www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/Surviving-a-Death-Loop/ seems like this guy was faster than you =)
Good post and should be mandatory learning.....................
If you have ever been on the wet end of a kite looping incident then you will know how difficult it is to rationalise how to "fix it". I can imagine that it would be extremely difficult to reach the slack steering line, and more difficult to pull on that skinny line while your body weight (times a few?) is suspended in the frenzy of white water. However, could be practised in a more controlled way .........
Good video and Valuable input about using the slack back line to stop the death loop.
However, the first thing you would want to do do if you managed to stop the death loop is to undo the bar tangled around caught your hook in the first place!
The thing I completely disagree with is pulling one of the back lines to recover the kite! if you ever try this is any winds above 15 knots it's a guarantee you will have a kite looping around the wing tip. These were the old safety systems with the safety leash connected to the back lines, a death trap!
Also, never wrap your lines if you are still hooked in, this is completely crazy and again in stronger wind will cause more harm than good!
Christian
Simulation is the best form of training. As a pilot you spend hours simulating responses to things that could go wrong until they become automatic. If the simulation in this video is practiced regularly then if a death loop did eventuate it would become an automatic response without actually ever having actually tried it in reality and putting yourself in danger. A great video and certainly worth simulating if sitting on the beach waiting for the wind to come up or during a break in your kiting. You might look a little weird but it will save you life. Good find! Visualization is a powerful tool.
Select to expand quotecbulota said..
Good video and Valuable input about using the slack back line to stop the death loop.
However, the first thing you would want to do do if you managed to stop the death loop is to undo the bar tangled around caught your hook in the first place!
The thing I completely disagree with is pulling one of the back lines to recover the kite! if you ever try this is any winds above 15 knots it's a guarantee you will have a kite looping around the wing tip. These were the old safety systems with the safety leash connected to the back lines, a death trap!
Also, never wrap your lines if you are still hooked in, this is completely crazy and again in stronger wind will cause more harm than good!
Christian
Sent him a message about those bits Christian.
Would pulling the center lines (or 1 center line, i saw some weird bars o.O ) without pulling the slacked line help too? Would it force kite to fall/float on it's back/reverse?
Funny that just had first death loop and flund this vid too a few days ago.very gd
Just 2807 - I reckon it would but you would need to pull in 3 + metres to make sure the offending back line went slack.
Id have to say I found value in watching this despite having 6 years under my belt -I found myself in a kite looping situation recently and Im thinking that the approach shown in the vid would have sorted out my problem a bit quicker - thanks for sharing
Select to expand quoteLambie said..
Just 2807 - I reckon it would but you would need to pull in 3 + metres to make sure the offending back line went slack.
Id have to say I found value in watching this despite having 6 years under my belt -I found myself in a kite looping situation recently and Im thinking that the approach shown in the vid would have sorted out my problem a bit quicker - thanks for sharing
Yeah, in case bar went underwater with my face watersplashed, maybe it would be easier to locate centerlines blindly without panic. More rubber too on them so less slashed fingers (IDS bar). This guy has some freakin nice tutorial videos and footage, i posted his kitelooping videos here a while ago, being a noob, i find it very very helpfull.
Yeah the guy makes awesome videos, super helpful. This is yet another one really worth watching.
Select to expand quoteJust2807 said..
Would pulling the center lines (or 1 center line, i saw some weird bars o.O ) without pulling the slacked line help too? Would it force kite to fall/float on it's back/reverse?
In reality your goal is to remove tension from the lines, and to remove shape from the kite. Pulling in any single line will remove tension from the other lines and remove the shape from the kite. Some lines are better than others.
You can also remove, or reduce, tension from lines by running towards the kite, or streamlining your body if you're in the water.
The specific lines to pull are not hugely important. Being aware of the causes and possible fixes of the problem is much more important. Once you understand that you can work through the problem you are in and come up with a series of solutions then implement them as best you can.
I prefer to pull the front lines because that is how my kite is designed to depower. I once broke both front lines mid jump so I had to pull in a single back line to depower the kite. That worked fine until I got to shallow water and had my feet on the ground and tension in the lines. I could no longer run forward because I was on a shallow reef. The kite would do a series of flops before settling back on the water. It was a bit like playing a big game fish. Wind in the lines. Ride out the flops. Wind in some more line. Flop some more.
Select to expand quoteGorgo said.. I could no longer run forward because I was on a shallow reef. The kite would do a series of flops before settling back on the water. It was a bit like playing a big game fish. Wind in the lines. Ride out the flops. Wind in some more line. Flop some more.
oh man have had a few qr/safetys fail while bare footed on the reef and the kites just looping me towards the trees and reef, god that sucks trying to find purchase with your feet while there getting cut up and huge holes being put in them while fighting a looping kite ****ty way to end a session. need a beer now just thinking about it. even got to find an urchin in this situation after a wacky driflaunch gone wrong where the kites bridal lines somehow tied themselves together. people wonder why i swim a kilometer out to see when i driftlaunch now hahahaha
anyways must of responded to this video on another forum, basicly once you understand the quick release is just a mechanical method of grabbing 1 center at xx meters and the rest are all slack when your QR does fail or lines snap or a gropers lineknoted them for ya you just need to chill out and focus all your energys on grabing one those center lines at xx meters to simulate what your quick release would have done. the line burn sucks from going hand over hand reefing it in but its better then having a finger severed takeing a wrap.
I always wear booties kiting. It started from kiting a beach with a downwind reef, but I soon learned that booties give much better grip and prevent blisters from the straps.
More importantly, you can never predict when you're going to have an incident so you can't choose to wear booties because you're kiting a sketchy spot.
In my experience (paragliding and windsurfing and kiting nd surfing), incidents almost never happen when you're going big or in extreme conditions. Most of the time you're riding along minding your own business and a series of relatively minor oopses cascade into something full-on and potentially life threatening.
Good video and commentary! Having not long had my first death loop in about 20 knots it was interesting to see this video so soon afterwards. It's exactly what I did and the looping stopped within seconds and allowed me to undo the caught bar end. In retrospect catching a finger in a loop of line if the kite relaunched was probably a bigger risk.
