Kite got away from me today but recovered

Went to Lake Poygan today to give my buggy blades a spin on the snow less surface. I drivee an hour to get there and realize I don't have my harness nor my safety leash:evil:. I took it out of the truck to dry and failed to put it back in. Out of site out of mind, doh! Couldn't think of anything to use except the belt around my waist. So as desperate as I was, I clipped a caribiner to my belt and called it good. So I thought. No leash meant no safety either. I ignored the little voices and used my belt anyway. After about 20 miles things seemed to go well considering what I had to work with. After that I took a break. After my break I relaunched my kite, sat in the buggy, did a couple little power strokes just to get me started and my belt suddenly let loose. Away my kite went! The steel peg thingy on my belt angled enough to breach the buckle and let it through. Not a good thing. Should have listened to the little voices Caught the incident on camera. Sort of a public service message what not to do.

https://youtu.be/XF3jpkyShQ8

I think we've all improvised more than a little bit at times. This one bit you, but we've all been bitten. Your chase reminds me of my very first trip to Ivanpah. I was by myself and it was not during IBX or anything, just dumb, inexperienced me out there flailing around. I tried doing what I did on grass at the time which was to secure a kite on the ground with three homemade sandbags about the size of small french loaves of bread. I got all clipped into my harness and tried to ease the kite up into the air. I did something I almost never did at the time which was to angle launch on the side of the wind window (as compare to hot launch straight downwind). The kite sort of half took off, half dragged sideways and one of the sand bags got caught in the bridling (yes, it was a Peak, so there was lots of bridling) and the kite went into an inflated mad death spiral dance the ground. I had to pop the chicken loop and eventually the tether safety to avoid getting dragged across the playa. Once free of me, the mad kite took off downwind. I was on the Whiskey Pete side of I-15 and the kite slid all the way to the highway fence. Had to be a couple of miles. Now that was a walk of shame back to my base camp!

So... we've all been there. Good video. A kite PSA!

Quote: Originally posted by abkayak

i think/know i would be terrified driving on a frozen lake just a total foreign concept to me...funny

I'm always a little nervous driving on the ice. No ice is 100% safe. Lots of common sense rules to follow when venturing out. There is always that chance you could be the unlucky one. Almost 2 feet of ice on this lake, 100's of people driving all over. Doesn't mean they are all right, but odds are it's fairly safe in most places. Typically I drive where most have been already then park. Scouting an entire lake by vehicle is playing Russian roulette. If my kite would've gone much further I would have had to stop pursuit due to large pressure crack that I wouldn't want to cross. Got lucky I guess.

Quote: Originally posted by B-Roc

Driving my car on the ice would freak me out too but good thing you had a vehicle or that kite would've been gone forever.

Yes, very fortunate it didn't release miles from the truck. Could've been a long walk back and a long retrieval mission:D

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

I think we've all improvised more than a little bit at times. This one bit you, but we've all been bitten. Your chase reminds me of my very first trip to Ivanpah. I was by myself and it was not during IBX or anything, just dumb, inexperienced me out there flailing around. I tried doing what I did on grass at the time which was to secure a kite on the ground with three homemade sandbags about the size of small french loaves of bread. I got all clipped into my harness and tried to ease the kite up into the air. I did something I almost never did at the time which was to angle launch on the side of the wind window (as compare to hot launch straight downwind). The kite sort of half took off, half dragged sideways and one of the sand bags got caught in the bridling (yes, it was a Peak, so there was lots of bridling) and the kite went into an inflated mad death spiral dance the ground. I had to pop the chicken loop and eventually the tether safety to avoid getting dragged across the playa. Once free of me, the mad kite took off downwind. I was on the Whiskey Pete side of I-15 and the kite slid all the way to the highway fence. Had to be a couple of miles. Now that was a walk of shame back to my base camp! So... we've all been there. Good video. A kite PSA!

Wow, nice story. You get the trophy for longest distance

Quote: Originally posted by Bladerunner

Extremely lucky it all went down so close to the truck. It looked like the kite was headed off at amazing speed. I expect the belt pop would have required letting go no matter when it happened. So great you got a session in 1st. I was on a lake one day with lots of people on it. Big trucks racing along were pushing a wave under the ice that I found extremely odd and left. Has anybody else ever felt this happen?

Winds were 20 to 30mph, so didn't take long to fly away, lol.

I've never experienced the "Ice wave" before but heard others describe the same thing. No reason to drive that fast on a frozen lake. Some people have no patience, especially on the larger waters.