Ive got a mystic firestarter harness which I like but a few times I have been all crossed up and crashed with the kite pulling the harness into my lower rib. Already have a big lump where the cartilidge and bone meet and a painfull recovery on one side, and now I have tweaked the other side. Would an impact vest stop these injuries? If so which is a good one particlary for ribs?
Thanks for any replies.
myusername,
I wear my impact vest above the harness, so impact vest will not help your case.
Impact vest protect against impacts
, although i manage to break some ribs while wearing it... 
. I cannot remember if the pain appeared during the take off (similar to your problem) or at the landing (err... shall I say "heavy crashing"
). I think that a very tight harness associated to a powerfull take off was the cause of the broken ribs. A bad and harsh landing on the ribs might have finished the job . I now do not excessively tight the harness to allow it to move a bit before it has to crush the ribs (if that makes sense
).
Hope this makes sense.
...or maybe your harness simply does not fit your body shape
Enjoy!
Fred
thanks for the respnse fred,
no it's the landing with the kite pulling as i hit the water that gets me. I've got a reasonably soft midriff i suppose and a big ribcage! happens when I'm overpowered.
I do have the harness as absolutely as tight as I can get itthough. if you have it loose doesn't it ride up?
myusername,
I used to wear my harness very tight. I think that was a main cause of breaking my ribs. I now wear it tight, though not loose.
Besides the main webbing, the harness (Flying Object Contour) has a second set of straps at a lower level that mould the harness to the body and minimise it sliding up.
I jump a lot 
but have my kite relatively low otherwise and never crash (
THE LIER!!!). No I do regularly crash significantly hard from missed landings, but the harness does not ride up to a point that it annoys me.
I generally wear a wetsuit. That might make a difference?
Also, a bit of pain is probably part of the sport.
Cheers,
Fred
