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POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Jetty

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Johnny Rotten
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Re: POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Je

Postby Johnny Rotten » Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:05 pm

Great Post Rick,
this is the worst kinda failure.
a) can occur easily
b) causes the kite to behave in a manner where you would throw to your safety. (no depower and steering incorrectly)
c) loses control much faster after throwing to safety.

Kinda like losing power steering in your car and then having it accelerate on you when you hit the brakes cause you notice the cars too stiff to steer. Yeah there's stuff you can do, but by the time most people sort out WTF happened, they're allready in deep shit.

Most people don't realize how EASILY this happens (the chickeloop wrap not the simultaneous brake steering and throttle failure)
Lines go slack cuz you rolled or crashed forward, got hit by a wave, and the depower line floats right bar floats left or straight and ends up on the wrong side of the depowerline and YOU are in this guys situation.

You steer left, kite goes right, you punch out of primary and boom, all hell breaks loose before you figure what's happening.

This guy had lots of time to figure out his bar wasn't moving (before releasing)so in his case he shoulda caught it, and just pulled the line back around. he admits that at the start of the video.

To a slight degree I blame equipment, I noticed on the 2013 bar North added a bit of stiff crap inside the depower rope to keep it straight and in place, SPECIFICALLY to reduce the odds of this happening.Bars with PU coating over the depowerlines also have some stiffness in this area to prevent it.

Probably not just co-incidence that this did not have a stiffner or a PU coating.

Industry should learn a lesson as well as most riders from this video, I did.

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Re: POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Je

Postby windrupted » Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:27 am

I just want to know if the guy is ok, his left leg looks injured. Hey guy, I hope you are ok. Thanks for posting that and maybe saving all us fools from slamming a jetty someday.

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Re: POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Je

Postby PVITfrumBYRAM » Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:29 am

windrupted wrote:I just want to know if the guy is ok, his left leg looks injured. Hey guy, I hope you are ok. Thanks for posting that and maybe saving all us fools from slamming a jetty someday.
Ditto. Hope you are ok, and thanks for giving us a look at the situation.

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Re: POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Je

Postby RickI » Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:32 am

The guy was figuring out kiting on his own without any instruction based on the youtube comments. Given that, it is likely he would totally miss the problem, means of avoiding it but likely in the interest of saving some money and perhaps time/travel, almost killed himself.

Not all instructors cover these sorts of considerations which is why you need to find a good one and spend enough time with him to cover essential topics and skills. It costs but how much is your medical deductable, time off work, PT and pain & suffering worth to you? This sport isn't as easy as it looks particularly when things go wrong.

Have no idea how the guy faired other than he lived and apparently wasn't so badly injured to where he felt compelled to comment upon it in the youtube thread. He was one very lucky guy as he easily could have caused some permanent or long term disability if not taking himself out all together. Beyond all that, I hope he came out of it with nothing more than some scrapes and a good head clearing scare to motivate him to take some adequate quality instruction.

Thanks for all the creative, constructive discussion. We all need to take a good look at this one and think it over.

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Re: POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Je

Postby POACHER » Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:16 am

That's crazy shit...........what's more wild, THAT is the spot my friends and I ride in the UP! I thought it looked very familiar, then on the Youtube info it lists Lake Superior.

That jetty is fricken nasty. He's lucky he hit (if you can consider hitting a jetty lucky....) the southern beginning of the jetty. The rocks get bigger, more jagged and harsh as they go north further out into the lake. Some of the gaps between rocks are plenty big enough to fit a person. I don't even want to imagine that scenario.

It's is not a beginner spot by any stretch. The beach is littered with old logs, branches, the occasional piece of glass, weeds and every other kind of crap that can get snared in your lines. It's definitely a place to have someone launch and land you. Solo missions are tough for an experienced kiter even as there's pretty decent current that rips the shoreline. When it's blowing good NW, there are nice 4-5 footers that break right on shore and bigger waves out beyond the jetty. It's a challenging spot, but when it's going off, it's awesome.

Hope the dude is ok. I can't imagine that not hurting like a mother F'er. I agree with the others though, I think a right hand tug on an OS handle would have prevented his eventual rock stuffing.

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Re: POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Je

Postby Kitesurf_ » Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:50 am

Not sure what brand of kite he is using, but the rope like material of the center lines/chicken loop is different than the plastic covering found on the kites I use (Cabrinha). I would think that the wrap would have been at least more recognizable with the more bulky plastic material, but who knows. Not trying to start a brand battle by any means, just trying to look at it and see if I hopefully might have been able to see the problem if it happened to me - and like most people say be ready to ditch the damn kite.

And I assume he ended up drifting downwind towards that jetty. For people who ride there, please tell me you don't regularly launch and ride just upwind of a big rock jetty.

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Re: POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Je

Postby POACHER » Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:03 am

He must have been trying that spot in a NE. We only ride it in a west or northwest to ride behind the jetty. Never tried it in a NE, we ride a different spot for that direction.

This guy clearly didn't have a clue.

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Re: POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Je

Postby windrupted » Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:11 am

Someone stated: "I agree with the others though, I think a right hand tug on an OS handle would have prevented his eventual rock stuffing."

He doesn't have the O Shit option. Climbing the leader lines right after he yelled the F word, until the kite kite was neutered, then removing his leash, then ditching the rig was his best bet (assuming there was no one around to grab his kite.) If there was anyone downwind then he could have yelled at them to go away......then ditched it. You can always stand there holding the leaderlines until your dinner is getting cold.

Oh crap look at me, I AM MR. KITE-SAFETY-KNOW-IT-ALL.

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Re: POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Je

Postby windrupted » Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:32 am


Tone
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Re: POV Video - Deathlooping Kite Drags Rider Into A Rock Je

Postby Tone » Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:43 am

The dude wrote this.

'I would like to kite with people, but I don't talk to anybody and when I kite its usually more in the moment. I'm so used to being alone I'm almost feeling greedy enjoying having the area I'm kiting in completely to myself! Maybe I'm just trying to justify my lonelyness though? I do enjoy it when someone driving by stops to watch me. Its a little added comfort anyways.'

he sounds eccentric.


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