Yesterday I realised one of the biggest (safety) weakness of our sport. Unfortunately it's the human factor. I realised there is a basic assumption of competency that can come and bite you, but that can't be avoided.

I was at a new spot in Perth (I'm based in Brisbane so every spot is new there). Tricky place... Small launch area, lots of trees and a couple of big obstacles. not the kind of place you want to self launch. So I ask this guy to give me a launch....grab my board and bar, walk into the water and start putting pressure on the lines to check everything is ok.... Before I realise it the guy has thrown my kite in the air, before there is any air in it .. It starts tumbling and is heading straight for a tree.... WTF!?!? No thumbs up or nod, or anything.... Who said to let the kite go? Didn't you realise it wasn't going to fly from. The position it was in?

Luckily nothing happened, but makes me wonder to what extend we simply assume too much about what people can do... Specially the basic but critical things.

Am I the only one who's been through something like this?

evila said..
Yesterday I realised one of the biggest (safety) weakness of our sport. Unfortunately it's the human factor. I realised there is a basic assumption of competency that can come and bite you, but that can't be avoided.

I was at a new spot in Perth (I'm based in Brisbane so every spot is new there). Tricky place... Small launch area, lots of trees and a couple of big obstacles. not the kind of place you want to self launch. So I ask this guy to give me a launch....grab my board and bar, walk into the water and start putting pressure on the lines to check everything is ok.... Before I realise it the guy has thrown my kite in the air, before there is any air in it .. It starts tumbling and is heading straight for a tree.... WTF!?!? No thumbs up or nod, or anything.... Who said to let the kite go? Didn't you realise it wasn't going to fly from. The position it was in?

Luckily nothing happened, but makes me wonder to what extend we simply assume too much about what people can do... Specially the basic but critical things.

Am I the only one who's been through something like this?

Happened a few times to myself asking newbies to launch my kite. One of them actually (don't ask me how) tangled himself into the lines. They just don't have the feeling when the sail is fully pumped.

welcome to melville!!

I had some clown do exactly the same thing to me at City Beach a couple of seasons ago. He had the gall to ask me if if I wanted a launch after I got it set up for a second time . Assisted launches are not the safest option if you're dealing with a retard , J

You ask or agree for someone to launch you don't you?

Ultimately your kite is your responsibility.

Can happen even when the person launching you is competent. Happened to me the other day, think the dude just had the ****s on cause I asked for a launch. I was about to self launch but the dingleberry set up right next to me, don't know what he expected.

Hybrid_Z said..
Can happen even when the person launching you is competent. Happened to me the other day, think the dude just had the ****s on cause I asked for a launch. I was about to self launch but the dingleberry set up right next to me, don't know what he expected.

My point exactly, he should have declined. You'll probably find he'd be one of the first to ask you to land or launch him, some don't like to reciprocate.

I've lost 4 kites into the trees at Melville this week.
I've lost 12 in total this summer.
I'm going to cut down every norfolk pine in this town.

I had a similar thing happen. I was ready but when i gave the thumbs up the bloke wouldnt let the kite go, i ended up giving 2 thumbs then i yelled out "yep", and he still had hold of it. Then the wind went into a lul and the kite went flappy with no wind in it and i shook my hand and yelled out no and he threw the kite and same thing it just tumbled along the ground and landed straight into the oyster covered rocks and popped. Man i was so pissed off.

I hate it when you are launching someone anf they go too deep into the wind screwing the poor bastard who picks up the kite.

Nowadays i wont pick up the kite from the beach until im happy with where the kite pilot is standing.

Well what do you do in this situation; last season I had my partner help launch me on the local beach, she’s quite small (especially holding an 11 meter kite) but confident with launching kites so…. there she is with my kite, holding it nicely while I’m double checking the lines aren’t tangled and out of the corner of my eye I see a guy running towards her.

At this point I’m not sure what he’s doing but I get an uneasy feeling so as he gets closer to the kite I start yelling to stay away, but this is no good as the wind is drowning out my voice. By this time I’m pretty sure he is being the good samaritan and coming to the aid of my partner so all I can do is brace myself for whatever is going to happen.

Sure enough he grabs the kite, puts it straight into the wind zone and can’t hold it so off it goes just missing an aluminum beach warning sign before I gain control. Looking back on this one I’m not sure what I could have done differently so… “always expect the unexpected”

Are we supposed to wait for you before we chuck the kite up?

I try and get in in the air as you are walking back to your bar this way it's more exciting for all parties.

Bottom line is...

Don't kite a s@@t spots like Melville or apple toss!

Learn to self launch and land..

Reading the response from the western australians sounds like its more commonin Perth than in other places.

Just to be clear... I'm definitely acompetent kiter, and I would have self launched if not for the trees and the 3 meter wide beach.

Also... I didn't just pick any random person... this guy had just came out from the water riding a Naish Torch... didn't necesarily expect him to be a PKRA professional but isn't launching about the second thing you learn?

Yes, I could have given him a detailed explanation, but didn't expect such a noob.

Anyway... lessons learned! and thanks to the locals for confirming is not an isolated case.

All in All, WA is still a great place to kite...

Don't people know how to water self launch/land in Wa?

James said..

MDSXR6T said..
You ask or agree for someone to launch you don't you?

Ultimately your kite is your responsibility.

Drivel ! ! ! If you ask an experienced fellow kiter to assist you in launching and he deliberately sets you up to fail , through inattention or spite he is at least in part , if not wholly responsible .
<div>14 years kiting, first time I've heard of this "Golden Rule" . Think somebody pulled it out of their , oh never mind , suffice to say think that rule might be a light shade of brown in colour rather than gold.

That ones on you mate,if ur going to get somebody to launch you that hasn't got any experience show them how to hold the kite and tell them, nomake a point to not let that kite go until u give them the signal thumbs up u have to stress it to newbies that it is important that they hold it.
Then again most people don't have any common sense..
or get a kite hook problem solved??