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Help! Primary safety activt'd but kite looping down wind

Forum with lots of safety info - a must for newbees
Blaze Lambert
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Help! Primary safety activt'd but kite looping down wind

Postby Blaze Lambert » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:28 am

I spent £300 on C kite lessons but bought a Flexifoil Ion SLE.

I activated the chicken loop safety system so that the bar went up the middle line (the leash is attached to the line that goes through the bar) , the kite dropped on to the water directly downwind with the leading edge on the surface. The kite powered up and made one spiral dragging me a couple of metres, this kept happening till someone came to help. Ive asked loads of people what I should do if it happens again and I just get blank looks even the guys at the shop i bought it from didn't know what I was talking about. Can anyone help. Does anyone know what Im on about.

Should I just grab the loop on the steering line and release the rest by pulling the secondary safety and hope it doesnt pull my finger off.

Cheers
Blaze

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Re: HELP! Primary safety activt'd but kite looping down wind

Postby Flat Eric » Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:18 am

Hi there,
can you describe a litte closer what you were doing or where you were hooked in.
Have you been using a harness? What safety features did you use?

Thx Eric

Blaze Lambert
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Re: Help! Primary safety activt'd but kite looping down wind

Postby Blaze Lambert » Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:39 am

Hi Eric
I was hooked in (four line set-up ION2 10.5metre) on a windy day 20-25 mph. i crashed the kite downwind of me after the primary safety activated itself, maybe i knocked it,.. the kite should go to the edge of the wind window but didnt it just lay on the water leading edge down, immediately down wind periodically lifting at one end and then looping...generating pull during the loop...I was dragged for some way until someone helped.

Maybe it was a freak incident. Do you think that if I had pulled the oh shit safety while holding on to the red landing loop I would have been able to keep the kite while completely killing the power in the kite.

I was thinking of putting two leashes on my harness one for the mini fifth line (normal) and an additional one that I would only attach to the landing loop in the event of having to pull the oh shit safety.
Cheers
Paul

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Re: Help! Primary safety activt'd but kite looping down wind

Postby irwe » Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:03 am

Attaching your safety leash to the ring below your bar will not give you the maximum depower capibilities. You need to attach it to the O shit loop as you suggested. This will give you more depower but never 100%. The only disadvantage is that you don't have a spinning bar now but it is a safer set up for beginners. See Flexi's site for more info.

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Re: Help! Primary safety activt'd but kite looping down wind

Postby Flat Eric » Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:05 am

Hmm that sounds weird, it seems from the looks of your bar that when you release the chickenloop the bar goes way up the middle line so there is slack in the rear lines. in theory your kite should indeed go to the edge of the wind window as there is only tension on the frontlines. But you say it lay leading edge down -downwind position- on the water. So if there is no tension on your rear lines the wind has probably picked up the kite is there was tension on your frontlines i.e. you have been attached to them resulting in you beeing dragged. Pls correct me if im wrong. I think if you had pulled the oh shit loop (big red fat loop on your rearline) it would have been of no use as you were still attached to your frontlines. If they were also slack and you would just be attached to the oh shit loop your Kite should come down and stay there with no force dragging you about. I know how that feels, have been lofted, after coming back down pulled the chicken loop release but the pin did not release me resulting in me beeing dragged about the place until i pulled on my oh shit loop, actually i have a safetyleash going from the harness to the loop, so for me it worked. but at the mom im thinking about another bar as it is quite a bad feeling when your pulling your chicken loop and noting happens...

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Re: Help! Primary safety activt'd but kite looping down wind

Postby switch313 » Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:07 am

what do you mean you spent 300 bucks on c kite lessons? sometimes kites do loop on one line when the qr has been activated in good wind its normal, and the kite will have allmost no power so dont worry so much its because you are new to the sport you are thinking alot, two leashed is a very bad idea it will probally tangle and if something serious happens (ie you crash on a road or in large waves later on) you have to release twice. and you will look seriously uncool- my advice is clip into the 5th line only or look in the catolouge and do what they do for the first few months and your leashes wont pull off your finger or whatever

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Re: Help! Primary safety activt'd but kite looping down wind

Postby Blaze Lambert » Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:43 pm

Eric,
the quick release should enable the rear lines to slacken but only so far, it stops where the spinny thingy hits the bar...and yes i would be attached to the front lines still..

I think attaching the leash to the red landing loop is the only way to be sure it won't happen again.

PKPC08,
Just so you don't think im being a wus, it did wreck a large panel in the kite, cost £100, and put a nice n deep gauge in me foot. But I grant you it does look like this doesnt happen very often and I should roll with the punches.

My point about my finger being pulled off was more about using the landing loop (on the red stearing line) so, if stuck my finger in the landing loop and pulled the oh shit, the leash would completely detach from the harness and the only thing connecting me to the kite would be my finger in the landing loop. I suppose the main reason for my caution is that in the instructions it says only experienced uses should use the landing loop. Only one snag the red landing loop is well out of reach when the primary safety has been deployed.

A similar thing happened another time but no safety system had been activated it didnt loop but again stayed directly downwind (didnt go to the edge of the wind window as flexifoil maintain) and again generated enough pull for there to be a stalemate situation. I have seen something on the net where you pull one steering line and the opposite front line but havent tried it yet. In that case I just pulled the kite towards me then let the bar go and ran forwards at the same time and the kite rolled onto its back...I wonder what happens if you are out of your depth.

Thanks all for your help and patience.
Paul


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