Just got new lines today

Good Call All,
Also I would like to add that I think it is important to remember how to bail your Harness and Everything!
Be it big surf or small waves you need to know this to survive if you get pinned underwater over shallow reef.
Trust me you can get hooked up on reef very easy with a kite in surf and its not pretty,
Have different scenarios played out in your head! Practise them...
If you havent surfed much but kite over reef with any size waves then you need an escape plan, you need to
be able to cope with being pinned at the mercy of mother nature , pinned to the reef!!!
Even if you are a good surfer and kite you need an escape plan!!
Examine your gear and get familair with how to bail it, the lot!
You need to be prepared to bail your harness as a surfer would his leggie!
When your bar is wedged in the reef anchored to the ocean floor after falling off a wave and you are PINNED and waves
continue to break over you then suck back out as the next wave is about to smash the reef and you are getting
RAG DOLLED you are at mother natures peril, No human is strong enough to fight the forces of HUEY.
Your safteys are not always the easiest option as you may think.
This is Where you need the escape plan,
Bail the lot!!! harness and all!!
This situation happened to me recently and has probably happened to heaps of crew over time or slightly different situations but
with the same thought process required.
I would like to see a real fair dinkum effort at a surf specific kite harness by some of the brands, no need for fancy crap, just
streamlined, smooth , dont need anything on it to get snagged eg handle pass line, no big grab handles, just somthing easy to bail
that gives you a good chance if **** hits the fan. Ive learnt that is my first saftey!
Also its good toThrow a few what if's in your head now and then.

Hey dafish, that sounds like a really good way to prevent you from loosing your knife, but the extra meter of line tied to your knife
could also get tangled up and snag on something while using it, also a knife is no good to you underwater cause you cant see a thing, it
is not an option , a knife is a last resort option above water when you can see the lines.
In an emergency situation you have to keep it simple.

Hmm, a red thumb...awesome.
My point is that when you are thrashing around or go to reach in turbulence it would be easy to lose the one shot you have at grabbing the knife. I can't say for certain if it is a better option or not, I have never had to use it. But I have practiced it and I can see how easily it could slip out (they are quite small) in a moment of having to work yourself out of a jamb.
Carry on good folks

Robbo2099 said...

cauncy said..
Just a heads up for the coming season, check your line knife, had a pork belly moment last night that made me aware, if it's stashed away check it's condition, if you've changed your harness check it's got one, might be the best $10 you've spent( apart from the $200 line replacement)

Hey mate,

Great point to make--just discovered mine's somehow fallen out of the little velcro pocket and disappeared. Any idea who might have one locally?

Cheers,

Rob

Kim at surf n sail has dakines, sharp as I accidentally cut through when rigging up once, had me scratching my noggin for a while trying to work out how I did it, till I looked down and saw my knife hanging between my legs

check everything, its on this weekend and won't be stopping for 6months

austin said...
check everything, its on this weekend and won't be stopping for 6months

Bring that forward a few days

dafish said...
Hey Cauncy, the elastic is a good idea, what sort did you use and how long is it? I might swap my line for that.

Just off the shelf shock cord, you can get it at most marine or hware supplies, I tuck it to one side of the pouch and the knife last to the other side,the thin diameter is best IMO

He died when I was just thinking about learning.. Wife made it a condition that I would always carry a knife when kiting. Didn't know she cared!!
I check it every time before launching, never used it yet fortunately.

I tied a "monkey fist" to my hook knife as I fear getting (even more) tangled if I attach the hook knife to a leash. The monkey fist never gets in the way and gives a good grip of the knife. It is also very easy to find under water, it would be impossible to find that tiny tab of the knife in an emergency situation.

I always take my light saber when kiting. It's my God given right!!

Phoney said..

cauncy said..

Phoney said...
Am I the only one who kites without a knife?

No definitely not, I didn't bother at first, until a guy called mike Pearson died just up the coast from me, a very experienced poley and kiter , a knife possibly could of saved Him that day,

If I only kite in bays (flat water & chop with no submerged rocks) and never in waves, should I still kite with a knife?

And if so, would one of those small retractable utility knifes that you get in a pack of 5 at $2 shops do?

Phoney, since you asked. Short answers, yes, and no.
Consider that the actions of others may be involved. I once had a friend fly their kite between the lines of my kite; when they bailed the lines came racing across my bar very fast and almost looped around my thumb. This is just one of the many ways you could get tangled up.
A hook knife is not expensive and it is harder to cut yourself/others/bladder etc with a hook knife than it is with a utility knife.

SaltySinus said..
in Melbourne's massive 3m bay waves,

3m!!! Where? where?!

I think I'm on my third line knife in the Mystic shadow. tucking it under the spreader bar where gravity can help it fall out is a pretty average design oversight. The old warrior harness had it on the top side edge of the harness. Being a sparky I got a very lightweight cable tie and tied the material bit where the tension strap goes through the spreader bar. Very easy to break and won't fall out.