two incidents on Tuesday & Wednesday at Sth Cott, as a warning
1st incident
i was kiting in 15 knots on wed night i dropped my kite and was in a floating weed patch at the time ,my kite relaunched but weed was across my lines, which acted as a anchor point so kite goes up and i get pulled under the water via the weed which collected around me and clogs up all my quick release mechanisms, a wave came through and pushed me towards shore i was able to touch the bottom and walk forward and free myself, potential for disaster.
2nd incident
Wed my buddy is kiting several hundred mtrs up the beach form the first location, he drops his kite in 20- 25 knots the weed patch has moved up the beach same problem he gets dragged under and cannot get to his quick release due to a large clumps of weed gathered around him, one line finally broke
both these incidents took less than 10 seconds to occur
dont assume anything about safety, keep an eye on your mates all the time

Standard safety 101 : Stay off the WEED!

Saffer said...

solution - smoke the weed

dam straight my friend i'm with you on that one

Seaweed is a real hidden danger, while kiting at Augusta over Easter a friend downed their kite in 30+kn of wind, easy re-launch normally, however huge swell and the fact that weed gathered on the lines, slid back over the QR in deep water, they were being dragged under.
I got to them just in time. After getting them to hang onto my harness, I had to kiteloop a 10m in 30+kn just to drag us back to the shore. It took 2 guys to drag the approx 150kg of seaweed onto the shore to free the lines.
Never could imagine this could happen, normally the only problem with seaweed is the stink and the slimmy feeling on your feet. Be safe and stay out of kelp / seaweed patchs. Big learning for me, 1 minutes later and they would have been out and under.
As Ianmac said "dont assume anything about safety, keep an eye on your mates all the time"

I suppose if the quick release gets jammed with weed and you don't have a kitlooping friend to rescue you the next thing to try is getting out of your harness or cutting your lines. I've heard some stories of people losing their lines in weed... just had to abandon them. Pulling them through wasn't an option because they had tangled in the shorebreak. Yikes!

POP