Repel Boarders!

[ricki]

http://forums.ikitesurf.com/files/belont4_496.jpg
From: ikitesurf

Not quite sure what happened here but it may have involved a newbie practicing too close to the hobie.

Amazing photo, it reminds me of a story I heard about five years ago. Back in the bad old days of "don't need kite leashes" a guy lost his kite down in the Caribbean. The wind must have been honking as the kite flew along until the bar caught the cross trees of a sailboat, something close to 30 ft., heeled it over and reportedly sunk it. Whoops.

[BigR]

The wind must have been honking as the kite flew along until the bar caught the cross trees of a sailboat, something close to 30 ft., heeled it over and reportedly sunk it.


"Give me a big enough lever and I can move the world"


someone said that, archimides?

[ricki]

The amount of leverage you can achieve from near the mast top of a sailboat is impressive. Once we ran out abeam with the stay of a grounded sailboat, must have been at least 50 ft.. We heeled that puppy over as they ran full speed ahead on the engine. We freed her and almost got dragged into a seawall it took off so fast. Anyway, a person could fairly easily heel something approaching 30 ft. to some degree. An out of control figuring 8'ing kite in strong winds? Not pretty at all.