Is that a full sized glider or one of those speed wind things?

I have been kiting more than ten years around 200 days a year and have never had a bladder issue. Around 2008 I broke a leader line pretty high in the air and plumeted pretty far. I did not inspect my equipment that close back then. Now I take a lot of precautions and back up my equipment. Ozone kites are built very well and feel comfortable flying there tubes in the air. Inflatables can fly through some crazy turbulence and remain solid. They also are good at getting down. Unless your super overpowered. You can let the bar out and descend quickly.
That is a sweet jump these guys made off that cliff. Hard to stay close to the ground when your flying over buildings and power lines. Crazy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfenWbpkKOg

I was there and just to clarify, Murphy is probably the best kite-flyer in the world and has been doing crazy stuff like this since 2005.. I was much more worried when Ruben climbed up compared to Murphy..

Its like everything.. calculated risk..

Kiteflying is safer than basejumping anyways and definatly not something the average kiter should do.. but for those who know the risks and prepare accordingly.. no worries..

have a good one

Agreed, provided the risk takers really do understand the risks as well as reasonably possible.

In this thread I saw a case where this may not have been so, which is why I raised the concern about bladder/fitting/casing failure. It appears the kiter didn't consider this as a considerable risk, apparently because he'd been lucky so far.

So, I'm using this forum to respectfully suggest great care be taken regarding this risk. Based on my own experience, C-kite designs are generally survivable with lost leading edge bladder pressure, but Bow/SLE/Hybrid designs aren't.

Obviously, faulty or compromised casing stitching can cause a problem, as can bladder damage or faulty or poorly seated single-point-inflation jumpers. One other area that's easy to miss: many bladder inflation valves/caps rely on a discreet o-ring not only for a seal but also to keep the cap and/or valve on tight. If an o-ring gets knocked off, which happens, it's easy not to notice. The cap/valve will look normal and seem to function normally, except that during flight the cap/valve will tend to work its way loose.

There are many sports involving carefully calculated and managed risks, including many flying sports, but 'calculated risk' is much easier to say than to demonstrate . Many people who inadvertently mistake uncalculated risk for calculated risk cause their families and friends immense pain or end up in wheelchairs (including several of my close friends), and compromise future prospects for their sport. Best to do all we can to constantly strive to stay out of that group.

Cheers,
James

. He is taking a chance which is completely different from risk.
Risk implies that the pilot knows exactly the actual probability for different scenarios to occur...I doubt that's the case here.

How do you know kiteflying is safer than basejumping? And why does that matter?

I'm not really too worried about the flying...but lets not pretend it is something it isn't. )

I also think there might be a market for a kite. That has some redundancies built in. It would mean a heavy system since everything would have to be doubled up

Agreed. Paragliders.

Paraglider designs, inherent safety features and related procedures are the result of an evolutionary process involving great focus and many very hard lessons.

Exactly. Would require to turn the paraglidr around...like has been suggested in this thread...those where the point is to fly ride down mountains

its a 13m speed wing

Thought that was the case when you talked about "lines" and you seemed to be going very fast! What are 'normal' landings like on those things?

Skyte: I'm glad you're okay. I think you can probably be glad your legs didn't make it over....