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The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Forum with lots of safety info - a must for newbees
jjjlaudenslager
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Re: The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Postby jjjlaudenslager » Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:28 pm

The leash was hooked to the correct ring, the ring hooked on the front line that lets that front line act as an extreme safety depower.

His bar was slid up that line about 10-20'.

Don't ask me why the kite was looping. We concentrated on trying to save the kiter first, and later everything was so tangled we couldn't tell what equipment problem might have caused looping.

The kiter was not local, was here alone, and we know very little about him except he was new to the sport.

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Re: The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Postby texaskiter69 » Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:16 pm

was the bridle broken or unattached at all?

jjjlaudenslager
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Re: The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Postby jjjlaudenslager » Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:46 pm

texaskiter69, I don't know by close personal inspection, but if there was a bridle break probably someone would have noticed it and we'd all be talking about it. I don't know where the kite is now, but probably could find out, but won't put out the effort unless you give me a compelling reason why your knowing if there was a bridle break or not is vitally important. Convince me, and I'll put out the effort.

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Re: The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Postby kootsie » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:11 am

Too much depower

A few tears ago I got knocked out on the beach.

Having too much depower on my aero ?. The wind picked up (it was predicted to get less) and I wanted to get out, but I had to wait beceause a freind af me was being helped. I did not want to go onshore. So i decided to go up and back one more time and then let my kite down.

For I didn't want to jump, I very slowly send my kite back, depowering it even more. The kite did hardly react (too much depower, slack lines) but dropped back in the window, powerd up and pulled me out of the water, adding a false rotation. It slammed me hard on the head on the beach. I was knocked unconscious and ended up in the hospital.

So the bottomline for me, never add too much depower, it makes you loose steering control.

btw, also think this is the problem with some launch accidents, involving kites which are depowerd too much because of too much wind. (bowkites can be depowered more then c-kites)

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rocket528
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Re: The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Postby rocket528 » Thu May 15, 2008 9:09 am

Take a lesson from a professional

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Re: The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Postby Dave_5280 » Mon May 26, 2008 8:01 am

Top 10 safety tips from the U.S. Lifesaving Association - http://www.usla.org/

Training Guide For USLA Safety Tips

General Information on Drowning
Drowning is the third leading cause of accidental death in the United States and the second leading cause of accidental death for persons aged 5 to 44. For children in the one to two year age range, drowning is the leading cause of injury death. In some states, like California, Florida, and Hawaii, drowning is the leading cause of injury death for persons under 15 years of age.

Death by drowning is only the tip of the iceberg for aquatic injury. It has been found that for every ten children who die by drowning, 140 are treated in emergency rooms, and 36 are admitted for further treatment in hospitals. Some of these never fully recover.

Males drown at a significantly higher rate than females (about 5 to 1). For boat related drownings, the ratio escalates to about 14 to 1.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Guide to Safety Tips

Swim Near A Lifeguard: USLA statistics over a ten year period show that the chance of drowning at a beach without lifeguard protection is almost five times as great as drowning at a beach with lifeguards. USLA has calculated the chance that a person will drown while attending a beach protected by USLA affiliated lifeguards at 1 in 18 million (.0000055%).


Learn To Swim: Learning to swim is the best defense against drowning. Teach children to swim at an early age. Children who are not taught when they are very young tend to avoid swim instruction as they age, probably due to embarrassment. Swimming instruction is a crucial step to protecting children from injury or death.


Never Swim Alone: Many drownings involve single swimmers. When you swim with a buddy, if one of you has a problem, the other may be able to help, including signaling for assistance from others. At least have someone onshore watching you.


Don't Fight the Current: USLA has found that some 80% of rescues by USLA affiliated lifeguards at ocean beaches are caused by rip currents. These currents are formed by surf and gravity, because once surf pushes water up the slope of the beach, gravity pulls it back. This can create concentrated rivers of water moving offshore. Some people mistakenly call this an undertow, but there is no undercurrent, just an offshore current. If you are caught in a rip current, don't fight it by trying to swim directly to shore. Instead, swim parallel to shore until you feel the current relax, then swim to shore. Most rip currents are narrow and a short swim parallel to shore will bring you to safety.


Swim Sober: Alcohol is a major factor in drowning. Alcohol can reduce body temperature and impair swimming ability. Perhaps more importantly, both alcohol and drugs impair good judgement, which may cause people to take risks they would not otherwise take.


