Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Equipment failure at height?

Forum for kitesurfers
User avatar
icebird
Frequent Poster
Posts: 240
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:26 pm
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Denmark
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 1 time

Equipment failure at height?

Postby icebird » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:00 am

Do lines, chickenloops, harness hooks etc. frequently fail up high, or is it generally near the surface?

There seems to be a few "I was lucky it wasn't higher" comments on the forums.

It somehow makes sense, as the highest stress must be when you take off, perhaps except for some megaloops or heavy gusts.

Of course, it isn't something you should take for granted.

User avatar
Puetz
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 990
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2003 12:50 pm
Kiting since: 2003
Local Beach: Casuarina Beach
Rapic Creek
Lee Point
Buffallo Creek
Favorite Beaches: Old Woman Rock, Darwin
Oka Point, Sanuar, Bali
Phan Rang, Vietnam
Cemetary's, Mui Ne, Vietnam
Point Moore, Hells Gates, Geraldton, Western Australia
Rapid Creek, Darwin, Australia
Lee Point, Darwin, Australia (my local spot)
Nugas/Lakey Peak, Sumbawa
Marion Bay, Tasmania
Long Beach, Robe, South Australia
Style: Foil/Wave/Freeride
Gear: Duotone 13m Juice 2020
Duotone Neo 9m
North Rebel 2014 7m
Duotone Pace 4'10 Foilboard with Carve 950 + GT 90cm mast
North Nugget 5'3" Surfboard
Cyclone Surfboard 6'0"
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: Equipment failure at height?

Postby Puetz » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:46 am

... I had a funny one, not so funny at the time.

I kite with my hands in the middle of the bar when almost at the apex of a jump my chickenloop broke and in an instant my thumb was jammed between the top of the loop and the bar, 4 or 5 meters up!! Not ready for the load, I let go and I fell but having my thumb stuck, for a split second, I was hanging by my thumb!!!! It gave me one hell of a black nail. I couldn't rig up a temporary connection so I had to self rescue.

cheers,

Robbie :D

User avatar
Kamikuza
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 7057
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:49 am
Local Beach: Sabae Beach
Favorite Beaches: Ol' Stinky
Gear: This, that, the other
Has thanked: 220 times
Been thanked: 193 times

Re: Equipment failure at height?

Postby Kamikuza » Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:07 am

Line breaks - one on the way down, one just above the water, looping. Splash down, no issues. Except for the gnarly tangles!
Broken CL body - on the flat. Walked to the beach, water was shallow.
Spreader bar hook breaks - once just after a jump. Once, right at the peak of a good one - but only one side of the hook broke . . . made it back to launch spot with half a hook.
Harness straps breaking - just cruising around, got back to the launch spot again by riding gently.

Biggest problem is big fat thumbs - not getting in the way (ow!) but activating the QR :D although, doing that loop when the pigtail broke, I was holding the bar with one hand and pulled it back at myself, and chopped up my finger on the harness somehow.

Guess I've been lucky.

User avatar
RickI
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 9118
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2002 1:00 am
Local Beach: SE Florida
Gear: Cabrinha
Brand Affiliation: Cabrinha
Location: Florida
Has thanked: 88 times
Been thanked: 102 times

Re: Equipment failure at height?

Postby RickI » Tue Sep 10, 2013 6:12 pm

I had two windsurfing harnesses break way back in the day mid jump, before kiting harnesses were available. I've had some lines go too during jumps years back. Stresses are maximized in jumps so it is a good time for worn components to fail.

User avatar
Toby
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 50348
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2001 1:00 am
Kiting since: 2000
Weight: 95 kg
Local Beach: Cumbuco, Brazil
Barra do Cauipe, Brazil
Favorite Beaches: same
Style: Airstyle
Gear: Rebel 2015 18
Brand Affiliation: None.
Location: World (KF Admin)
Has thanked: 832 times
Been thanked: 2365 times
Contact:

Re: Equipment failure at height?

Postby Toby » Tue Sep 10, 2013 10:41 pm

everything can break! Always be aware of this and do change parts on your bar after a while.
Attachments
Chickenloop Break Crash.png

User avatar
Bille
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 4023
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2011 5:37 pm
Local Beach: Lake Mohave
Gear: Ozone Edge
Brand Affiliation: Barz Optics
Jaybar Dynabar V7
Has thanked: 252 times
Been thanked: 188 times

Re: Equipment failure at height?

Postby Bille » Tue Sep 10, 2013 11:07 pm

DANG !
That's a "KILLER" Shot !!!!! :o :thumb: :thumb:

Bille

pj sofine
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1022
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:21 am
Kiting since: 2001
Style: silly
Gear: naish pivots 9,11, rpm 7,8,10,12 cf raptor ltd 136,140
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 79 times
Been thanked: 56 times

Re: Equipment failure at height?

Postby pj sofine » Wed Sep 11, 2013 12:58 am

Had my bar (unnamed) blow up mid loop , center line near swivel broke and then both bar ends broke off the bar. Funny what goes through your mind when you're 20 feet up and all alone. Landed with just a bare bar in my hands :roll: Had my naish chicken loop let go when I was totally inverted half way through a back-roll kite loop, thought my fingers were ripped off my hands. Crowd loved it :lol: Landed headfirst on my back on that one. :angryfire:

longwhitecloud
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 3676
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:15 am
Style: Master Baiter. Oracle of windsport.
Gear: 2 sets of Flysurfer VMGs 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 15, 18. Foilboards ( Masts 75 90 110 125 Wings 880 950 1100 1350 1750) all with Ronix Ones attached. Soon to retire to Wingfoiling.
Has thanked: 108 times
Been thanked: 175 times

Re: Equipment failure at height?

Postby longwhitecloud » Wed Sep 11, 2013 1:35 am

i have jumped in high winds and had the leading edge explode mid flight. Didn't crash anything like as hard as i though i would though, it still had some "parachute" left in it. Happened quite a few years ago. Usually things break just as you load up teh tension before takeoff, or during that "strain time" wen your kite is slowly looping and u are stuck under the water..

User avatar
RickI
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 9118
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2002 1:00 am
Local Beach: SE Florida
Gear: Cabrinha
Brand Affiliation: Cabrinha
Location: Florida
Has thanked: 88 times
Been thanked: 102 times

Re: Equipment failure at height?

Postby RickI » Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:45 pm

Your shot reminded me of one I took some years back Toby. Billy hit pretty the water hard, aspirated a bit of blood but was ok after a while.

Image

User avatar
edt
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 7316
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:27 am
Kiting since: 2010
Local Beach: Michigan
Gear: ride hard, no regrets
Has thanked: 530 times
Been thanked: 664 times

Re: Equipment failure at height?

Postby edt » Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:54 pm

caption of that shot of toby should be

"Toby unhooks"


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Chriz76, cmilea, droffats, Hasse, knotwindy, KVL, mrcrss, SolarSet, tilmann, Windwarrior, Yahoo [Bot] and 538 guests