Setting:
Winds: 16 knots, steady, onshore
Beach: Hard-packed sand, gravel, and head-sized stones, some twigs and small stumps. No trees or bystanders...just another kite-bud and myself.
Scenario:
Kiting parallel and close to the shore on a fully-powered 12m kite and wind cranks from steady 16k to 26k. No time to depower and skidding towards shoreline fast.
What would you do?
This situation happened to me not once but twice last week! Both times sucked and I don’t know if there is a good way to recover .
The first time I basically just rode onto the beach resulting in the board coming to a sudden stop, I boosted out of the straps and landed on my bum, skidded across the beach on my ass and back until I regained control of the kite.
The second time, I sheeted-in and kicked off my board and floated onto the beach. I landed hard and tumbled to a stop while kite crashed down-wind in the wind window.