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This experience was on the top of any scary scale.
It began by me going into yet another failed flying gybe, far to fast, massively gusty winds of 12 knts to 30knts close to shore in yet again off shore winds,
As I started the carve I touched the water with my 6 MTR kite, it started to roll onto its nose so I grabbed the leader line to snatch the kite round and clear the surface, at this point I was bent double as the kite pulled me sharply into the stuck on the water kite, it was then it very quickly went wrong, my flying foil surfaced in front of me and I had to defend my face with one arm very quickly, but!
When I was under the water face down I realised the mast was now pressing against my chest and shoulder and I could not push it away, looking around I could see my bar and lines was wrapped around the rear stabilizer and it was then as I was trying to undo the tangle of lines I panicked slightly as I was now aware one leader line was wrapped very tightly around the front wing and all this was right in front of me and I knew what might happen next, and it did, the kite took off and began to spin, this gave me a breath of air I was launched through the air, after the 3rd kite spin the kite stopped and I had to stay under to find the right side of the bar to pull in the leader line and kill the kite, a wind lull at that point allowed me to gain slack line and release my wing and stabiliser from the lines,
This is the second time the mast/wing and stabilizer has surfaced in such a way it comes in towards your chest, the last time was months ago when I went over the top of a wave, which was my first attempt of taking on a big wave, on that occasion the only injury was cut fingers when I defended my face from the sharp bits,
This last experience will make me more aware and react differently to prevent this ever happening again.

Glad u made it, not fun...

Could you not release, And would that help at all?

D.

downunder wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:57 pm

Glad u made it, not fun...

Could you not release, And would that help at all?

D.

it was not my automatic reaction as the board was on my back, mast and fuse right up close in front of me, with wing and stabilizer inches from my face,
The lines were around the stabilizer with the bar end and one leader line around the wing,releasing was a fleeting thought but the safety was wrapped as well and this might have only made the situation worse as I was under the water most of the time, but if the situation had not improved It would have been the final option to try, I even felt for my kite line knife but decided to try and push away the sharp bits with one hand and unwrap myself from the mess with the other.

Brutal situation and that moment of fear when the foil is coming at your head is like a nightmare....I had a line wrap around my stabilizer trying gybes in very light wind so I was lucky. Also due to the unstable nature of going downwind doing this move, I immediately decided to learn tacks first and that's where I am at now. I will work on these later. I think gybes are easier to learn, but way more dangerous, kind of a weird situation. In my instance I saw my foil coming at my face and looked away and somehow missed the wing but my shin smashed something and I had a nasty welt on my leg for a few days. I'm highly considering putting on body armor of some sort when I venture into learning gybes again. I'm at least going to be wearing my helmet, impact vest, and some type of shin guards when I start learning these. I wear nothing now so it will be like going back to beginner status soon, lol. glad you okay! The one thing I learned in my instance in 12knots of wind was trying to undue the tangle on my stabilizer was not worth the effort or danger...I just spent 15 minutes getting dragged to shore and dealt with it then once I could put my feet on the sand. If my lines broke so be it. I can't imagine the issue when a line gets wrapped powered up...probably gonna be a game time decision taking the most cautious approach being try to release if needed. I can't wait till I can tack and gybe 90% of the time, gonna be a good day.

Why do you think learning to gybe is potentially more dangerous?

From my experience, this kind of fall happens when I have an issue with kite (loss of pull with kite low, kite in the water ... etc) which takes my focus from riding the foil. I'll slow down too much and stall the foil and with no lift from the kite I fall straight down with board sort of "folding" under. Typically board falls windward with me falling in opposite direction straight onto the wings. This is more likely when doing downwind maneuver or when riding straight down the wave (slack lines). The best defense I found is to pay attention to the board speed. If slowing down too much, I push the board down onto the surface before stalling. Everyone knows that kite support is not necessary to fly the foil but we are so used to use kite for support, that when we loose it we mess up. Try to keep the focus on flying the foil primarily during the maneuver, even if that means you drop the kite occasionally. This will ingrain proper reactions is you feel the foil nearing the stall. Like nosing down or pushing board straight down early so it will not "fold". Dropping down your CG by bending knees a lot helps as well.

I've been doing OK with gybes, s turns and toeside.
There gave been a few quick jackknifes, but I've had kite power and use it to pull me away from the board.
The board foil has bumped into be after falling many times. I'm glad I have a helmet and usually a lot of neoprene. I wear either an impact vest or a floatation vest too.

I had an incident recently, I was way under powered with my 7 lei and trying to get up on the board, sineing the kite like mad to get up, then I get a gust of wind during deep sine, I get pulled / launched over board onto rail, knee cap hits rail, shin and body dragged across the rail, body over wings that are sticking up. I got lucky and somehow not impaled on the wings, perhaps they had submerged.
It happen really fast. Super fast. Blink of an eye.
Got away with bruised shin and Dore knee cap for 3 weeks.
I've just purchased a new flotation vest and kite knife...

borist wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 11, 2018 3:54 am

From my experience, this kind of fall happens when I have an issue with kite (loss of pull with kite low, kite in the water ... etc) which takes my focus from riding the foil. I'll slow down too much and stall the foil and with no lift from the kite I fall straight down with board sort of "folding" under. Typically board falls windward with me falling in opposite direction straight onto the wings. This is more likely when doing downwind maneuver or when riding straight down the wave (slack lines). The best defense I found is to pay attention to the board speed. If slowing down too much, I push the board down onto the surface before stalling. Everyone knows that kite support is not necessary to fly the foil but we are so used to use kite for support, that when we loose it we mess up. Try to keep the focus on flying the foil primarily during the maneuver, even if that means you drop the kite occasionally. This will ingrain proper reactions is you feel the foil nearing the stall. Like nosing down or pushing board straight down early so it will not "fold". Dropping down your CG by bending knees a lot helps as well.

Exactly what I experienced both times-
kite hit water during gybe,
and going straight down a steep wave which was a very quick folding of the body against the sharp bits,