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Almost all of my equipment failures have been at height, except boards of course.

Had two spreader bars break, both at altitude; each time only a single side broke and I could limp home. Lucky, as one happened in midair way high above shallow water - I won't be doing that again. Had two waist harnesses rip right in half during hooked in kiteloops; they were old harnesses though. The second one was painful though - the shock load on my arms made them sore for months. My new harness is way more comfy anyway.

Snapped a bar in half once too - both the chicken loop and the bar broke, but I dropped the kite right in front of a big breaking wave; I was glad the bar and loop broke and not me.

Lots of board failures, but those were all during contact with the water. Usually landings.

Having spent a lot of time falling out of the sky attached to paragliders, I don't do any big jumps over anything other than deep water these days - you never know when something's going to let go.

edt wrote:caption of that shot of toby should be

"Toby unhooks"

... or "Toby unhooks and look what happens, all hell breaks loose"

func wrote:Almost all of my equipment failures have been at height, except boards of course.

Had two spreader bars break, both at altitude; each time only a single side broke and I could limp home. Lucky, as one happened in midair way high above shallow water - I won't be doing that again. Had two waist harnesses rip right in half during hooked in kiteloops; they were old harnesses though. The second one was painful though - the shock load on my arms made them sore for months. My new harness is way more comfy anyway.

Snapped a bar in half once too - both the chicken loop and the bar broke, but I dropped the kite right in front of a big breaking wave; I was glad the bar and loop broke and not me.

Lots of board failures, but those were all during contact with the water. Usually landings.

Having spent a lot of time falling out of the sky attached to paragliders, I don't do any big jumps over anything other than deep water these days - you never know when something's going to let go.

... just wondering, are you a big dude,,, or are you just aggressive with your gear?

cheers,

Robbie

func wrote:Having spent a lot of time falling out of the sky attached to paragliders, I don't do any big jumps over anything other than deep water these days - you never know when something's going to let go.

And you are still alive or writing this from heaven (or hell)?

Puetz wrote:
... just wondering, are you a big dude,,, or are you just aggressive with your gear?

cheers,

Robbie

Heh, I was 205 lbs when I broke my last harness. Kind of realized that's a bit much for kiting, so I'm down to 195 now. Not huge, but not small either; perhaps spreader bars should come with a weight range. I think it's more that I'm not as good at kiting as I think I am... I probably pull the trigger when I should be riding off into the sunset.

I'm still alive, but I don't do much paragliding these days - too many dead friends from paragliding. It's too bad, as there's a decent launch 2 miles from my house now, but it's got a very sketchy landing. Sometimes I go fly RC gliders up there with my son, but I doubt I'll take the paraglider out again. Too many other fun things to do around here!

Wade

func wrote:

Puetz wrote:
... just wondering, are you a big dude,,, or are you just aggressive with your gear?

cheers,

Robbie

Heh, I was 205 lbs when I broke my last harness. Kind of realized that's a bit much for kiting, so I'm down to 195 now. Not huge, but not small either; perhaps spreader bars should come with a weight range. I think it's more that I'm not as good at kiting as I think I am... I probably pull the trigger when I should be riding off into the sunset.

I'm still alive, but I don't do much paragliding these days - too many dead friends from paragliding. It's too bad, as there's a decent launch 2 miles from my house now, but it's got a very sketchy landing. Sometimes I go fly RC gliders up there with my son, but I doubt I'll take the paraglider out again. Too many other fun things to do around here!

Wade

... pfffft,,, 205 ,,, 195 lbs,,,, that's fly weight,,,, well not really but you aint got nothing on my 265 lbs,,, now thats an excuse for breaking spreader bars!

Funny thing I've broken one side of the hook and always on the same side for some reason, at least I could limp home so long as I don't ride aggressively. Once the whole hook came off so I assembled the chick loop to go around the bar itself and come home easily, ended up kiting another half hour like that too.

cheers,

Robbie

I have had a line break mid jump before. Honestly if you are going to be doing big jumps just invest in a good set of lines, also I always put extra 2 inch pig tails on my lines (you can make them, go to west marine) and than replace them after they wear out every 6 months or so. Better safe than sorry.