[ricki]

Hey Jay,

It looks like you have put some time and thought into this. It is funny that you have concluded that this might become accepted in five years. I thought the same thing might happen four years ago after Neil's accident. I even put out feelers to see if there was interest in developing a safer approach. I never received any.

I learned many years ago to always expect a kitesurfing gear failure at anytime. Because, it can and has happened at anytime. I think I have had about a dozen kite line breakages alone. If a kite line breaks and it likely will in time and you are 100 ft. up + it may well be lethal. Cervical fracture and other internal injury is possible from a far lower height.

I started tow up hang gliding almost 14 years ago from boats and trucks, there are a lot of parallels to what you are considering. There are also many critical differences. Towing up is truly flying and not to be confused with kitesurfing. Kite gear is simply too fragile and prone to breakage. To develop a sustainable form of tow-up apparatus it needs to be a lot more robust and durable. The tow system needs to emulate that in use in paragliding and hang gliding. Lots of guys have already been mauled and killed in those sports establishing the need. Tow up pilots need training as pilots. What if the come off tow and glide into power lines, buildings, traffic on roadways, etc.. These things can and will happen, unless fairly wide glide slope buffers are maintained over water.

I have no idea how to create functional emergency parachute systems for this activity as it doesn't seem like you will have sufficient altitude to allow conventional systems to work. So, if you have a canopy failure, irrecoverable stall, etc., down you will go. This alone may be enough to keep any sensible manufacturers out of this arena. There is no fail safe, at least not yet.

There is a great deal to tow-up flying. If you are serious about this, why not go at by starting with towup hang gliding or paragliding first. You will learn a great deal and in a much safer, although still dangerous setting. You can do tandem towups from a tricked out hang glider tow boat with miamikiteboarding.com for about $100. It is the best way to blow a C not e that I know of.