Roy's insanely lucky kitemare today...wins luckiest kiter of the year award!!!

[toby wilson]

INSANE LUCK TODAY!!! A few of us witnessed something that you will see once in a lifetime today.

Roy and his brother in law Paul were passing his 13M Ozone instinct between each other today when an insanely strong gust hit the kite just in the middle of them passing the kite. Roy's leash snapped in half and the kite took off on it's own headed straight for the mangroves on the side closest to the Skyway. It would have been TRASHED if it hadn't abruptly flipped over and landed itself PERFECTLY nose-first into the wind in an open spot of the beach right behind another kite. He may as well have landed the thing and had the person who caught it set it on the beach, it landed THAT perfectly.

Roy walked away with a few cuts on his hands from the lines but he is still one lucky kiter, Santa came early this year!!!

SO I NOMINATE ROY FOR THE LUCKIEST LOCAL KITER OF 2006 AWARD!!!

No doubt. I have seen at least 50 kites get loose. That was the most PERFECT landing of all time. Landed and stayed put.
I heard Ozone made the Instinct sot that it will do that every time.

[shogun1204]

Thats right, I planned for it to land that way. Thats just my mad Kite SKILZZZZSSSS. LOL


Yeah right, boy I was lucky. The kite didn't even have a scratch on it. I have never seen a Kite Leash break in HALF!

Way to the force use young Jedi.

[Steve-O]

Wow!!! I saw alot of crap go down that day. Dennis's kite got trashed by a reckless rider that alot of us saw coming. Guy was all over the road from what alot of us saw. Bummer is this guy offered to buy Dennis a brand new kite which was cool, but was a little suprised of the price. This dude is now playing hit and run and won't return anyone's phone calls.

I also felt lucky twice that day. First off, had a pretty rough launch on my 8 meter TD, line got stuck on something on the ground and kite started to roll down the beach. Eventually the wind got it, and it shot up like a rocket. Luckily with the bow kite technology everything went cool. Had that been a C kite, I would have been launched over the street, but would have pulled the quick release and probably lost the kite altogether.

Then I was coming in later on in the day, and as I was standing at water's edge, I heard someone shout "LOOK OUT!!!". I looked up and a kite was coming full speed at my head. Only had time to brace for the impact and LUCKILY the kite hit the ground and full speed about 1 foot infront of me. I would think had the kite hit me on the head at that speed, it would have broken my neck for sure. The pilot of that kite was a newbie and was getting guidance. Luckily we all walked away. Considering that could have been a horrible injury, I am bit surprised that the rider did not come up and apologize or at least acknowledge how bad that situation could have been.

Things we all should note for the day. If you are going to pass a kite in those winds, do it in the water, just in case something does fail. If you are going to try and learn the sport in those kinds of conditions, which is rather insane in the first place, let the experienced one launch the kite, and then pass it over in the water, again just incase.

All to often, we all get comfortable with these things, but as they say, shit happens, and we should always be thinking of the worst scenerios and avoid those outcomes when it all goes bad.

Dennis's situation may turn out negatively. I am hoping this guy will stick to his word and do the right thing.

Oh yeah and Scott, Gabe and I didn't miss the wind that day. Matter a fact, we got there just in time for the party.

Since you'd have to be in shallow water near shore anyway to pass the kite, is it any safer? I guess if you get dragged immediately after hooking in or something?

Originally Posted by Steve-O

Oh yeah and Scott, Gabe and I didn't miss the wind that day. Matter a fact, we got there just in time for the party.

Nahh, you missed the good stuff.
Seriously though, SE winds ahead of a front nearly always turn on like a switch right around noon or 1 at EB.
Why is way beyond me, but I have seen it about 30 times, so I know it is true.
We got there early in hopes of 13 knots so that Donna could try some tricks in the lighter stuff on a big kite.
Unfortunately (for her) it went straight from 11 to 20 and then 25.
It was fun seeing how long I could hold down our light wind kite in that stuff though, while (more reasonable) riders decided to re-rig. I decided holding down the kite wasn't a problem, but remembered what Jayson said on here and hopped off the water. If a line broke or something weird happened and the kite went to full power or inverted, I would have gotten hammered.

[bayflite]

Ya know sumtin...
IMHO it's pretty fuct up that peter lynn is the only kite out there thatL fly itself.
Passing a peter lynn 2 a buddy is easier than passing gas.
Sumtymz i'll get lazy and just hook the chicken loop on2 a trailer hitch while i take a break. When i start tryin handle passes...i think the peter lynn w/suicide leash iz gonna speed thingz up a little bit after missing a pass since the kite will just be waiting @ 12:00 for me 2 shake it of and try again.
IMHO the safest way2 pass a non peter lynn kite iz as follows:
1)depower the kite
2)person reciecing the kite transfers the saftey leash
3)person recieving the kite grabs the chicken loop only and transfers it while the person passing the kite keeps both hands on the wheel.

Don't get me wrong....i'm not claiming that inflatables suck...i ride em a ton.
but if lou wainman moved2 saint pete with hiz foil...i wonder what would happen.
thingz that make u go Hmmmmmmmmn?

You gonna bring it out on our downwinder?

[bayflite]

party/demo day @ N J PASS
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Ocean Rodeo
Peter Lynn