So I had my first unintentional jump today. I can't even call it a jump, I was lofted. The wind was really gusty on the beach 5/13/20 and I was buggying with someone for 45m or so. He was on a 3m LD, I was on my 7m blaze2. Glad I was on a depower, if you can call a blaze a depower Lots of coasting followed by riding on two wheels. It was fun for a while. Then we decided to pack it up. The wind died down quite a bit and I was barely able to keep my kite in the air. I had my kite resting at 11 and some bizzare updraft of probably 20mph wind decided to pick me up a foot off the ground then lofted me again a few feet up. I was never really worried since I was flying the no-lift brick, but It was certianly a weird feeling to be lifted up withup controling to kite to do that. I should probably park the kite at more like 10 away from shore when I'm just standing around. Luckily I only went up a few feet and depowered down. Of courtse wearing my helmet Anyone else have ever get lofted? Most of the lost stories I've heard about end in disaster...

If I'm fully powered up for static jumping, lofting is usually a risk... Another way to think of it is that the line between jumps with little twitches of the kite around zenith and getting a little loft gets really blurry. I ride out lots of little ones if it is a bit gusty, if it's too gusty or there is not enough room downwind to ride them out I go down a size.

but anyways the point here being that in my experience if the wind is gusty and strong, then sooner or later there will be something randomly really strong, like a freak wave in the ocean, that comes through. the gustier it is, the more extreme those random / freak events get.

so yeah riding out a small loft is a mark of a hot session for me, (like having my kites bounce while staked) rather than a big freak-out... But it sounds (esp with the upward component and the gusty winds on the day) like you got hit by one of the more extreme bits of random gustiness, I know for sure I'd be shutting down for the day and not pushing my luck for a while after getting that far out of my comfort zone!

Not good to get surprised when powered up, eh?

Glad to hear you're alright...

:bigok:

The day I broke my wrist, every time I changed the kites direction I was getting lofted :D
Note to self - you don't need to sine the kite if the wind is strong enough to lift you from the zenith

Quote:

Originally posted by Kamikuza Note to self - you don't need to sine the kite if the wind is strong enough to lift you from the zenith

yep, that's the short way to say it....

LOL!

I was back tracking my 5m on a windy day. about 25mph and trying to get back across the feild I had just been joyfully dragged across! The kite was right over head and all was fine. Then I felt some what lite. I looked down and it seemed as if I was about 6 feet off the ground. Without thinking I pulled the brakes the kite came down and I gently landed with no harm. It was pretty cool but unexpected.

Lol, I don't seem to have to many OBEs, but I got caught out here in this video at 7.15sec when I rode over a Radsail buggy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEWIb-IQKLk

Only had an OBE 2 times. First one after a big bump, went fine. Popped up high, got oriented right, landed gently on my feet. Second time... Not so good...

Flying my 5.5 Razor. Wind was picking up, so I was heading back to base (downwind) to get a smaller kite. Making short little turns to brush off a little speed. Suddenly, WHOOSH! A big gust picks me up over the FRONT of the buggy! My leg gets caught on one of pegs and it spins me around. Not very high, but I land on my back with my head facing downwind. Luckily, its all soft sand, so I'm not hurt. But this is where it gets interesting... Did I mention I was hooked in at the time?

Well, the kite which had crashed when I crashed, suddenly powers back up! Mind you, I'm still hooked in...And I'm on my back with my head towards the kite! What happened next could be best described as an "Inverted compression jump!" Just like regular one, except my head is where my feet should be and visa-versa.

Some quick twisting in the air, and I managed to avoid landing on my head! A couple of skids and I'm back on my feet, injury free. But the best part of all... This happened right in front of a big group of onlookers! They all stood there, mouths agape, while I tried (unsuccessfully) to make it look like "I had planned to do that."

Actually, that story is an example of my life in general; "Terrifying and funny... All at the same time." :wee:

Interesting these loft experiences....I had my own just yesterday. I was waiting for Bladerunner to arrive in a spot that I hadn't flown at before. Looked too sketch for a variety of reasons to practice my beginner buggy skills so I put up the Core 6.7 that Rip had lent me in the very light north winds that were blowing across English Bay. In the middle of the window the wind was being blocked by a row of trees so things were actually stronger at the top. Overall that was still OK, and I tended to play around near the zenith where I had some winds rather than drop down where the kite would start to stall.

Then, as the kite was politely sitting at the zenith, a gust hit. Of course, I had no idea it was coming so completely out of the blue I found myself a good six feet in the air. I held the kite at the top quickly thinking about what I should do and remembering the many discussions here on the forum about how a lot of traction kites can lift you but only a few, combined with the pilot's skill, can set you down gently. But six feet up already feels like kind of a long ways to fall....so I decided to hang on and, well, with not much more time to think, was spanked to the ground with a bit of a thud. In my relief, as I slide a bit on my hip and shoulder, I also pulled in the brakes, the kite hit the deck right after I did. Thankful that I had still been wearing my helmet due to my earlier intention to try to buggy, I parked the kite and headed over to my duffel bag in search of something a little smaller to play with in those gusty and lofty conditions.

I'm not into power kiting for the jumping or even the scudding but it seems a little skill in those areas is a good thing to have because with these kites its almost inevitable that sooner or later something beyond my control is going to hit.

All in all, I was glad when Bladerunner arrived shortly after my first OMF (off my feet) experience....at least if I got lofted again, I thought, he could grab me by the ankles to keep me from sailing clear across the park!

... I've noticed in a few of the kiteboarding instructions videos I've got that they keep saying to keep the kite off to the side, to avoid being lofted at the zenith ... might have to start doing that with the FB foils too :eek: