I have been mulling over a technique mentioned in this account for helping you to stop if lofted and firing forward at high speed. It is basically flaring, something that is done anytime someone flys airplanes,
hang gliders and paragliders. It is relatively easily done with these other aircraft, then again they are designed for it.
As near as I can figure it out in kiteboarding, flaring would consist
of going through the motions to induce a jump or in effect "backwinging" the kite. In this case the goal is not to jump, at least not much but to shorten or stop your flight as smoothly as possible. Normally when lofted the rider flys full speed to earth with
a hard impact and potential associated serious injuries. The trick in this case as in hang gliding and to a lessor degree perhaps in paragliding and powered flight is to flare at just the right moment to
bleed off speed safely to minimize or eliminate injury upon impact.
So, I would like to make a request for advanced riders ONLY and particularly those that hang glide or paraglide. This manuver could go wrong during development and it may take advanced riding/flight skills
to avoid creating another KSI account for some. Please be careful! The next time you are out in good wind and well offshore
consider trying something while jumping. Induce a jump, perhaps a relatively low rapid jump by bringing your kite up from 35 to 40 degrees to near the zenith or vertical. While you are blasting forward at speed and when
you think you have slowed down enough to try it, go through the motions of inducing another jump. The goal is not to gain altitude, far from it, but to stop or significantly slow your forward motion. I know that when I induce popup jumps or those where almost all of the motion is vertical I virtually stop forward motion upon landing.
Another technique that you could try would be to attempt to reverse direction once your speed has drained off but while you are still
airborne. I am less certain about this approach so again, BE CAREFUl and please don't bother with any of this if you are in any doubt. Be careful about stalling your kite or even worse stalling it and getting wrapped up in the lines. This was the main happening of a serious KSI account to be released in a few days. So for advanced
riders that have wind, I don't right now, please experiment with this and let me know how things go. I would like to refine a flaring or stopping technique for kiteboarders to be used in emergencies. That
is assuming that the lofted rider has time to do any of this. Some riders that have been in major lofting incidents seem to have some seconds to try to modify the outcome of the lofting.
Thanks,
Rick Iossi
--- In kitesurf@y..., "Rick Iossi" <flkitesurfer@h...> wrote:
> The latest Kiteboarding Scenario has been released. It deals with
the
> serious issue of unstable weather and squalls for kiteboarders. A
squall
> blew one rider in Cabarete over 800 ft. horizontally a few months
ago. This
> is an important subject for all kiteboarders to be knowledgeable
about. The
> account has color graphics and lots of links to further information.
The
> account may be reviewed at:
>
>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kitesurf/ ... SAFETY%20R
EFERENCES/3.%20%20KITEBOARDING%20SCENARIOS/
>
> Please be sure to cut and paste the ENTIRE above address into your
browser
> address window to connect to the site.
>
> Upon receipt of comments and final editing the account will be
finalized and
> incorporated into the final Kiteboarding Scenarios document at the
above
> location.
>
> Good winds,
> Rick Iossi