Yeah,

I shared it mainly to point out that any wind speed can be dangerous.
Also, equipment failures happen. I consider myself pretty safety conscious, and yet, I was heading straight for my own truck due to a failure.
There was only 2 seconds of a window of opportunity for this to happen (upwind of a vehicle), and yet, it happened right then. I always am very weary on a launch and ready to pull out. The launch went fine. The failure happened about 1 minute later at the absolute worst time.

It really opened my eyes to the full power of kites when on land and "out of control". Also, it was only a measley 12m in all of 11 knots.

I consider it a reminder and am actually kind of glad it happened. Sometimes people, myself included, get complacent after awhile. I try not to, but this incident reminded me to be on guard when on land or close to it.

Glad you are OK, Scott. Too bad the impact didn't loosen up that jammed lock cylinder on your truck door!

Yep,

That'd be nice. Hey, I haven't checked yet, maybe it did!

We are going out in about 15 minutes.
http://www.ikitesurf.com/windandwher...112&siteID=383

Guess what we are gonna' ride?
A 13m Hellfish :shock: vs. the 12m Atom for light winds (13 or so).
I will take pics.

We'll see how obsolete the Atom is.

I have been going upwind on a 12m Atom (on a Glide) in steady 11 knots and having pretty good fun in 13. Obviously the sweet spot is around 18 or more.
I find that low end pretty unreal for a TRUE 12m kite. (The 12m Contra is obviously bigger just by looking at it).

The Link seems to have pretty good low end as well, as well as the waroo (but everyone already knows that :) )

Well, the Ikite chart exaggerated the wind a tad. It started off at seven knots to 10 knots and then filled in to 10 to 13 knots.

Daryl got stuck in the shop and couldn't bring out the hellfish.
But, I got some pics of the Atom.

http://www.extremekiteskiteboarding....hp?p=1282#1282

don't even get me started scottie.
i got dirt on you.
don't make me bring it. :P

Yeah Scott, I don't think it would be kite brand bashing if you revealed what kite you were riding during your accident. In my eyes you would be protecting your bros, keeping them as safe as possible in an unpredictable sport by letting them know what to look out for, especially with the accident being due to equipment failure. Otherwise you are being pretty much as bad as the faulty equipment by not educating the rest of us. This is just my measley opinion and I know what everyone thinks of it but I believe that failures like this can be a learning tool for us all and at the very least if we aren't informed, the company who's equipment failed should DEFINITELY be made aware of the occurence...

I hear ya'. My main reason for the post was to let people be aware that at any speed, on or near land, a mishap can be bad. I demo alot of stuff over here and I am not always familiar with the bar setups (cuz they are new to me). Because there is an outside chance I did something wrong with the setup I don't think it is worth the possible "scare". I will continue to ride the rig and if it happens again... BAM..... I will be more vocal.

It wasn't any of "my equipment" - - I left Donna's stuff with her so that she could ride in case of wind in St. Pete. So, that rules out a lot of stuff.

So it wasn't either a turbo diesel bar setup nor a contra kite then.........

Ughh. :?
My main reason for the post was to show that shit happens fast... even in light wind. Don't worry about the equipment, please. Is any equipment totally immune to failure?

You guys gonna get wind, or what!??

It wasn't equipment failure as much as it was the fact that he was distracted and made a mistake. I stunned him by showing up with a camera. You see, the truth is, he was on a pink waroo. I know he's afraid to admit it, but it's the truth. Scott rides a pink waroo and it's time the world knows the truth.

He tried desperately to ditch the bar and pretend the kite was flying by itself, but when he tried to push the bar into his shorts it wouldn't fit because his harness was in the way. He looped the kite in an effort to launch himself into the front seat of his truck but he didn't expect so much power from the little pink fluff in only 10 knots and went higher and faster than planned. As a last ditch effort, instead of jumping into the truck, he slammed the door on the way over so I wouldn't see him hiding on the other side. Nice try Scott. You are busted.