TAS
253 posts
hey there, just wondering if some people have a line cutter or a little knife with them (eg in harness pocket) when they go kitesurfing. just in case of emergency?
and if so, which one is it?
I want a tiny little knife or a lin cutter, but it needs to be little. Can someone give me some advise where to get it? Thanks
VIC
960 posts
Yeah, a lot of harnesses have a line cutter in them (either the rear above your bum cheek or at the front under the hook). There seems a small number (at least here in Victoria) that have an after market add on.
If you go for a non-safety hook knife (i.e. a usual bladed knife) you need to weigh up the risk of needing and not having vs. risk of landing on it, and it puncturing the sheath and ultimately, yourself. This could be your full body weight whilst trying to land/launch on the beach.
It's a matter of personal choice.
My take (and it's only my take, I am relatively inexperienced) is that if you kitesurf in big waves, there's more of a chance of getting rolled over your lines and thus needing one... BUT one would argue if you'd be able to physically get to it if that happened anyway.
For what it's worth, I have one built into my harness (in the usual in accessible area of the rear of the harness) and an after market benchmade line cutter at the front (i.e. another safety hook type).
VIC
5127 posts
I have used a hook knife once to kite my lines. My leg got caught in the lines and the kite started to power up. The wind was extremely strong but the situation was fairly under control. I cut the lines rather than waiting to see what happened next.
A hook knife is best. The Da Kine one looks ok. The angle of the blades looks a little wide to me.
Mystic and Cabrinha knifes are good. Anything with two blades coming to a narrow vee is good. The vee creates a sawing action on the lines.
You don't want a pocket knife. If you need it you won't have time to open it and cut stuff.
You don't want a sharp unprotected blade. The risk of you cutting yourself is far worse than anything else.
You do want to rinse and check the knife from time to time to make sure it is not too corroded.
You might want to practice cutting lines with a hook knife. Use some old lines or some string. A hook knife will go through a small number of lines quickly and easily. It won't cut a big bundle of lines. It might have trouble with webbing if the webbing bunches up.
