Postby Flyboy » Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:56 am
Just survived my own lofting incident in Caberete last week:
I was kiting offshore well outside the reef at Bozo's in winds around 20 knots with a 12m kite. I noticed the wind picking up & looked upwind to see storm clouds gathering. I immediately started heading for shore. At first I took the opportunity of stronger winds to point higher & head back upwind, however, as the wind further strengthened & I became overpowered, I abandoned this tactic & headed as directly as possible to shore flying the kite high & as depowered as possible.
After a few more minutes I was no longer able to effectively hold an edge in the water & continued basically just side-slipping towards shore. At this point I was not particularly concerned even though I was significantly overpowered, because I was still controlling the kite & I was 300 or 400 metres from shore. However, I began to realise that safely landing the kite when I got there, even with assistance, was going to be a bit iffy. I took the precaution of flipping open the plastic tubing on my CL so I was no longer "shackled" to the kite.
Shortly after this, the wind further intensified & a gust picked me up & lofted me towards shore. When I landed I was perhaps 200 metres from shore & closing quickly & began to appreciate that I had a serious problem & had to try & release the kite before I got any closer to shore. I pulled on the CL briefly with both hands to disengage it from the spreader bar hook, but the load was too great. In spite of the fact that I had a QR on the CL, I did not attempt to pull it (I think I was influenced by what I have heard about these pin QR's not opening reliably under high load). Instead, I brought the kite down at the edge of the window into the water, hoping that I would have a second during which the kite would deload for long enough for me to disengage the CL from the hook.
Unfortunately, in the gusting wind, the kite immediately bounced off the water & shot through the power zone hurtling me through the air. The kite crashed into the water & again immediately took off through the power zone flinging me wildly through the air again. At this point, I was only about 50 metres from shore (lined with palm trees & a field-stone retaining wall), upside down in the water, no longer holding the bar & expecting the worst.
As the kite bounced back off the water again there was a violent wrenching & suddenly I came to a stop. I looked over my shoulder to see the kite billowing off into the distance, where it eventually came to rest at the base of some palm trees.
I staggered onto the beach & looking down I realised that my harness spreader bar had sheared in two from the load & had allowed the CL to release. (The leash just ripped right off). The fact that I was using an aluminum windsurfing bar rather than a steel kiting bar, may have saved me from serious injury or death.
Lessons:
1) Keep an eye on the weather at all times.
2) Be safe rather than cool (ie. be prepared to ditch the kite earlier rather than later).
3) When the shit hits the fan it happens real fast (don't assume you're going to have any control over what's happening - that's why they call it shit-hitting-the-fan).
4) Don't think you can unhook in an extreme loading situation.
5) Use the QR - & it had better work!
6) My helmet didn't make me feel very safe! (Better than nothing, but the problem is it's not like falling off a bike onto the tarmac, it's more like riding your bike straight into a wall - chances are, you're going to break your neck).
7) Being lucky may be better than being smart.