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Old 11-10-2004, 09:21 PM
toykites toykites is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: St. Augustine, Florida
Posts: 11
Default Kite carnage in the surf

Yesterday here in St. Augustine the wind was pretty much off the hook. I got to the north side of Matanzas Inlet around 10 a.m. and it was blowing 28-40 mph out of the ENE. The tide was outgoing, creating the trademark opposing current. Being experienced in these type of conditions, I rigged my smallest kite, a 2003 Cabrinha CO2 9 meter on 20 meter lines, with the back lines set all the way out on the attachment points. I had recently rerigged my bar for teaching, and had shortened the center lines by about an inch and a half. With the adjustment on the kite, that meant that with the bar pulled in all the way, I was still 4 about 3 inches undersheeted. I noticed that I didn't have much bar pressure when I took off from the beach, but it was so windy that I figured I needed the extra depower, especially with the current. I like riding waves, so my plan was to use the current to go upwind as far as possible, then head out into the surf and ride waves downwind a ways before heading back in to do it all over again. I was out for about half an hour having fun despite the gusty winds and feeling overpowered at times. I had tacked as far upwind as possible when a 4 foot overhead bomb came through and I decided to go left. I had the kite near 10 o'clock and was driving down the line. I bottom turned and carved off the lip as I turned the kite to the right across the power zone to avoid luffing the kite in the onshore conditions. A gust hit and yanked me downwind about the time the whitewater was catching up, so I couldn't turn any more to the right to get tension on the kite. About that time the wind died and the depowered kite went right past the edge of the wind window and fell out of the sky. I watched with disappointment as the kite hit the water and went inside out several times as the whitewater continued to push me towards the kite. I unhooked and prepared to ditch the bar as the whitewater beared down on the kite. As it turned out it didn't pull much, so I held onto the kite, but when the wave had past I noticed that my kite was in a balled up mess and there was no way it was going to relaunch. The wave had mauled my kite, tearing a huge whole in the leading edge, which popped the bladder and caused the kite to lose all shape and detiorate into a worthless piece of soggy nylon. Luckily I still had my board, so I started swimming towards the kite so I could grab it and swim in. Unfortunately, about that point a huge wave hit me and knocked my board out of my hand. There was no chance of recovering the board, so I swam to the kite and hoped that another rider would find the board or it would wash in eventually. As I was getting pummeled by continuous piles of whitewater, I realized that the outgoing current was sucking my kite and me out to sea, back into the growing surf. About that time Daryl Drown, owner of Extreme Kites, rode up on the new Airush Reactor 5 meter. I told him that I was alright, but my board was missing. I quickly spotted the board a second later and Daryl grabbed it and brought it back to the beach. In order to avoid being sucked out to sea, I rolled my kite up and laid down on top of it like a surfboard. I paddled in against the current, and was able to walk in most of the way because of all the shallow sandbars created from the recent hurricanes. This afternoon I had the pleasure of spending an hour detangling the mess of lines that had formed during my swim.

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday. First of all, know your equipment, and make sure you are on the right kite for the conditions. If I had flown a 7 instead of a 9, I could have flown close to full power or slightly depowered and the kite wouldn't have gone past the edge of the wind window as readily. Also, in onshore condition, be aware that when you are dropping in on a wave, you are going towards the kite, and there is often a strong current pushing you towards the kite as well. This can cause the lines to slack and put you in a dangerous position. As it is, I'll be paying for a kite repair and a new leading edge bladder, which isn't cheap. Obviously it could have been worse. I should have gotten a clue when my hat blew off 3 times as I tried to pump up my kite and I had to chase it 100 yards down the beach. If you have been watching the wind meters you will see that St. Augustine has been the windiest place in the state for several days running. If you like strong, gusty winds and big waves, maybe you should come for a visit. Just make sure and bring a small kite!

Eddie Toy
Extreme Kites
http://www.oceanextremesports.com
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Eddie Toy
Extreme Kites
http://www.oceanextremesports.com
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