Just curious as to how many of us have been thrashed or had a close call while kiting.

Be it as a beginner or later as an expirienced pilot.

A moment when you may or may not have been hurt or wrecked a kite and came away feeling that you got lucky that it wasn't worse.:o

Hi my name is Cheezy and I have been spanked.... :D I've had a few spankings, nothing serious though. Always ended with laughter.

Three "spankings" come to mind:

First was while flying a FS Titan 15.5m at Malaekahana Beach, Oahu. Hit a wave wrong, crashed badly, got disoriented while the kite did endless loops in the power zone and was drug underwater upside down.

Second was while launching a PL Phantom 18 at Waimanalo Beach, Oahu. Winds seemed light while I was setting up to launch, but as soon as I launched the kite a massive gust hit it and dragged me down the beach on my belly (so wasn't able to deploy the release).

Third was while flying my Venom 19 in the waves at Mokuleia Beach, Oahu. Was coming in at the end of a session when the gusty wind seemed to instantly turn vertical and I inadvertently was lifted 20 feet before I could deploy the release. Same thing happend to my buddy Erik Eckt ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMZcwo9PMhg ) except I was still over water and we had much better safety releases by then.

BK, getting spanked in the water sounds freakin' aweful.

And Erik is the "go to" example I give people when describing what can go wrong with a kite. Crazy.

Flipped a130lb buggy while practicing down loop powerslides w/a 4.2 Combat! = Broken shoulder

2 spankings with the twister, 1 with the phantom, 1 on the charger, 1 with the ViP...

Worst was a purple heel for a couple weeks, and a bum ankle for a week... Not to bad lol!!

Three to date.

24m synergy with an impressive loft and PKF members talking in my head to redirect.

9m PKD Century + Mother Nature and a nice little drag throughout the field on my tail.

Just last year at the spring bash from a 6m Phantom

*EDIT* How could I have forgot the 16m Venom that I shattered my big toe with? It was my fault for not knowing better that day.

had two semi- unconscious slams on the water.. one on an old venom, cracked open and sank bout 2 miles offshore. another was in offshore water session roughly same but with booties on which i think completely freaked me out, def PTSD on that one it was about 2 years ago, when i got back to shore my friend said i looked like seen a ghost. prolly a dozen + on land numerous permanent injuries. def some whiplash crashes on water that take several months to resolve. both eardrums ruptured.

the whole accelerated mass and gravity thing with kiting... if you are injury prone (which i am not) serious caution is advised.

one of the first tweaks ...NPW 5 step OFF the board at like 20mph.

2 with the twister: 1 knocked out 1 sprained ankle
1 big OBE with the Reactor 4.9 (gotta watch those gusts) no injury
1 thrashed Viper 2.6 only injury was to the kite...user error
And who could forget the combat 3.5 at JIBE that just about took out the tent at buggy camp. I still want a rematch with that wing!

The moral of this story is: if you have not yet been spanked, you will be eventually. Wear a helmet and pads!

First real spanking was with 5m ACE, imagine that. Got lofted and dropped from about ten feet up. Very sevre bruised bone in my foot.

Second with 8.5 BLADE. Static flying and doing jumps. Supermanned and yanked forward about 20 ft unexpectedly. No harm done bruised ego. Lol

Third was not really a spanking but a close call. Todd and Rian on handfir this one 8m NEO II. Launched in about 18mph winds. Was giod for about two seconds, huge gust came in and pucked me up about 4 ft and carried me down wind about 25 feet. Felt it when it hit so prepared my self for a landing. Todd and Rian had to grab my kite and get it locked down. Wind reading said the gust was around 30mph. Lucky on that one.

ripped permanent holes in myself with twister 2.
almost got eaten by a hungry grizzly because I couldn't move more than .2 mph

So... I've had a couple... heh.

2m Beamer III - high wind day, doing a transition and... did something wrong, flipped the buggy on top of me and got dragged down the beach with the buggy on top of me. Eventually managed to backstall the kite to the ground, got to my knees, and the kite launched and slammed me face-first into the ground again (caught on camera). No serious injuries.

3.5 Jojo - This kite spanked me more than once. High wind launch on beach. Did a hot launch cause I didn't think it was THAT windy. Got super man'd up the beach. Probably 20- 30 feet before I touched down. Managed to get my feet under me and walked back to the buggy. Second time, the kite got behind me and lofted me out of the buggy backwards. Landed on my head. Crashed the kite. Helmet was nice for that one. Walked away with no injuries from either.

12m Outlaw - Was flying at the Bowl in mostly west wind. Thought things were going okay, came into the lower section, and the wind kicked... HARD. Lofted me out of the buggy sideways. Landed hard on my arm. Nearly broke my wrist. Walked away from it though. Popped safety and wrapped up the kite.

8m Outlaw - SoD farm in Maryland. Getting ready to transition and brought it over too quickly. Got LAUNCHED as a good gust hit. Flew some 15-20 feet or so. Landed feet first, popped safety and watched the kite attempt to fly away.. Chased it down, hooked safety line, and laid down. No injuries. Caught on film (Todd got it).

8m Psycho4 - Buggying at Wildwood last Spring. Off-shore winds. Not my buggy. Doing a transition and the buggy wigged out. Lost control and got picked up out of the buggy. Came down on my right shoulder. Couldnt use my arm for about a month. Didn't see the doctor, and felt okay initially. That one hurt.

Yeah, I've taken a few beatings. Nothing broken, thankfully. Safety gear is a must.

Have had a couple of interesting OBEs with my 2.5 rage.

Don't really consider myself spanked YET.

I got trashed by my 3m Blade2 lofted over a frozen corn field in gusty wind.. superman style 1/2 spin landed on the back of my head during a transition..

