me to travel about 50 yards North and 100 yards west(ebb) to exactly hit the tower but it turns out at the North tower the ebb flush you out South East. Within 1 maybe 2 minutes I was 100 yards from the tower again and started freaking out. All I could think was dump that kite right on my head because this kid is going down. SOON!
Chris rode up and I grabbed the back of his harness again.
As you should realize by now I already told Chris Fu*k the gear. I can replace that or maybe it was the 2 container ships on their way from both directions heading straight towards my kite as I can remember us discussing how many feet do you think he missed it byÖ and even the I wonder if we would stop the shipping channel if my kite gets tangled in the prop. We tried to keep things kinda light even though I was scared shitless and as it was clearly written on my forehead as one of us questionedÖ how much time do you think we have looking over at the sun rapidly dropping.
Now we are under the Golden gate bridge going out faster that you would imaging but still trying to fight it with me holding both boards in one hand and harness in the other discussing if we should start the trek over to the south side but agreed that this would put us way west of where we needed to be.

Attempt 3.
If you guys have not tried this this is really da bomb. Came up with the plan for both of us to be on a plane. Chris standing and me on my belly on my board. On the first few attempts with Chris diving his kite I could hear the strain on his gear as he would be hanging in mid air pulling me out of the water but this was silenced by the celebration as we got on a plane and the relief in our voices yelling a couple of yeehaísÖ made some tacs and even rode a couple of swells like I was ìboogyboardingî on my kiteboard. In no time we made it too my kite and with some line play I had my tangled bar in my hand and Chris waitng for me to hook in my 5th line to make sure I wont get separated from my kite again. I looked at him and said. Wait a minute, I think I can fly this thing. Pulled the bar around a couple of times and got the lines untangled. I remember thinking we are not home safe yet since I have no spreader bar hook AT ALL but I have floatation. Cleated of the 5th line (thank you slingshot) pulled my chickenloop around what is left of the spreader bar and back over my carbon bar all the way to the depower rope and tied it off. By now we had company, 100 foot luxury cruiser with 50 people in tuxedoís waiving and even a fairy boat bringing some more people over to see what the hell is this guys doing. Now who would have thought that you could tie your entire bar to your body and use your oh Sh*t handles to fly the kite 2 line style. This set off about 100 more yeehaís as I was flying that kite looking like the doochbag at the Marina green on his rollerblades with my arms swinging back and forth turning the kite. Took a couple of Faceplants on the way and 10 or so relaunches as this kite was unstable ass hell but I was going home today. Finally dropped it at Anita rock where its always light and just could not keep it in the air as it was tied on in knots a little oversheeted but was to happy to self rescue that last 100 yards waving the coast guard off.

Beer has never tasted as good as it did that night and will never again as I bought my first impact vest today after making sure it has decent floatation. If I did have decent Floatation that day Chris could have gone for help but we both knew in what I had left in me I would not be able to tret water for that long. I wish there was enough beer in the world to repay Chris for what he did for me but in this case beer is just not going to cut it.

I have been riding Crissy for 3 years now and have more days there than anybody this year. I donít think Crissy gives a sh*t whether you are a good rider or not but makes a good smart rider out off anybody that has spent enough time there. Before you ride Crissy bring your buddy, your plan(floatation, VHF whatever) and gain some knowledge before venturing out.
See you at Crissy
Stefaans

[al-kite-a]

That is why I have always worn an impact vest.

FYI- If you are ever in this situation again. Get on your board and get behind another kiter. You can hold on to the handle on the harness and ride tandem back to the beach. I pulled Marcello back to the beach like this once.

[OliverG]

I'd like to add that you al may want to stay away from the SS Surefire Spreader bars. No doubt everything else SS has to ffer is good, but I've broken 3 of these, one at Sherman, one at Berkeley and one at Crissy. It's not a matter of if they will break, but when.

[Dr. Crash]

Crissy Field is no joke, from the beach it looks like such a great place to ride with the views and the bridge, but looks can be deceiving. The currents crank and there are wind shadows everywhere. If Stefaans had been alone out at the Gate who knows what would have happened, moral of the story... Ride with a buddy, someone you really trust. If you ride Crissy enough its just a matter of time till something breaks outside the Gate, at that point all you have are your skills and your other riders skills to rely on. People need to think of Crissy as a Ocean spot, not a bay spot.

[elli]

I remember someone mentioned a small marine radio of some sort that you can use to call the coast guard. Do you guys know what it is? Last time I was in Third Av I was the furthest guy out, the beach looked so small I was thinking if something fails now, I am in deep ... better have a plan B.

Anyway, why not self rescue where you body drag holding the kite from the tips? Not fast enough to fight the current?

[Stefaans]

I sent Slingshot pictures off the failure and they agreed to immediatly send me a replacement unit. I do love the Surefire bar but will not be hooking up my safety to it anymore.
i looked into the VHF Marine radios but at the IPX7 resistant level they start at $80 and at level 8 at $250 and above. I don't belive level 7 wil last too long as it it desribed as accidently submerge (5 feet for 30 minutes) so level 8 will be the only way to go. For now i will be riding with floatation, never alone at Crissy, hook up my safety differently ad use my head and no trying out new moves on the other side of that bridge.

Elli, I did wintip rescue it the last 100 yards but under the gate in that ebb there is no way. "taco" rescue would pull you South East at best as the ebb will pull you straight west at a much higher force this really just moving WSW ie Farralons.