TWO DAYS AGO I WENT FOR THE FIRST TIME TO A PLACE IN SYDNEY CALLED CRONULA TO KITEBOARD. I WAS TOLD THE PLACE IS GREAT WHEN THE WIND COMES FROM THE SOUTH. UNFORTUNATELY I ONLY HAD A 12M WAROO AND THE WIND WAS TOO STRONG FROM ME TO GO OUT. I'M 62KG AND THE WIND WAS BLOWING 35KNOTS+

THERE WERE ONLY 2 GUYS OUT. ONE ON A YELLOW AND ONE ON A BLUE CABRINHA. THE GUY ON THE BLUE CABRINHA WAS DOING SOME HUGE JUMPS. IF I HAD TO GESS IT WAS SOMETHING BETWEEN 15 AND 20M AND EACH JUMP WAS GETTING HIGHER AND HIGER AS HE WAS SENDING THE KITE HARDER AND HARDER.

THEN IT HAPPENED. THE GUY WENT AT FULL SPEED STRAIGHT ONTO A WAVE AND SEND THE KITE UP AND BACKWARDS. HE WENT UP AT LEAST 20M WHEN A BIG WIND BLOW GOT HOLD OF HIM AND SEND HIM UP ANOTHER 10M. HE GOT THEN HIT BY ANOTHER WIND BLOW AND WENT UP ANOTEHR 10 OR 15M. IT LOOKED LIKE HE WAS NOT COMING DOWN ANYMORE. AT THAT POINT HE MUST HAVE BEEN UP AT 40M+ AND BEING TAKEN BY THE WIND FOR OVER 100 OR 150M DOWN WIND. I WAS STANDING ON THE BEACH AND THINKING FUUUUUCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!! SUDDENLY HE STARTED COMING DOWN VERY QUICKLY WHEN I NOTICED THAT HE HAD THE KITE ON FULL DEPOWER. I DON'T KNOW HOW, BUT HE MANAGED TO LAND THE JUMP/HIGH LOFT JUST 10M FROM THE BEACH.

I RAN TO TALK TO HIM AND LAND HIS KITE. HE WAS IN SHOCK AND HAD TO SIT DOWN FOR 5 MINUTES ON THE BEACH.

I LEARNED THAT EVEN BOW KITES CAN TAKE ONE UP IN THE SKY AND WAS HAPPY TO HAVE LEFT MY KITE ON THE BEACH AND NOT TRIED TO GO OUT.

FREDDY

Tonewolf,

I was actually the "tosser" that got lofted. I was out on my 10, which I admit was a bit big when the wind went into the solid 35knots gusting 40+.

Before getting dragged upwind, I was comfortably doing my usual jumps and so far, my experience with Bows always led me to believe that the kite will make you fall when the bar was completely sheeted out.

As I found out later it wasn't the case. Even with bar fully sheeted out I was still going up. It must have been an updraft wind and not a normal gust. It reminded me of that old video of Eric Eck in Hawaii...

The most amazing thing was that I could see Botany Bay from Wanda... (while my pants were getting browner and browner).

I'm happy to say that even though the situation was quite challenging and scary the kite handled the flight super well and the landing was smooth...

M

Hey Guys,

I always found that there is an "Updraft" type of thing goin on just north of the Wanda Surf club within the first 100m of the beach.

have had some freaky floaty jumps there, but I've not been out in 40 knots .... ever I don't think.

Behave!

Good winds,

Hey Keahi.... you must get lofted really high when the gust hits you. I'm 87kg and was really surprised that the wind lifted me that high and that sheeting out the bar didn't make a big difference.

The good thing is that after that big loft all my other high jumps seemed so low that I really felt super comportable pulling them off ....

It's a shame we didn't get in on film or photo.

Monday looks like a decent SE though and the waves may be quite big. So might be a good chance to go high up again...

high loft

WHY DO PEOPLE TYPE ALL CAPS... I am not deaf when I read

On the topic, Wanda's bigger sized swell also channels wind up in front of the waves and the bigger dunes on the beach can cause funny things....

Not sure if he was talking about punching out completely, I got the impression he meant punching through the stopper so he could depower the kite further to come down faster.

I was on a 10m SB2 when it happened (as a minor note on the side, I personally think that I can jump higher with an SB2 than with a CB2...)

When I meant punching through the stopper ball (overide system), I meant that I had to punch through to achieve maximum depower (i.e. have the bar fully sheeted out).

To my surprise, this had almost no effect. I normally can shorten a jump quite precisely by sheeting out the bar, which makes the kite drop you much quicker and sheeting in/ downlooping to smoothen the landing. This is one of the great advantages bow kites as they give you some control in the air (i.e. how far you're going to fly).

But I assume I just got caught in an updraft wind, potentially generated by the sand dunes combined with a few strong southerly gusts.

Yep, It crossed my mind to pull the plug (i.e. pull the safety on my chicken loop and on my handle pass leash), but at 40m+ up in the air that option look very scary and a few broken bones would have probably been the least of my worries.

I decided to hang on and steer the kite (keep it above my head) and hope for the gust/updraft to stop and let my 87kg and gravity take me back down...

According to the guy on the beach that saw the jump I must have flown over 100m downwind and the beach was coming closer and closer. So my plan was to hang on to the kite even if I would fly over land, try to land with no forward speed and if necessary instantly release the kite/safety leash.

Fortunately the wind dropped before I got to the beach/land and I managed to land safely.

After the adrenalin went away, my legs were not really under control anymore. I had to stop kiting for a few minutes to gain control over my legs again...

It's a shame no one had a camera there. It would have led to great foottage (once the brown stuff had been eddited out of my boardies...)

M