A few days ago, my safety leash broke as I was unhooked at Woodies and I lost my kite. There were about 7 or so other kiters in the area. And a couple of them went after my kite. And one kiter tried to body-drag me downwind to meet my kite. The two who went after my kite were able to stop the kite eventually. But neither were unable to retrieve it in the normal way of picking it up and riding downwind to the shoreline.

I am extremely thankful to the kiter who went out of his way, and tired to help. However, the worst thing he could have done was to deflate the kite. Due to this action, I have now lost my kite and it is probably half way to Africa by now, or at the bottom of the sea.

Deflating a kite drifting in the ocean is the worst thing anyone can do. The reasons being, one, a deflated kite is impossible for a kiter who is kiting to take out of the water. There is no way he can simply roll the kite, pick it up and ride to the safety of the beach. The kiter also cannot initially pull kite in the ocean because there is a tonne of water above and there is a lot of drag. This, I feel, is pretty much commonsense.

The second reason why a kite should not be deflated in the ocean is because it cannot be seen as easily as when it is still inflated. In my case, with winds in excess of 20 knots, there was a fair amount of wind chop and throw in the afternoon sun making its decent over the ocean, the amount of glare on the surface made it impossible to see anything just simply floating on the surface. An inflated kite would have been easier to see because of its shape above the surface of the ocean. I might just add here that there is a chance of the kite taking in water through the leading edge from the opened deflate valve, causing it to partially submerge or even sink after a prolong period of time, in which case the kite definitely cannot be seen.

The third reason why a kite should never be deflated is because, when a kite is simply floating on the surface deflated, it is less affected by the winds and its drift path depends more on the ocean currents(which may not be towards the beach). Although Woodies is an offshore spot, a lost inflated kite at Woodies in a South-West wind direction actually has a safe path back to the beaches south of Freo. But take the air out of the kite and it is a different story.

I spent four hours scanning the beaches from South Freo right up to the jetty just north of Woodies on Coogee beach. I did not find my one-week-old kite. This is just a reminder to people who are not the usual kite rescuers at Woodies, to NEVER DEFLATE KITES. It is a good thing that people are willing to help, but without the right skills and knowledge, trying to help can make things worse.

We would need to get the woodies kite rescuers (dan, simon etc...) to answer that one for you. But I am sure they would agree to never deflate a kite. It is nearly impossible to get out of the water.

yes, obviously when a boat has come (rescue guaranteed) it is safe to deflate a kite as the kite wont be going anywhere except for inside the boat.

I also agree with you that if the kite is twisted in lines and has a mind of its own its probably safer to let the air out and 'kill the kite".

But when the lines are not tangled and the kite is just lying there, its dumb to deflate and try roll it up, just because you dont know how to pick it up, i think. ( im just refereing to my situation here)

I guess like anything else, it depends.. but yea. as for my kite, deflating it was a bad move.

thanks for your condolences, but new kite is flying over from syd as we speak. too bad its pink

Definitely a bad idea deflating kites completely in the water.

Had to rescue/drag someone int he other day, what amazes me is the number of people that do not know how to self rescue, FFS if your bar and lines aren't rolled up and out of the way do you seriously expect me to risk my personal safety to save you?

Lines drifting in the water does noes not make it very easy for anyone to help you, please roll up your lines and start to self rescue, if someone sees you they can very easily tow you in, and another person can pull your kite in with very little risk.

Thanks
Matt

or Amstel

Its bloody risky to try to rescue a lone kite, Main reason because there are 27m of cheese wire attached to it. If you are powered up on your own kite its difficult to control a lone kite. I have done it but I was crapping myself as the kite kept wrapping around me, had I been able to let leading edge down I would of, until you can get up and riding holding other kite its scarry. In Oct when I was in Oz at cotton tree in QLD, I saw a guy trying to rescue lone kite, he was powered up on his own kite and kept being lofted, but he couldnt let go of lone kite because he was tangled in lines badly. I went to help him and when we got into shallow water managed to release stopper on leading edge making the kite easyer to handle as it was then not being pulled or pushed by the wind. Its a tricky thing to do and exstream care should be taken. But if it is to risky to the rescuer then sorry but its not his/her kite so let it go or you could get tangled and go with it.

Shouldnt moan about HOW he tried to get it at least he tried. You should thank him anyway.

sandgroper said...

Sorry to hear you lost yer kite. Sounds like the wind was offshore?

It often is at woodies offshore side.

First settle on what beer you drink then go get kite. Hey stamp

h20fly, thanks for your kindness :) but ive already picked up a new kite.