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Here are some pictures showing an alternate way to carry a kite hook knife.

1. Carefully carve away a pocket in the foam, in the back of the helmet, big enough for the hook knife. (The Ace Protec is my choice for a helmet.) A serrated steak knife works good.
2. Glue in a piece of velcrox using something like Shoe Gu, contact cement, hot glue, etc...Place it on the inside of the back of the helmet shell.
3. Wrap a piece of the opposite type of velcrox around the handle of the hook knife and sew it or glue it in place.

It is easy to get at, and stays out of the water more than if placed in any other location. It is also easy to rinse off under a faucet after each session in salt water. I think the prize for the worst location for a hook knife goes to the Nitrous board short harness, where it is located not only within a hard to get at pocket, but also within a secondary velcroxed sealed pocket within the first pocket. Only the great Houdini could get at that knife!! I got to admit, I do like the shorts, though.

Nice idea but isn't it removing from the structural integrity of the helmet?

Check out the amount of foam left in the Ace helmet. Twice as much as there is in the unmodified Gath for instance. That's why I like the Ace (plus, it costs about 1/3rd as much as the Gath). I wouldn't do this to a helmet with thin padding at the back.

Good point, though! I imagine, by doing this, you void the helmet warrenty, also.

One thing I would be careful of though, if you launch or catch Flysurfers, and let the filimentous bridle fall all around your head and neck, it might catch on the handle of the knife. I don't even like to have a helmet or sunglasses on when I launch or catch Flysurfers. I do like my Flysurfer though.

There's always something!!

Interesting thought.

I still believe that this type of knife is likely only to be used to help others in a tough situation or when you crash your kites in a dangerous swell and the lines get tangled around you or your neck and there is no other way to get out of the situation.

From all the reports of accidents I've read about and the few occasions I saw someone with a kite out of control on the beach, they rearely even managed to pulll the safty system. Imagine how hard it is to get the knif out of your helmet or harness when you're being dragged around out of control.

P

Phillipp wrote:Interesting thought.

I still believe that this type of knife is likely only to be used to help others in a tough situation or when you crash your kites in a dangerous swell and the lines get tangled around you or your neck and there is no other way to get out of the situation.

From all the reports of accidents I've read about and the few occasions I saw someone with a kite out of control on the beach, they rearely even managed to pulll the safty system. Imagine how hard it is to get the knif out of your helmet or harness when you're being dragged around out of control.

P

but then there is the guy in Florida (I bet Rick I has more on this), as far as I remember, that was caught in huge waves, getting rolled in his lines, and one of the things that did save his life was the knife....I think especially if you ride in waves having a knife makes sense. On the other hand, I got both hands caught in the lines. and I think what saved them when the kite powered up again , was that the main blunt of the power was on the spreader bar. Both my hands were locked down on the spreader bar, and by pure luck I didn't loose more than lots of skin on my hands...


a.

Hi

I carry 2 line hook knifes.
One is the standard DaKine hook knife in the back of my harness and the other is strapped to my left forearm.
The one strapped to my forearm has a better strap on it. It is also set up with a thin elastic line on it so that if it slips out of my hand I can get it back. The line is small enough to break if it gets hooked on something too strong. I plan to stitch this line knife to the front and top of my impact vest.

Due to often strong swells around here I would never go out without a line knife. I also always use a helmet and impact vest.

I like the idea of a line knife on your helmet, but I would do it by attaching a housing for it on the outside of the helmet.

However I still think that having it on the front upper left side of your impact vest is the best place to have it.

Cheers

Fred

[quote="FredBGG"]

"I like the idea of a line knife on your helmet, but I would do it by attaching a housing for it on the outside of the helmet."

I like that idea to, but unfortunately "looks" really matters to most kiters, and the knife inside the helmet shell looks like a loop to hang the helmet on, with no resemblance to a "helmet toolbelt". My hope in presenting this idea was to get the majority of "looks conscious" kite fashionistas to carry knives. Also, the housing would have to be really "clean", so that ( from one Flysurfer guy to another),when you catch a ram air kite, the filimentous bridle lines don't catch on it and snag.

I wish someone manufactured a double bladed hook knife with a "short" handle. Then we could carry the best type of kite knife on or in the helmet. The long handle is just too long!!

This is the one I got years ago and have mounted on the chest of my impact vest/PFD where I can reach it with either hand. Great quality.

I've never used it in anger, though I have pulled it out a couple times when it looked like things might get ugly.

helmet knife looks like a good idea, but surely creates a pressure point at the base of the skull between the padding and helmet shell - any rearward impact to the head could be your last

TheRussian wrote:helmet knife looks like a good idea, but surely creates a pressure point at the base of the skull between the padding and helmet shell - any rearward impact to the head could be your last

The Ace helmet, with the void cut out, still has more padding left than most helmets, so I am not concerned. This is just a judgement call, weighing the risk of receiving such a severe blow to that one spot on the helmet, versus the risk of not being able to access the knife in an emergency.

You certainly make a good point, and I am sure that cutting out any amount of foam voided the warrenty on my $38. helmet. I haven't been able to locate a "crash test dummy" to wear the helmet while I swing a baseball bat at the occipital region of the helmet. Any volunteers? Let's callibrate this thing.