Winter blues beater

[jhn.holgate]

Just what you need to watch as we settle into another single digit temperature winter season.....

From Switch kites.

[andy666]

I hate you John.

[jhn.holgate]

4 minutes ago, andy666 said:

I hate you John.

If it's any conciliation, it's 1 degree here atm.

[Chook]

NICE scenery!!!!

Envious too of the warm weather. 6.3 degrees here.

[RedSky]

I don't know why you guys don't drive north for winter. I've spent the winter up in the Never Never and its like 30c - 40c and bone dry. Oh man, I'm so home sick for the outback.

The weather here in the UK isn't that great either atm and its officially summer tomorrow. So much for global warming.

[Chook]

23 hours ago, RedSky said:

I don't know why you guys don't drive north for winter. I've spent the winter up in the Never Never and its like 30c - 40c and bone dry. Oh man, I'm so home sick for the outback.

Yeh I reckon that @roblukin may have it nailed, swanning about in Port Douglas QLD in the sunshine.............................bastard!!!!! 

[roblukin]

11 hours ago, Chook said:

Yeh I reckon that @roblukin may have it nailed, swanning about in Port Douglas QLD in the sunshine.............................bastard!!!!! 

Yeah, its pretty good up here

[RedSky]

Amazing video. I like the music too. I see that the girl has her leash attached to the back of her harness.

I'm not a kitesurfer but having your leash attached to the back of your harness is a big no no ?   

[SoutherlyBuster]

23 hours ago, RedSky said:

Amazing video. I like the music too. I see that the girl has her leash attached to the back of her harness.

I'm not a kitesurfer but having your leash attached to the back of your harness is a big no no ?   

I both kite surf and landboard. I have kites with the leash on the front my Arcs and kites with the leash on the back my FlySurfers. The leash on the back just slides along the back freely from side to side -- no problem and I have used the safety on both systems.

[jaysmith]

On ‎2‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 6:01 PM, RedSky said:

Amazing video. I like the music too. I see that the girl has her leash attached to the back of her harness.

I'm not a kitesurfer but having your leash attached to the back of your harness is a big no no ?   

the girl is greta menardo, she kites freestyle and as such does moves that involve handle passes so must have the leash attached to the back of her harness.

for someone who is not kiting freestyle having the leash on the front is the safer option.

 

 

[Skiplant]

Someone who is not a kite surfer can tell us that attaching a safety leash to back of harness is "a big No".

perhaps learn to kitesurf then tell us why.

where we attach our safety leash is our personal preference and is based on our own personal confidence about using it.

[jhn.holgate]

21 minutes ago, Skiplant said:

Someone who is not a kite surfer can tell us that attaching a safety leash to back of harness is "a big No".

I though he was just asking the question....

[Mfwetu]

There was definitely a question mark attached to the back of that sentence

[jhn.holgate]

14 hours ago, jaysmith said:

the girl is greta menardo

Speaking of Greta...

 

[plummet]

Stuff that waveless boring location with mild winds and no waves!  I'll take my 4m swell and 30+ knots winter storm/wave riding any day. Here's my reality for winter!

PS leash on the back is dangerous. Particularly in the waves even leash on the side is damn silly. Leash on the front is the safest place. If the kite goes down in front of a one of the waves in this video and you get pulled under the water with leash is on the side or the back there is a very high chance you will be unable to reach the safety and you will drown and die.

 

[SoutherlyBuster]

3 hours ago, plummet said:

 

PS leash on the back is dangerous. Particularly in the waves even leash on the side is damn silly. Leash on the front is the safest place. If the kite goes down in front of a one of the waves in this video and you get pulled under the water with leash is on the side or the back there is a very high chance you will be unable to reach the safety and you will drown and die.

 

I assume the situation you are talking about Plummet is when you flag the kite out, since if the kite is not flaggrd out, the safety is right there in front of you not to the side not to the back. Or have I miss understood you? 

[plummet]

Yep. You can still be dragged underwater when the kite is punched to safety. It has happened to me and it is terrifying plus incredibly hard to reach a safety right in Front of you.  There is no chance you could reach a safety on the back. No chance at all.

[jaysmith]

there's some good YouTube videos of people being dragged backwards through the water by the leash while the kite is deathlooping. I think one of them is a pro freestyler during a comp.

[RedSky]

 

5 hours ago, plummet said:

Yep. You can still be dragged underwater when the kite is punched to safety. It has happened to me and it is terrifying plus incredibly hard to reach a safety right in Front of you.  There is no chance you could reach a safety on the back. No chance at all.

