well, after getting my beamer III 3m.......and doing some home work, and playing about in my local park in very low winds....i managed to everything sorted

found a good way to set up my kite, sort my lines, and launch, then land, and launch again......YAY....

so, today i went to my local beach ( cramond, edinburgh,scotland )

wind speed was constant, about 8 mpg.......i got set up, on a huge area of wet sand...tide was 100m out.

spent 10 mins twisting the kite, swooping it a foot of the ground, landing it, got some confidance up.....

i had landed the kite, to check where the tide was...had a look, all was fine....then i noticed a big massive dark cloud approaching......lightning is quite rare round my parts, so i didnt worry.....i also didnt worry that i was less than .5 mile from a major uk airport, and was in the flight path !!!!!

anyway, i'll move on.



i was doing quite well in my opinion.....the kit was about half way from the ground to vertical, dead on to the wind......and BLAMO, massive change in wind speed, prob 25-30 MPH....it picked me off my feet, decked me 20ish feet away, and continued to drag me for 150 feet down the beach....i was trying to gain control...it didnt work, it just stayed in the sky, and dragged me...i had sand in my eyes, in my mouth and nose, in my crotch, an my ass crack...the stake that came with the kit nearly punctured my lung.....

eventually...i remembered i had kite killers on, and let go....thank god.


anyway. im sore all over now. going for a beer and bed

Dude! You gotta practice a few times with the kite killers so they become automatic when you are to the point of no return like that. I hope you are ok. Those kite killers will 99.9 % of the time shut down the power you are getting. 30 mph would be alot of power.

Yeah I once got tea-bagged by a 3.5m kite when I did not notice what was essentially a small squall line coming off the water behind my back. My region is flat and, like the desert, you can usually see stuff coming a long way, but you gotta look!
That is also the day I learned to empty my pockets before I fly.

yeah, my kite peg was in my jacket pocket !!! i feel like ive been through a washing machine filled with grit and salt !


im guessing there was some crazy power there, im a newbie to power kites...but im also like 220 pounds....not exactly light !!!!!!

think i'll dig my self a hole next time !

I've done a lot of offshore sailing, both racing and cruising, and the gust front which comes before a big storm cloud is something all sailors worry about and look out for, and something that regularly breaks boats and people! I've seen them jump from 5 to 50 mph in seconds, though not without plenty of warning, like a big huge thunderhead with rain so thick under it it looks black, but with lightning going off inside like camera flashes at fashion show, and a little white line along the bottom which all the spray being kicked up by the gust front.

I've been on board racing sailboats which have knocked down flat by the wind so the masthead is sitting on the water, the biggest one was sixty-seven feet and 10 tons, and we were fifteen seconds slow getting the sail down, never mind why.

When I fly on a beach I look back over my shoulder all the time, and certainly every time the wind changes. If I can't see what's coming, or I can't figure it out with a quick look, I'll land the kite and take my time to see what's up with the wind.

Glad to hear you're OK...

Having said that, flying a mild gust front can add spice to a low wind day....

don't get me wrong....it was funny.....but i dont want to be injured before i go on holiday !!!

I used to cruise around on my landboard with a golf ball kite stake(14" stainless rod w/golfball on one end)in a sheath, on my belt. Until the day I got the speed wobbles and wiped out. I landed hip first, on the golfball. I was haulin azzz that day too.

WELDNGOD OUCH dude! That hurts me looS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-n at it. :o k13 wjd The problem is when you get pulled off your feet the natural instinct is to grasp harder. You gotta figure how to alter that I keep trying to train my hand to grab not the handles but the killer lines. Where I am the little spike things don't work, the sand is too soft, way too soft. I sue a HUGE plastic 'tent' peg. 18 inches long and 3 inches around the 3 fins. Anyway I can't put it in my pocket but i have been refraining from all things in my pockets and on my back a friend 2 years ago broke his back because he was snowboarding with a hard plastic lunch pail in a backpack he had a bad fall and landed on it. He is walking now but slowly. :o

K13, glad to hear you're ok. Most of the time it seems funny after the fact. It's good advice from Beamer. Practice, practice, practice. You'll learn when you about to hit the point of no return. Better to dump the kite before you get there, and spend some time detangling then having a doctor walk up and ask, "So, why are you here today."

KKs protect other people too. If just one handle was snatched out of your hand, the handle could easily nail a by stander. seems like there is always some one around watching . cant blame em though ,when I first saw it on the I-net , I was like " I gotta do that ,I want one!" the rest is history.like my credit card limit:o get all the impact gear you can get. tell your relatives you want hillbilly dirt pants for x-mas! or impact gear from six six one , they got good stuff for playing crash test dummy .

