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Run away kite!

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Bille
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Posts: 4022
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2011 5:37 pm
Local Beach: Lake Mohave
Gear: Ozone Edge
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Re: Run away kite!

Postby Bille » Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:37 pm

It's Gonna be a , "Run away kite"!

Here's the opposite of most story's here :

I had bin towing a 12 year old girl on my surfboard ; had it tied to
the back of my harness, with a 10-M cord. I was amazed at how
easy it was to get her and the surfboard up on plane, along with
the TT, i was towing her with.

Anyway, we had just made it back to the beach, before the wind died
completely . Camp-fire smoke went nearly straight up, so I didn't bother with
a sand-bag on the kite , before me & the Lil girl went for a swim.

Were out maybe 15 meters from the shore-line, and the girl says she
can feel warm air on her back. Then i see the ripples in the water from
the swirling wind.
It was a Thermal that had wrapped around the point at the south end of
the bay, then made it's way back on the beach where my kite was sitting
without any weight on it.

NO WAY was i gonna make it to my kite, before it gets taken away by the
now building thermal.

For some reason the thermal had Flattened my kite to the ground ; it
stayed pinned there, as the now full-on sand-storm went by !!!

It's the biggest reason i want to replace the stretched out trailing edge on that
old 2008,13-m Ozone Edge : that thing is a survivor, because it should have
just flown away in the thermal that day.

On another note, i kinda doubt if a sand-bag would do much good in that
condition, so now i hook the flag-out line to my self-launcher that's tied
to the bumper of my van, (anytime i leave it unattended for more than a few minutes).

Bille

badgb21
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Posts: 659
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2003 8:55 am
Favorite Beaches: High Pines - Duxbury
Chapin/Mayflower Cape Cod
Langebaan
Cape Verde
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Location: Hants UK
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Re: Run away kite!

Postby badgb21 » Tue Aug 19, 2014 11:09 pm

Forgive me father, for I have also sinned………
In 2007 I was on Shark Beach Cape Verde pumping my kite, just as I finished pumping, I detached the pump and somehow the kite just slid from hand as I was about to shuffle it along to close the one-pump clamps…..In my defense, I was a pen pusher at the time and after a few days of kiting, my hands had become very dry and slippery! Honestly your honor!
It wasn’t that windy, but the kite took off and gently floated off at around 6ft high just hugging the sand dune nicely, carried I’m sure by the uplift of the onshore breeze. This all happened in complete slow motion, not in an urgent way at all and it eventually landed in the middle of the main rigging area.
One guy dived on it, looked more like an MMA wrestler while another then proceeded to give me a lecture in safety. When it landed it was static on the ground, but wrestling a kite seems fair game in such circumstances to some nationalities!

I begged forgiveness and tried to explain, but I think it got lost in translation. I felt like I’d been sent to stand in the corner of the classroom, only to lines latter that evening; “I shall not let the kite slip from my hand.”
Feeling a right Muppet, no harm done, lesson learnt, I skulked off back to my little rigging spot and quietly got on with it.

Delphinus
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Naish Cult 2008 13.5m
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Re: Run away kite!

Postby Delphinus » Wed Aug 20, 2014 6:55 am

Yep been there done that. Pumping it up on the beach and the pump slipped from under my feet. Pump and kite start disappearing up the sand and the Usain Bolt in me comes out as I power after it catching it just in time.

The MMA wrestler story below reminds me of when my brother was trying my kite out. He had hooked it into his waist harness and I was walking away somewhere when I hear a "Sorry Delph" and he is being dragged along the grass on his stomach, kite pulling him. Without really thinking I did the first thing that came to mind and lept on top of him with a body slam.
We managed to get things under control again and it turned out the harness velco came loose and the whole had started to slip around and off him.

He got a hell of a fright with me leaping ontop of him but no kites or people were hurt.

GregWoj
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Re: Run away kite!

Postby GregWoj » Wed Aug 20, 2014 6:58 pm

KiteCulture wrote:one thing I've done from time to time is to use the leash from the harness to tether the kite while pumping. Fail proof
+1


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