[ricki]

Thank you for the details. About how far away from the water did you travel, were you lofted off the ground, if so about how high would you guess?

Riding upwind is not realistic for most new kiters, "read, don't try to, yet." Even in calm water, the edging technique takes a bit of time to master adding in power control through sining, sheeting out, in, etc.. through wind variations. As a new kiter, I would avoid conditions in which you have to make upwind, even more so in waves where it is a lot more difficult than on the flat. Sounds like you did well despite that, at least until the end of the day.

What kiters really need to focus on is understanding the hazards and avoiding them. Once a high wind emergency is on, many kiters fail to kill the power in their kite. What do you do if you drive off a cliff? You're screwed, avoid the cliff (squall), in the first place. NONE of the folks that have been lofted and dragged at Hobie ever Emergency Depowered their kites, some were well experienced too.

You should be aware from the forecasts what is anticipated to come in that day. You may even have a clue as to when. Always stay aware of conditions around you, other kiters, boats, clouds, wind speed, direction and temperature changes. Usually, these things don't explode out of the blue, there are lots of tip offs along the way. You have to pay attention though and act early. Just because there is wind, doesn't necessarily mean it is good to go riding or for the entire day.

If you sense severe weather coming on and you royally screwed up by staying out too long and aren't in a position to get an assisted landing very soon, get ready to emergency depower your kite. Get it down low, if you have time pull the trim strap in, push the bar as far out as you can while the kite still flies stably. If you push too far it may stall and fall only to be scooped up by the squall perhaps. As the wind builds you should be able to push it out further. Problem, some folks have shorter arms and may not be able to push the bar far enough out to properly depower the kite, particularly in strong wind. All kiters should have a good idea of how their specific kite reacts when the bar is pushed out and should regularly practice Emergency Depowering.

PROBLEM, if your kite sees excessive wind, EVEN if it is Emergency Depowered by pushing the bar out alone, it may STILL have too much power. If it is low and your feet are dug into the bottom you may be able to oppose some of the force while skiing across the bottom. If you drop the bar, some kites may start to spin although hopefully with little power, maybe, maybe not. In other words, once you've dropped yourself in squall conditions it is uncertain how things may work out.

Solution, stay out of squalls and excessively gusty wind. We lost 21 people worldwide last year, many in excessively gusty wind. By going out in squalls, it is like saying, I'm ok with getting badly injured or killed in this one session. Some will over time. We have to use our brains, not good enough to pretend we're driving golf carts. It is more involved than that.