Video - Dragged by looping kite

[ricki]

Wonder what it looks like, check the following out. This was down on a lagoon in Brazil recently. The Slingshot kite was wrapped by another kite. The other kiter dropped and disconnected his bar sending the lot off downwind to drag the SS rider wherever. Don't know the particulars up to that point but something like this cost the life of Silke. Coordinating what you BOTH are going to do instead of just letting your bar fly off is often best if you can manage it in reasonable safety.

The SS guy was dragged for about 80 seconds. He dropped his bar to the leash but it failed to Emergency Depower as the other kite had made his lines about 10 ft. uneven, left to right. Eventually the SS guy was able to unbuckle his waist harness and let it fly off without him. Can't readily do that with a seat harness. Cutting away might be your only option assuming opening your leash Quick Release doesn't free you from the dragging kite. For chasing kiters or boats, if any, what they might be able to do is varied and questionable. Jumping into the looping kite as was done in Texas from a waverunner might work. That guy stopped the kite but suffered some cuts for his efforts. As draggings go this one wasn't as fast or violent as some. Still, if you are being pulled and held underwater it is plenty violent enough. Looping like this has killed riders before.

The clip is at: http://www.kiteforum.tv/video/Looping_Kite