Caelah said...
SamS - wearing the safety/kite leash in the CORRECT position it was designed to go may have helped your situation. I am continually bemused by people riding with the safety there and thinking it's OK...it's not. Safety on kites are in a certain place for a reason, if you chose to go out and put yourself at risk and not use the gear correctly then you only have yourself to blame....lets just hope you don't hurt someone when you're on the water if this happens again. Out of interest, were you told when sold the kite where to put your leash?

@Caelah: Before writing something like this you should be either informed or RTFM!:

Have a look at P19! Sams is totally correct!

http://pr.cabrinhakites.com/manuals/pdf/Powerdrive121_UM_Web/2007UM_Powerdrive121_EnglishWeb.pdf

Cheers

Granini

Hi Everyone Again!

Grainini - Hi there, I used to write a Cabrinah Crossbow 1 and I don't read every kite manual out there so yes if it says it in the book then sam is correct. However is Pete Cabrinah going to take responsiblity if someone does have to pull the chicken loop safety and the kite is let lose on everyone in the surrounding area....he won't pay your public liability insurance! It's common sense and it's not rocket science.

Rastazungu - hey there, sorry if I came across to harsh...I'm far from an encylopedia on safety and I'm in no way a good enough communicator to be an instructor. I just know what I've seen and witnessed and what I continue to see with more and more kiters on the beach. I remember the days 5 years ago, not half as many people doing the sport....for example I knew 3 girls, I now know of 600+ worldwide so if you triple that for guys minimum then it's becoming a very popular sport in a short space of time. We just need to be safe and I wanted everyone to be more aware of it....I don't want to end up in hospital or under the ground because of some idiot not taking care!

SamS - I'd like to talk to you face to face but haven't seen you at the beach in some time so hence why I'm writing here. When you were told where to put your leash on your lessons did your instructor actually pull your chicken loop safety to demonstrate what would happen if you got into a situation that required this? EVERY IKO Instructor should do this before letting a new kiter loose on the beach. If this had of been done then you would've seen the kite would not fully depower...and if not wearing a leash as you say you did...you wouldn't have a kite and it could've gone into another kite, onto a member of the public....I don't think I need to continue.

I came across a new female rider today who was taught the same as you and didn't know what the stopper ball was for so was riding in winds with no extra give until I made her stop and set it up right for her. When I tried approaching the instructor (yes I didn't do it the best way and I apologied for that) about the issue he just said you can't cover everything and every scenario in a few lessons! How on earth does kiting have a safe future with instructors like that teaching.

Poor Relo - I can't comment on 100% depower as I haven't flown every kite on the market but it's a very nice thought to think there is one out there that in every situation would have it!

Pheebobafet - hey, sorry I have to disagree with you slightly on one point. Good riders are fun to be out with but they can also mess up and I've been in a situation with one where I've been attached to two kites, lines all around me in strong southerly winds because the rider didn't realise where they'd end up after doing a trick. It all turned out good in the end but it was a horrible situation to be in and he was a skilled rider I knew. Never underestimate any rider no matter what their experience.

Guys and Girls....I just want to keep this sport safe, I don't mean to preach but every season safety is becoming more and more of an issue.

Here's a recent thread on the windsurf forum addressing this very topic. Less about the safety of the kiters themselves, and more about the safety of other water users...

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=34437#lastpost


BTW All the kiters I've met in Oz have been cool, kooks or not. Now I'm in Vietnam and there's so many tourist kiters (why can't they just go scuba diving like they used to?) and it's a bit hairy sometimes when there's so many learners around. I once counted at least 70 kites in the sky! But the kite schools here, for the most part, seem to teach pretty good safety stuff coz I still haven't seen any bad crashes.

There's a sign at one kite centre telling kiters to GIVE WAY TO ALL OTHER WATER USERS. That should do the trick, eh?

(In spite of the rhetoric, I admit that kiters are people too and will give the benefit of the doubt until shown otherwise...)