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You have had a great day riding but got careless and didn't notice a black squall or storm cloud moving in fast. You know from experience that such squalls can toss out sudden wind gusts 20 kts. above background windspeed, sometimes higher. You have drifted down from your normal riding area into an area of beach with a 10 ft. high seawall setback about 50 ft. from the water's edge. You can see the windline full of whitewater approaching and you don't think you will be able to make it to shore before it hits. You remember the three guys that didn't make it last year, after being lofted into hard objects onshore under similar conditions in various parts of the world.

What would you do?

I would pull the savety, and swim in... I've seen a situation like this, going from 3 to 10bft in 20 seconds... 1 kiter didn't notice the black clouds but luckely his savety worked, If it had failed there was a camping full hard objects in his path

Have fun, Henry

Sounds like far from an ideal location in the first place. Get as far to the shore as you can, ditch the kite into the water on the leash (you have all got them HAVEN'T YOU??) swim the last bit of distance till you can get you feet on the ground and pull in the kite on the single leasehd line until you get to the kite.
Let it down, roll it up and walk back to you launch spot. This will of course lead to bad line tangles, but I think thats the least of the worries when this happens.

1 - move in fast and activate the leash
2 - hold on

Anyone who does not notice big black coulds already in the distance, does not know the potential danger that they present, and therefore will get slammed into the wall, unless he is very lucky.

Prevention is better than cure...

You have drifted down from your normal riding area into an area of beach with a 10 ft. high seawall setback about 50 ft. from the water's edge.

Before noticing any clouds - notice the wall and think - how does this limit me ? React accordingly - out of the water or in the water.


You can see the windline full of whitewater approaching and you don't think you will be able to make it to shore before it hits.

should not be there anymore but if you are get as close to shore as possible and deploy the leash - the sea aint gonna be too forgiving in these situations if you are far offshore - the kite ? f*ck the kite bye bye kite.

You remember the three guys that didn't make it last year, after being lofted into hard objects onshore under similar conditions in various parts of the world.

no time to think of these things


Hope i didnt make the endangered list.

Hopefully, more folks will think about this a bit. Writing up repeated, avoidable accident accounts is depressing to say the least. The real price however is paid by the kiteboarder that reacts incorrectly to this set of circumstances. They have happened before and will likely happen again, so what would you do?

id keep kitin and get massive air

hand on the triger, go to the beach !
go as close as possible and bang !

fabinhoj wrote:hand on the triger, go to the beach !
go as close as possible and bang !

Yeah, I know, you shouldn't be there in the first place but Rick's scenario
says "you got careless" so ...

..it may well be a good idea to get as close in as (safely) possible before
the squall hits because when it passes it could swing the wind all over and
if you are swimming in from far out with a leashed kite you could find
yourself being pulled out to sea with the residual drag of the kite.
However riding "one hand on the trigger" is gambling your trigger instinct
(and functionality) against the speed and power of a squall. I think I'd be
making that final reach unhooked (or unshackled) and ready to let the
kite go to leash ( I'm sure the threat of the squall behind you would
overcome the otherwise natural instinct to 'hang on' when you feel the
suddenly increasing pull. )

Steve T.