Leash Your Board: Surfboards and bodyboards should be used only with a leash. Leashes are usually attached to the board and the ankle or wrist. They are available in most shops where surfboards and bodyboards are sold or rented. With a leash, the user will not become separated from the floatation device. One additional consideration is a breakaway leash. A few drownings have been attributed to leashes becoming entangled in underwater obstructions. A breakaway leash avoids this problem.


Don't Float Where You Can't Swim: Nonswimmers often use floatation devices, like inflatable rafts, to go offshore. If they fall off, they can quickly drown. No one should use a floatation device unless they are able to swim. Use of a leash is not enough because a non-swimmer may panic and be unable to swim back to the floatation device, even with a leash. The only exception is a person wearing a Coast Guard approved life jacket.


Life Jackets = Boating Safety: Some 80% of fatalities associated with boating accidents are from drowning. Most involve people who never expected to end up in the water, but fell overboard or ended up in the water when the boat sank. Children are particularly susceptible to this problem and in many states, children are required to be in lifejackets whenever they are aboard boats.


Don't Dive Headfirst, Protect Your Neck: Serious, lifelong injuries, including paraplegia, occur every year due to diving headfirst into unknown water and striking the bottom. Bodysurfing can result in a serious neck injury when the swimmer's neck strikes the bottom. Check for depth and obstructions before diving, then go in feet first the first time; and use caution while bodysurfing, always extending a hand ahead of you.


At Home, You're the Lifeguard: Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in many states for children age one and two. A major reason for this is home pools, which can be death traps for toddlers. Many of these deaths occur in the few moments it takes a parent to answer a telephone or doorbell. NEVER leave a child alone anywhere near a pool. Make sure it is completely fenced, that the fence is locked, and that there is no access from the home to the pool. Don't let your child or a neighbor's child get into the pool when you're not there.

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naishkiter10882
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Re: The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Postby naishkiter10882 » Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:34 pm

1.NEVER KITE ALONE,
2. ALWAYS WATCH THE WEATHER AND IT SOMETHNG LOOKS WEIRD COME IN!!.
3. NEVER KITE ON OFFSHORE CONDITIONS IF THERES NO RESCUE.

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perroloco
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Re: The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Postby perroloco » Sat Jun 14, 2008 8:47 pm

montanna wrote:Hands down i think this is the safest way to launch an inflatable kite:

I have seen too many bad and dangerous launches in my years of kiting. We practice the following launch method which has been flawless EVERY time. Let me know your thoughts.
1. pick up only the chicken loop in one hand. do not grab the bar, just hold the chicken loop.
2. have your experienced launcher grab your kite and you should be heading to the edge of the window at the same time
3. when you are both at the edge of the window you are still only holding the chicken loop in your hand (do not grab the bar).
4. now there is no tension on the lines so your launcher has an easy time holding the kite. in the event that something goes wrong you simply let go of the chicken loop.
5. when all lines look to be clear and all is a go, simply attach chicken loop and safety and give thumbs up to launch.

i have seen too many times people hooking in before someone even picks up the kite. then i see that while they are walking to the edge of the window they have the bar sheeted all the way in. as the launcher gets near the edge of the window they are literally fighting the kite. this is never good.

give it a try and/or offer some feedback

safe kiting
Very, very good advice!

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Re: The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Postby Scorpia97 » Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:45 pm

Never kite alone. But in the need to self launch with a bow or SLE i find the safest way is to launch is to pump the kite up and leave it pointing straight upwind in a position where it cant relaunch or take off. then lie your lines out directly down wind. Ensure the lines are all attached tangle free. now connect yourself to the leash and chicken loop with out donkey dick. now walk keeping the lines taught round to about 100 or 110 degrees from the direction of the wind on the side you want to launch from. Make sure the lines remain taught! There will be a point when the kite starts to sit in the relaunch position. from here just relaunch as though you have crashed the kite.

this in my opinion is the safest way to relanch because in all the time you are downwind of the kite you have the time it takes from the kite to un-expectantly take off, through to the time the lines go taught for you to pull the quick release.

Simon

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Re: The Safety Topic: please post your experience and advice!

Postby hmattar » Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:16 am

My cousin took my 14 Rebel 07 for a ride. A few minutes riding, one of the front lines releases(we neved double checked the connections, and the default knob from north it's really small from the front line attachment).
The kite went into a crazy look and he wasn't able to release because there was sand on the iron heart!
Finally he was able to remove the chicken loop from the hook and released...hopefully he had a leash.

So allways check your lines and sand on your QR(especially if you got NORTH gear, the ironheart don't like sand)


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