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Am I nuts here?

yep. Definitely over thinking things! Best thing you can do is take the Nasa's and spend many hours in the bug........THEN you'll start to get a feel for the whole hotwire/lapbelt/harness argument.

I hotwire occasionally - when I'm going to be spending many hours in the buggy and doing long runs in one direction and I'm completely confident in the wind and my kite. Most of the time I just use my harness and I can only remember one time when I was lifted slightly by a nasa star - they are one of the least likely kites to lift you vertically.

I did use to put a lap belt on to hold myself in the buggy. Until I flipped it and ended up with the whole weight of the buggy on my head, the bar unsighted along with the kite, the safety out of reach and kite fully inflated. Fortunately it was upside down, like me, and stayed there - had it started to spiral I would have been in really serious trouble.

One of the Mad Way South ?? crew (the guys that kited through parts of Africa) was hotwired in, got lofted and smashed into boulders upside down and was lucky to walk away with either a dislocated or broken arm - can't remember which but it does go to show how much power you can be dealing with and sometimes completely unexpectedly - you don't want anything else attached to you in that instance.

spend your time learning the buggy in mild conditions where you shouldn't have to worry about stuff like an OBE. My last OBE was caused by concentrating on trying to do my lap belt up in the buggy - distraction and lost concentration on where the kite was. Oh, and don't launch from the buggy, side-on in soft sand...that can end badly too.

come to think of it, my last two accidents were either caused by messing around with a lap belt, or being held in by a lap belt - had I not been held in, I would have just been lifted out and deposited on the soft sand without the buggy on my head.

If you need back extra back support, just buy one of those canoe seats that strap in - they work pretty well from what I've been told.

Here is the way I look at it: OBEs aren't always bad. I have at least one almost every time I fly, and I consider myself a pretty skilled pilot when it comes to the buggy. The cool part about OBEs is that once you have a few, you learn how to handle them better. A lot of the time if I get pulled out of my seat, I have the reactions now to be able to fly the kite and land on my feet. Your chances of breaking bones and throwing out shoulders are way higher when you land on your shoulders/head/neck, no matter how tiny your Peter(Lynn) is.

When you hotwire, you can't OBE. You are along for the ride, and it will probably hurt pretty bad and cost you a collar bone or worse if you flip in any size buggy. If you OBE, if you are good, you can make it look like an effortless dismount.

'...look like an effortless dismount'....

"It's not a bug, it's a design feature"

Like gymnastics, it's all how you stick the landing
Practice, practice, practice

My worst OBE landed me on my feet... I just broke one of them when I hit the ground.

Justsayin'

I had me an OBE not too long ago. I was flying an 8m HQ Neo, the wind was 15-18mph cross shore. So I was making short runs the width of the beach. But...there was an additional 25 years of beach I could ride but it was soft sand. Like the genius I am I decided what the hell. I went as close to the water as possible, made my turn, down looped the kite, poured on the power and went for it. Got about 3/4 the way up into the soft sand and came to a halt. You could hear the lines creeking under the tension it was a little eerie. Now I'm stuck in the sand with the kite side-on. Had another genius moment and decided to loop the kite fully powered up and just power out of it....oh!... She put the power on alright. Lifted my 300# butt AND the Croozer about 4 ft into the air going sideways. Luckily I was able to slip out of the buggy. It landed upside down and I landed gently on my feet. Yelling at my wife...DID YOU SEE THAT!!!?? THAT WAS AWESOME!! I'm not going to tell you wether I think it's a good idea or not but I can tell you. Had I been strapped in. That situation might have had a different outcome. I will tell you if you're going to strap in...Be smarter and/or safer than me. OBE's are not something to fear. But definitely something to respect.

Quote: Originally posted by soliver

My worst OBE landed me on my feet... I just broke one of them when I hit the ground. Justsayin'

How do you think your spine would take it if you were hotwired into the buggy and had that same loft and drop, even wheels down? My guess is a serious spinal injury.

Hotwiring isn't for everyone, and that is the only point I am trying to make. You can tear a rotator cuff or break a collarbone just by slowly flipping over, without the buggy leaving the ground.

I think it pays to have some practice jumping when it comes to OBEs, so if you have a really nasty one that takes you up, you have the muscle memory to redirect the kite as required for a slow descent.