Kiting on your own. How bad is it really?

[Magoo]

Scenario:

You've had a few lessons and are comfortable getting up on the board so you bought your own setup, but since then every time you've had a chance to kite, there as been no wind.

You finally get a chance, a steady 12 - 15 knts on shore at a spot you've previously had lessons, so you know you can walk 200m out into the lake.

But there is no one around. You call all the people you know in the area who kite, and no takers. Everyone's busy.

Question:

Do you pass it up because you're still learning and don't know what you don't know, or do you ignore all the dire warnings about not kiting on your own and hook right in because the winds are light and you have the water to yourself?

[Goz]

Heck I would just do it, but be sure to double check everything and safety safety safety

[plummet]

so you have waist high flat water for 200m meters and light winds?

Do it.

Understang your safeties and how to launch and land solo. the thats the hardest this to do nigel no mates.

be ready to activate the safety if it turns pear shaped during launching and landing and you should be fine.

However you have far more chance of dammaging your kite like this.

ps 13-15 knots is a bit of an arse to learn in. you really want 15+ knots to get you up and plaining easerly.

[Dan OK?]

We've all done it.

But you do feel very lonely when the wind turns off shore, your kite drops out of the sky and the sun starts going down.

Spend the time on the beach working on your kite skills. If you do go out dont go out as far as you normally would.

Kites deflate and lines break. Be careful

[JKS]

We've all done it.

But you do feel very lonely when the wind turns off shore, your kite drops out of the sky and the sun starts going down.

Spend the time on the beach working on your kite skills. If you do go out dont go out as far as you normally would.

Kites deflate and lines break. Be careful

Here here

[koma]

We all start somewhere...

I'd say as long as you answer yes to all of the following... go for it:

Can you self rescuing?

Do you know your safety systems?

Are you competent at self launching and landing?

Are you a capable swimmer? (Don't kite further out than you can swim!)

Is it a steady onshore wind?

Is it forecast to stay that way?

Are you confident in your own ability to have a safe session?

If there's even one no in that list, then i'd grab the trainer kite and have a play on the land.

[plummet]

or grab a landboard and landboard up and down the beach!!! then if it all turns pear shaped you can pull the cell phone out and ring for help or do the walk of shame.

but yes good advice. don't go out further than you can swim!

[BGKD]

We all start somewhere...

I'd say as long as you answer yes to all of the following... go for it:

Can you self rescuing?

Do you know your safety systems?

Are you competent at self launching and landing?

Are you a capable swimmer? (Don't kite further out than you can swim!)

Is it a steady onshore wind?

Is it forecast to stay that way?

Are you confident in your own ability to have a safe session?

If there's even one no in that list, then i'd grab the trainer kite and have a play on the land.

Back in the UK I used to be pretty heavily involved in the mountain and cave rescue services, and there are several critical precautions missing of your list for solo trips.

The thing to remember is that no matter how skilled you are, and incident that leaves you incapacitated (making all your skills worthless) can happen in a flash, and may not even be your fault.

1) who knows where you are? NEVER go on any trip without telling anyone exactly what your plans are

2) who knows when you are due to report back? Reports should be made as often and as soon as practical, just a 15 second phone call saying hi, I'm at....., just got back to car, etc, NEVER NEVER NEVER USE TEXT!!!

3) who knows when to call the emergency services Make sure your contact has an appreciation of the sport and risks, sometimes wifes/girlfriends are a bad choice, club members, friends in the sport are often better.

4) what you are wearing/Equipment you are using, VERY helpful for the rescue party if they can immediately identify your kite/board/lifejacket from a distance, searchers usually use binocular and helicopters in the first instance and a lot of time can be saved if they can narrow down potential targets.

5) what to do if any of the above change. lost count of the alerts and call outs I've been on where there never was a problem, just that plans had changed and nobody got told.

[sir lancelot]

I think it's all been said above, but for me the show-stopper was: did I know how to self-launch, slef-land, and if/when something goes wrong, does the safety work and how does it work. As long as you can answer that, and stay away from high winds on your own when you're a beginner, you should be ok.

Understanding your kite, as opposed to just 'knowing how it works but not why', is imperative. If you understand it, you can predict what will happen. Well, that's what I think

[maigais]

Even with ppl around you, you will get into shits and will have to learn how to get out on the beach.

So if you think about it you should be ok to, go in.

My advice if you drop your board, depower your kite completely to get board, even tho you know how to body drag, at beginning this saves lot's of board searching.

M

P.S. my brother did not listen, after searching for my brand new board for 3hrs he kind of said yup now I understand - I can always get kite up, searching for board sucks.

[Magoo]

Awesome.

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

I ended up deciding to hang out for a while working on my kiting on the beach until the locals showed up.

When I was still Nigel no friends an hour later and was happier with the wind and that I hadn't forgotten how to fly the kite, I decided to go out for a spin ...... and the wind died in the arse.

Are you confident in your own ability to have a safe session?

This was the one that really got me in the first place and largely the reason for this post. I was happy in my ability to have a safe session in what I know of the sport and the risks I could identify, but having only been kiting for a while, what are the risks that I don't know about? Are there any that a noob like me might not think of?

[Dan OK?]

As soon as you head out try to work your way upwind. When the wind does die off you can more easily find your way back to the safe sandy beach you left from.

Consider a helmet, smacking yourself down on the exact same piece of water your board just landed on hurts.

Beware the damage to knees and ankles having one foot come out of your straps can cause. If your straps are Ill fitting or just garbage, replace them.

[Sakiter]

As someone who is travelling around the country and working odd hours I sometimes go out by myself. I only do it if I have someone on the beach to keep an eye on me though.

Be really careful setting up, only do it if you are happy to pull the safety and are confident self launching and landing. I bought a Venom to make that easier, in my opinion.

There have been many times where I decided against it, too much wind/waves, just not comfortable, beach not quite right etc

[plummet]

land your kite facing the water,

don't jump and do silly manuvours further than you can swim.

double,tripple check your lines are connected correctly and the larks nots are tight.

fully depower (unless is really light wind) when on the beach

keep the kite at the edge of the wind rather than zenith on the land to prevent a lofting.

take a knife to cut the lines if needed

don't use a board leash

yes very important wear a helmet.

practice the water re-launch and self rescue

most important of all have fun!

be patient.

learn about the weather

and wind conditions

buy a wind meter.

[waydo77]

As i work an even time roster at work, i have a shitload of time kiting by myself while everyones working, keeping in mind the beaches i go to normally are isolated and dont have a soul anywhere this my recipe for goodness;

use a stake or a solid fixture to launch the kite off of to prevent damage to the kite and to yourself if it goes a little wrong(most beaches i use only have around 10 metres off sand so difficult to self launch with scrub so close)

tell someone where ur going, and when u will be back.

wear a helmet and a lifejacket/vest if ur gona try tricks because its a little hard to swim to shore when youve KO'd urself doing a headbutt mctwisty to blind...

and yeh know all your safety features of ur kite, how to water pack ur kite up, self launch and self land.

thats me in a nutshell