Light Wind Line Tangle --> Dragging

[ricki]

Marina just told me about something that happened on the west coast:

Originally Posted by jkite

I know we have all read the recent fatalities in our sport. As an ER physician, I am pretty hypersensitive to stupid people doing stupid things; and quite honestly, hearing about a recent event at South Padre Island (my old stomping ground) and last year at Belmont Shores, I just keep wondering how in the hell this stuff can happen. Equipment has gotten better, safety devices are better... Last time I counted the O-shit quick releases on my bar, lines, harness, I lost count. Are these people just idiots, or what gives?

Needless to say, this is when my humbling experience happened. I am a pretty decent rider with about 3 years under my harness. A few weeks ago, I was out at Silverstrand in one of the marginal yet ususal non-breezes. I was up riding in a small to moderate surf, but due to lack of wind struggling to keep up wind. No big deal. My wife and kids had accompanied me to the beach and we agreed to have her pick me up downwind. I decided to stay outside of the breakers, again to keep speed up in the low wind. Then I made the cardinal mistake of clipping the edge of my kite on the water while looping it during a transition to keep speed up. No matter what I tried, there just was not enough wind to get the kite back up in the air. No biggie, just a few strokes to the surfline, I can start the kite on the beach and will be off again. Because I wanted to keep riding, I chose not to self-recue, i.e. coil up my lines on the bar, deflate leading edge and then swim in. I was out about 150 yards and making good progress swimming in. While I was swimming I could feel my lines rub up against my right leg a couple of times, but at no time did I feel that I was getting tangled up. I was able to continue good strokes toward the beach. Then the kite got pushed by one of the breaking waves and all of the sudden I was yanked backwards into the whitewash, having a really hard time getting upright. I managed to get a look at my leg and found that I had lines wrapped around my ankle. I tried to push them off, but they were way too tight. I got a good breath before the next wave, and my next thought was to my harness knife. I got another breath before the next wave and, fortunately, I was able to touch bottom and get myself back upright. I quickly pulled my kite towards me and deflated the leading edge. Then I sat on the beach to look at the line mess. It was wrapped around my ankle about 30 times and it took me well over 30 min to get my leg out of the lines without cutting them. Some lines had doubled back a couple of times, so there were about 8 different leads comming of my leg. No way I could have cut those with my knife before my air ran out, if the kite had filled with wind, or had been caugth by a rip current going away instead of towards the beach.

I have thought a lot of this experience, of what I did wrong or should have done different. The conditions were such that my guard certainly was down. I was too cheap to go after the lines right away with my knife. (But just for your own edification, try to see how many non-tensioned kite lines you can cut with your harness knife while holding your breath). The quick releases were useless, as my leg was caught in the lines above the release mechanism. I was greedy and having a good time riding; thus I did not want to spend the time for set up after a proper self rescue.

I normally don't think of myself as too much of an idiot, but I tell you what; if I read about guy drowning 150 yards offshore on a nice sunny day with only 10-12 knots of breeze with lines wrapped 30 times around the anke, I would have my doubts about the guys IQ.

Hope this helps all of us to keep our guard up, even when we are feeling confident in our element.

I was hoping that some of you would be willing to share your stupid mistakes (post anonymously if you must to keep your macho), so we can learn and hopefully avoid them.

Looks like the marine layer is getting blown out later this week. Can't wait to get out there.

From: http://forums.iKitesurf.com/viewtopic.php?t=10431

[ricki]

How many guys have unknowingly become tangled in kite line when things are in the water? I've had it a few times in past years. It is an excellent thing to take extra steps to avoid.

[H]

I had that happen to me in Tampa Bay back in 2001 or maybe 2002. Same exact thing, but minus the waves and it was an offshore wind. Had to swim about 1/4 mile with just my arms dragging the kite.

Another bad possibility is to catch your lines on crab traps. Had that happen in the keys while training for the Bahamas race, although that was more of a freak accident, I didn't really realize what happened until I got my lines halfway rolled up. Had I not, I may have had the lines tangled around me and the trap, which I had managed to drag into a deep channel.

Always roll up your lines!

[TBKA]

SELF RESCUE- READ THIS!
Self Rescue should be practiced BEFORE you need it!
DO NOT RIDE WITHOUT A KITE KNIFE!
ONE PUMP USERS: ALWAYS LOCK OFF YOUR STRUTS WHEN SETTING UP!
C-Kites- grab rescue handles inside wingtips
Bow/Bridled kites- grab TOP bridle where it connects to front lines and lower wingtip area. Lay on the board or place it on lower wingtip area
Standard Method-Wind at least one kite length (20-30’)on the bar to prevent relaunch, then wrap the rest of the lines until you reach the kite. Disconnect the lines from kite. Grab (what will be) your UPPER wingtip or bridle, and work your way to other wingtip by sliding leading edge under your arm with the other hand. Fill the sail with wind to pull yourself back to shore. Practice this on the beach, or in shallow water to find correct hand positioning-BEFORE YOU NEED IT!
All kites have slight differences, practice this, and other safety procedures, with each kite you own.

