Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Stock
Ruben is sending his kite and getting it above his head before he throws the kite loop... so he's doing a small 10-15ft jump first. Usually he boots off a wave, gets 10-20ft up and then throws it (starting kite high).
Typically:
Kite > overhead <, you any distance off water, you are pretty much safe to throw it cause you have room to swing under it.
Kite at 12 but > not over head < (low in front of you), or kite low period,regardless of whether or not you are off the water, you are gonna come down HARD.
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No offense Tom, but until I see you do one of these at height while still on the ascent, it's not what you are thinking. Ruben is throwing the loop on his ascent (at about 12 feet) during a jump that he would have hit 25 feet (at least) without looping the kite. His kite isn't anywhere near over his head when he initiates the loop, and it obviously goes very low relative to himself while in flight.
He is often reaching total heights of 50 to 60 feet (fricking INSANE). It's anything but safe or just coming down under your kite. Next time it's blowing 25 plus if you loop it at 15 feet while ascending a big jump, you are going to be surprised if you think it's safe or easy to swing under the kite.
I am not (by far) an expert on this, but have now experimented with looping jumps at some different heights and at different points on the ascent to get a feel. I have found that the sooner you pull the kite on the way up, the more violent the pull. Ruben is looping the kite at less than half way up what would be his full ascent of a 30 foot jump on his "crazy loops". Yeah, he is at 15 feet, but it's 15 feet up on what would be a 30 footer without the loop and he is hitting 50 feet up on many of them. That spells insanity and some serious horizontal distance covered.
Anyway, doing a loop at the apex of even a 30 foot jump (kite already overhead) does nada, I agree.
Long story short, the only way to judge how aggressive a loop was is to judge the horizontal distance travelled "extra" to a normal jump. If it wasn't much, it was a wimpy loop. If it was alot (Ruben is covering a foot ball field in some) it's insanity and very dangerous, imo. Having height doesn't make an aggressive loop more safe, it just adds a ton more distance travelled, more speed and a need to really time and place the kite more perfectly.
Sorry, but hearing you say (I think that's how I read it) Ruben isn't pulling off the "shit" cuz he has height really makes me wonder. Especially since I haven't seen anyone around here (or anywhere, even on film) do anything close to what Ruben does. There is a reason. It's beyond dangerous.
Just because you are 60 feet up doesn't make it safe. No way. If you screw up, you are now travelling horizontally at mach 2 and descending with gravity as usual. Why not just jump out of a car going 40 off of a bridge at 50 feet up? That's what Ruben is risking every time he does one of his truly crazy loops.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1N6_Spizvk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=385X2...eature=related
Here is an extreme example of looping with kite over your head (in some screwed up updraft winds). This would be safe on the descent of even a 60 footer, and is often done many times in a row to control descent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bcy44aIr9k
Anyway, the true megaloops that Ruben is doing are totally insane. I wasn't anywhere near those. If someone saw me though and wants to try to loop on the ascent (not apex or descent), prepare for a heart attack and hard landing, even if you stick it. I recommend making it easy on yourself and only looping when almost at the ascent, and not on the way up.
