Here is a picture of my favorite technique to use showing the actual positioning of rider and kite, during the "raft-buggy-sailboat" trip back to shore...very relaxing, just laying on your back. Be sure to look ahead occasionally to see where you are going, though. I like to look back and see the wake I am creating with my feet, to judge my speed. It is a real confidence builder when you feel yourself starting to dial it in and pick up speed!

Another good link discussing self rescue technique:

http://www.nwkite.com/forums/t-7972.htm ... d78918c922

The bar went shooting up the front line... I was most of the way to the kite when I found it, and by that time, I had lines swirling all round me. As I said, the current and the (cross-shore) wind were taking me off the end of the beach, so I made a judgement call and went for the kite.

Regarding winding up the lines - I agree with Kosh, but it strikes me that the lines are much less of a hazard once you've got your hands on the kite. Again, it's a judgement call. Possibly things would have been different if the leash had been attached differently (either "suicide-style", or via a system like Cabrinha's IDS or Eclipse's "Killswitch"). By the time I got to the bar, I'd pulled myself through a load of lines already - I figured that there was more risk involved in trying to control the lines than there was in just going for the kite.

@ tomatkins... yep, that's the one, although the water was a nicer colour!

Sometimes a drawing is worth a thousand words! Good communicating of the idea! My cartoon would show the guy sitting on the kite's leading edge trying to keep his feet out of the shark infested waters.

I don't remember that Stacey & co. ever made that self rescue-video. Now that she's an official wiener (a real wiener of a competition!), it would do good for us regular kiters (non-wieners) to see that even champs (not to be confused with the Champ of Lake Champlain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champ_(cryptozoology)) need to SR at times....

Go! Stacey!
Go! Stacey!
Crash it good!
Do a self-rescue
like we knew you could!

Put it on film!
Show us where's it at!
Get yourself safely to shore
after a crash!

Rah!


As I remember, she was holding out for a trip on the Best Odyssey as the filming location for what could turn out to be a somewhat self-effacing foray into public service videos....

Years ago, Naish used to (and they may still do) add a small stopper to their
front-line-re-ride system. It allows the bar to slide up the line far enough to flatten out
the kite, but not so much that 100' (30m) of lines are now floating around you
as you retrieve the bar. My current setup doesn't have this and I had had to do
a self rescue a few weeks ago. By the time I recovered the bar, the lines had wrapped all over
the bar (luckily not around me) which made relaunch impossible.

I'm seriously thinking of adding a stopper to my front line.

Concerning the newer 2 line safety systems that have been spreading like wildfire, since F-One and North introduced the concept, a few years ago...Cabrinha's IDS version being the most talked about system, for some reason...and now, even Best is using it...

It makes sense that when self rescuing with a kite which uses one of these "2 line substitute for a fifth line"...that the rider would perform the IKO method of winding up the lines, on the bar, while gradually working his way to the kite...much like the rider would perform the IKO method, on a classical one line reride system.

The question that needs to be answered and illustrated with a video is: "HOW DO YOU SAFELY SWIM UP TWO LINES" in gaining access to the kite, when you perform the traditional "one line" self rescue method?

Is it a fact that with this new 2 line safety system, the self rescue must be performed only using the IKO approved method of winding up the lines on the bar? If this is true, then, the new 2 line safety systems would severely limit the kiter's choices for QUICKLY gaining access to the kite under certain desperate conditions.

This is a subject that needs to be discussed, and the pros and cons need to be presented, much like the previous discussions in the threads, that I have listed links for, in my previous posts.

I will be interested in hearing what the manufacturers and the users of these new safety systems have to say.

I like the brown water

Getting the kite under control is the first priority for sure - but once you do, you do need to get the lines under control - this is super important if you're kiting in cold weather and using a thick wetsuit or drysuit - because you won't feel your legs getting tied up in the lines until it is far too late..

You can go up one line.