Offshore/Upwind method- that works well for "rescuing" in OFFSHORE winds, or going upwind for board retrieval, is to lay on leading edge of kite (wingtips in the air), with legs extended down center strut. You can easily overhand swim or "dog paddle" to your board. From there you can swim to shore or use traditional self rescue technique. Both methods should be known and practiced before you need them.
RAFT Method- A popped leading edge bladder will force you to roll your kite up into a "raft" and secure with leash, lines, harness, or whatever you have. You then lay on the "raft" and swim in, after you find your board of course.
Board Retrieval
If you can’t body drag upwind to your board, Drag back to the beach and walk upwind, keeping an eye on your board, then drag back out and get it. Make sure to have your name on all gear in case it is lost, and post lost items on Lost & Found section of fksa.org.
Do not kite alone! Experienced kiters are always helpful to those in need of assistance, and have been known to save lives on the water. Introduce yourself to locals and you will instantly have riding buddies and someone to watch your back. Check out our "Let's Ride" section to find out where locals are going.

Kite safe
TBKA

[ricki]

If there is current and/or waves things can get interesting if your lines are caught by something underwater like rocks, a piling, etc.. The kite loads up with the force of the water and the lines pull you under the surface by the tangle. This almost took out a kiter beneath a bridge in Islamorada around the time of your Tampa Bay experience.

Strange things can happen with pot markers too. The trap may act as an anchor, the buoy as a snag with the lot potentially pulling you underwater if the kite loads up with waves and/or currents.

It is EASY to become tangled by kite lines in the water that aren't under tension. Expect it to happen and take pains to avoid it. Worse still, the tangle often happens out of easy viewing beneath the surface and can catch you off guard.

You are totally correct Steve in saying people need to practice self-rescue procedures long before they actually need them. What works readily with traditional C kites may not work exactly the same with flat kites. They need to have hands on experience with whatever they are flying at present. Lighter wind, calm water rescues are a lot different from high wind and sea self-rescues.

Here's a question, how can people kite regularly and NOT have to self-rescue? I can't easily recall how many times I've had to do this in almost ten years, 50 times, more? Wind vanishes, changes direction, the odd gear problem, there are so many causes making self-rescue necessary, at least for me.

I have had the kite lines tangle around me a couple of times in real light wind when the kite fell in the water.

I use to ride really light wind a lot. Most of my experiences with kite lines wrapping up around me are when they are slack. The act of swimming in, while lines are around you, pretty much "stirs up" the lines and wraps them around you. I feel I almost drown one day due to the lines getting more and more constricted around my body the more I moved to swim. As you said Rick, I didn't see the lines, I only noticed I was wrapped up after it happened. By the time I was wrapped up (pretty good) it was sort of too late to unwrap them. I didn't have a knife on me (bad).

I ended up just chilling (very minimal movement to stay afloat) and waiting for the current to bring me back in. Obviously if it was light offshore wind/current, I would have been screwed. I was lucky to have the current take me to shore. Been wrapped up on crab traps too...

[TBKA]

I had a similar experience with a crab trap buoy grabbing my lines and trying to relaunch the kite while I was winding them up. Once I reached the buoy, I removed my leash and attached it to the buoy to keep me from going further offshore while I pulled the kite towards me and wrapped the lines.(VERY difficult with a 15m C kite) Wind has shifted offshore, so I was forced to use the "Upwind/offshore" method to swim in about a mile, which was not easy.
(I am sure many tourists have pics of me kissing the sand on that day!)
I think the problem with self rescues in our area is that we have tons of flat shallow water to ride and many new kiters were not taught this. Once they venture into the Gulf is where the problems begin because they have not dealt with waves, current, and hundreds of crab traps, markers, poles, etc.
I practice self rescue every day with my students on many brands of bridled kites, I have found the grab handles on the wingtips to be totally useless on all of them. One must learn where to hold the upper bridle to effectively fill the sail with wind, all kites are different.
My other kitemare occurred in a deep water channel with onshore wind and strong outgoing tide. The downed kite pulled me forward and the strong current pulled my legs out behind me, rendering me helpless to relaunch. Beacuse I had a vest on, and was not kiting alone, I did not drown myself or lose my kite.