Yes this is what I was referring to.

[SoutherlyBuster]

Ok I see Plummet. Never had my kite death spiral in the surf. So you are screwed either way, leash on the back that is hard to reach, safety release on the front that is hard to reach. Still I find it hard to imagine for the primary release. I have on occation been pulled forward under water and could still reach my primary release, on those occations I did not need to activate the primary safety release, just held my breath, steered the kite out of the power zone, surfaced and took a breath. I guess in any hairy situation, you need to have calm approach to make the right decisions and not panic.

Only had a death spiral on two occations and that was because the kite was not set up correctly. First time was on a 2.3m^2 NASA, used a flag out line on a single kite line, bad idea on a fixed briddle, just let it plough into the ground and flatten out. Second time was on my 8m^2 Arc, followed manufacturer instructions on flag out line connected to one rear line, quickly changed that to flag out on one front line, no more problems.

 

Now for the being pulled under videos, if you spot one please post it. 

[plummet]

4 hours ago, SoutherlyBuster said:

Ok I see Plummet. Never had my kite death spiral in the surf. So you are screwed either way, leash on the back that is hard to reach, safety release on the front that is hard to reach. Still I find it hard to imagine for the primary release. I have on occation been pulled forward under water and could still reach my primary release, on those occations I did not need to activate the primary safety release, just held my breath, steered the kite out of the power zone, surfaced and took a breath. I guess in any hairy situation, you need to have calm approach to make the right decisions and not panic.

Only had a death spiral on two occations and that was because the kite was not set up correctly. First time was on a 2.3m^2 NASA, used a flag out line on a single kite line, bad idea on a fixed briddle, just let it plough into the ground and flatten out. Second time was on my 8m^2 Arc, followed manufacturer instructions on flag out line connected to one rear line, quickly changed that to flag out on one front line, no more problems.

 

Now for the being pulled under videos, if you spot one please post it. 

In my instance the kite was down in the water I had punched to safety then a wave hit it and I was dragged under water. The wave was probably 1.5 head high and the force of the water was extreme. It took all my strength to get to the safety that was attached at the chicken loop to then release. Note that I was not in the same wave that the kite was. I was behind it in clear water. The wave took the kite and I was under for some time waiting for the kite to pop off the back of the wave. But it never did. So the only thing to do to stay alive was release the kite completely.  I was under long enough to consider if that was how I was going to die.

Had the safety been on the back..... I don't think i'd be here today.

 

 

 

 

 

[RedSky]

16 hours ago, plummet said:

In my instance the kite was down in the water I had punched to safety then a wave hit it and I was dragged under water. The wave was probably 1.5 head high and the force of the water was extreme. It took all my strength to get to the safety that was attached at the chicken loop to then release. Note that I was not in the same wave that the kite was. I was behind it in clear water. The wave took the kite and I was under for some time waiting for the kite to pop off the back of the wave. But it never did. So the only thing to do to stay alive was release the kite completely.  I was under long enough to consider if that was how I was going to die.

 

Sounds really scary. I was getting short of breath just reading that. I almost drowned in Bali back in 97. Went swimming to cool off. Only thing is, the red flags were flying that day and the crashing waves were huge. I got dragged out without knowing it, until it was too late. Every time I came up gasping for air another huge wave would push me under again and again repeatedly until I had no strength left. I got out in the end by swimming backstroke. My arms hung down by my side as I made my way across the beach, I did not have the strength to lift them.

Slept for a solid 48hrs after getting back to the hostel. I almost died that day and I had the same thoughts as you. So I know what your near death experience must have been like. Although I must say, it was one of the most lonely yet peaceful experiences of my life. I had no fear of death towards the end.

Stay safe out there.

[Chook]

Geez Plummet........................bugger that. I admire your cool thinking under pressure mate.

[plummet]

Yeah its the dice you roll when riding in big waves. A bloody tiring dice I tell you.  Luckily when you usually get washed in with the kite and you in the same wave. In that instance there is no high speed underwater dragging. Just the normal washing machine. 

I'll be honest I don't get washed on that often with the kite down. Maybe once or twice a year. If you have the kite in the air and loose the board that's easy. You can use the kite to power you through the waves. 

 

 

 

 

[JJL]

On 2 June 2016 at 10:31 AM, RedSky said:

Amazing video. I like the music too. I see that the girl has her leash attached to the back of her harness.

I'm not a kitesurfer but having your leash attached to the back of your harness is a big no no ?   

Actually here is the best set up as long as you stay hooked.