This is a very informative thread!

I have this habit of hanging my golf ball stake from the side of my harness. What's a good way of keeping the stake with you? Traction kiting is a very unpredictable sport and you never know when and where you'll have to pack the kite in. I keep it by my side so I can land the kite or land & pack if needed.

Now, regarding gusts, I recently had a run in with a gust and it came out of nowhere. My kite (BIV 4.9) was staked and I was changing the AOA on my kite. The kite did three flips on the ground, then lifted up (still staked) and before I know it a gust has un-staked my kite and it's flying down the park. I had to run and step on the handles and then grab the possessed kite.

Moral: You can't predict wind behavior and better take all precautions you can.

actually, come to think of it. I had two kitestakes on me that day . if you look at the bruise you can see two big circle shaped bruises.two days later the bruise was all the way around my leg all the way to my knee

I put the beamer kite stake in the sheath on my belt on my hip once. I was not injured that time, I will _never_ do that again.

I launched 15ft high by an unmeasured amount forward, landed wiped and put it all away (wadded up) thinking 12" spike 15' high ouch! A freak wind



Full size

Jerry

those spike sound dangerous, i don't have one. how are they used ? why would you carry it?

on to topic

great graph! what that means to me, is a once crowded beach instantly is cleared and the wind animals come out. happens in the spring here(NE or W). 0 to 30 in the blink of an eye

A kite stake is used to hold your kite on the ground when you are setting up, packing up or just using another kite. You attach the loops on the bottom of the handles to the stake and most kites just sit there. Others need some sand on the trailing edge to keep them in place. The stake keeps the kite from blowing across the ground or from you having to do something else to hold it in place. In most cases you can secure the kite from the handle end instead of having to walk to the kite.

I'm learning the hard way also. At some point you have to get in the habit of letting go. What gets me is when I have a little more pull from the kite, I hold on tighter and scud around a bit. Thats what I'm out there for. But when you have unstable wind ( which seems to be always around here) I can't let go and get the crap jerked out me.

My girlfriend was flying, the wind was kind of crazy so I was standing behind her with my arms locked around her waste. It was fun pulling her back to the ground and both of us being dragged around a bit.

Then from out of nowhere that rouge gust hit and supermaned us both like it was nothing. We was a combined weight of 335 lbs. We didn't get hurt but it was an eye opener. She really don't care for flying the 5m beamer anymore so she is thinking about a 3m, but still that wind would do the same.

I was surprised by her grip. I better get off here and go wash dishes.

Quote:

Originally posted by k13 wjd think i'll dig my self a hole next time !

Just be carefull with that. When I used to fly a Stacker 6 or Stacker 8 on the beach (many years ago)_ or even a stack of medium-large deltas I tried that. I hollowed out a nice little seat in the sand with some good foot holds.

The trouble is if you do that and get a good strong gust that produces lift and traction your feet end up acting as a pivot point and you go from being on your back to a face plant being dragged along the beach in a matter of seconds. Sand and Seaweed isnt a healthy diet.

I woudlnt try Spiked soles or Lead deep sea diving shoes either....

Please, Never! Ever! carry your kite stake in your pocket! Even sticking it in the ground is dangerous. Just leave it lay on the ground but always be aware of where it is.Please, It can kill you.

Great threads on this forum - one of the things I do is keep my fingers loose on the bar/bars at all times. Having a death grip is an illusion of power and security. It will also induce early fatigue in your forearms as all the muscles are tense. I just hook my fingers hooked on the bar (I use a single bar) and can go for hours without any fatigue in my forearms - if I feel my forearms cramp or get tired I know I am holding on to tight and relax my fingers. It makes it easier to let go when the wind surprises you - Its human nature to hold on tighter and in most sports that is when things go downhill. Raced mountain bikes for years same rule applies, rowed at national level and a tight grip is a disaster. You only need to hold your body weight at most, as any more than that an you are flying (either up or horizontal) ;-)
cheers.

Quote:

What gets me is when I have a little more pull from the kite, I hold on tighter and scud around a bit

LIVE TO KITE ANOTHER DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IN OTHER WORDS LET GO

Just let go man just let go!!! Easier said than done. That's why "safety" releases are a no go with me. Things happen way to fast to pull a pin or even let go. Size your kite for the gusts and of course don't fly if there are dark clouds in the area especially if there is lightning and lots of rain in them.

Good luck and be safe.

Scott