Went for a jump in overpowered gusty wind with my 15m Synergy. Went way to high and panicked.. brought the kite down to early and got whipped into the water.
the force of the landing slammed my elbow into my ribs.. hurt for months

Man, reading some of these makes me feel better about myself. I thought I was the only one. :bigok:

I get spanked mostly on water for obvious reasons, these two were the most memorable; 1 on snow and 2 on water

1. Several years back, a total newbie with a Wipika 20.5m Hydra C-kite on snow. Yes, the size of the the first depower after a 5m FB Legend speaks volumes about experience !!!
Powered up across the window and got yarded 200 feet face first through 2 feet of powder before I had a sense to pull the safety. Got up looked around, good, no one saw me.
Went right back at it.
Two more yardages each roughly half of the preciding one although with more "control" and by this I mean trying to keep the head above the powder.


2. Last year at Oliphant bay, at the end of the day, I did not made it up wind back to where I started, so I started walking back ~1/2km from the parking lot where everyone hangs out.
It is a limestone plateu, is very shallow flat water and very slippery limestone mud , kite was at Zenith, all depowered but it still had some lift (17m Waroo on 33m lines), wind picked up more and it was getting really hard to walk due to slippery surface, so I self landed the kite on the wind edge, manage to turn it to park position (leading edge down towards the wind), all good.
As I walked towards the kite to grab it (still connected to CL+leash) , wind shifted maybe 30deg and gusty, it was just enough to catch the back edge of the kite, that SoB turned around and relaunched, it was so slippery I could not hold it, i was just scudding, so I pulled the safety.
Somehow as bar was sliding up towards the kite it got caught on something (later I found to be a big knot with a chunk of dry grass root in it) a really "nice" bar stopper.
Kite went into death spiral, oh...fudge..., it yanked me down and started dragging me thru the dirt like you see in old western movies (ha-ha, not funny at the time)
As I was beeing dragged by the leash line, I was able to swing the body around and go legs first, then I pulled safety on the bungee line.
It was my bungee line from Zero4, the ball came off the clear tube, tube stayed locked, another oh..fudge.....
Now I know I am in deep dudu as the kite keeps spiraling faster and I am being dragged faster trying to reach for the knife (at this point a good 200m), so far lucky no stones or wood, just semi dry mud.
I saw a water filled ditch and steered with my feet to it, got a good hold on the bank for just a second enough to grab the bungee, relief the strain and get the tube off the safety pin.
I was free of the kite....fewww... It flew another 200-300m and tumbled over several time and perfectly parked itself solid, go figure......
I was far away from the parking lot, but someone must have seen me as I heard safety whistles for a bit, took a moment, big breath, move all the extremities, checked my hands and feet, thank God nothing broken, no cuts, just minor scratches on the "steering" foot.
(I was wearing a helmet, farmer john full pants, seat harness and life jacket, so that might have helped to absorb the impacts on the way)
Just covered in the mud like Arnold in the movie Predator. Got up, got the kite, it was too coved in mud, no holes anywhere, all intact, a bonus for the end of the day. It could have been way worst.

This one not so major but one I remember

3. Also last year @ Port Franks, continuing work on my water skills, this time in waves, 1-3ft, wind ~20knts, trying to tame a 10m charger, did not crash the kite once (I guess AZ works well even on smaller Chargers, made a mistake taking a wave, got my board under the wave and as I was falling down, must have powered up on the bar and got yanked out of the water so hard with a board under the wave, that I snapped 8mm polyurethane leash with a 10-15 footer unintended jump. These things (Charger 10m) are nasty, but in a good way, still not a fan.
I hope P2 are more forgiving, I pre-ordered 24 and 15m for my 2 all season kite quiver.

ya i didnt put any obe's... lol those were all my fault and i dont feel i was spanked

:embarrased: but not :moon: 'd

My first year kiting .....

1. My 2nd or 3rd buggy session ...... and big OBE with 12m Synergy ... all on front of camera .... soft landing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VyboRnK9MI
2. 1st session kiteboarding .... not hurt by kite but by broken glass in bay ..... 15 stitches
3. Crashed to the rocks on beach when riding ATB ..... totally my error ... 3 moths later my foot still hurts sometimes .....
4. X19 and gusty winds drag me out of water and thru the beach by the time I pull safety

The shorter question here would be "Who HASN'T been spanked?"

My first time was naively putting up my 3m trainer downwind at a windy beach: Supermaned me down wind while I did twisting corkscrews in the sand! (much to my bud's amusement). Good little dermabrasion session there! :ticking:

That would only be the first...

'Not Yet' Nice wording for the poll haha. I'm afraid of getting hurt not only for myself, but because I've been working on getting all my friends involved around me and they're all so skeptical about it so I know if I get hurt none of them will want to touch it anymore.

Lucky me I'm that one vote so far *knocks on wood*, I've only been into the sport since last summer so not even a year yet and I haven't tried jumping at all until a couple of weeks ago. I'm also really chicken #@%$#! I guess because I take out the smallest kite that I can get away with still getting pulled around if I work it. I started out taking the V19 in pretty light winds, 10-12ish and I was practicing jumping with it. I had soo much fun, was just basically moon walking across the field, but the highest I went was probably 4 feet or so.

But last session (yesterday) was the closest I came to getting spanked. I took out the 13VII and it was pretty windy 20 mph minimum, but it was very gusty as well I'm not sure how high it was gusting up to but it was hard. My girl had come out with me for this session and she had never seen one of my big ones in the sky nor had seen me jump, so I had to impress right? :bouncy: So I went for a couple of jumps and they were about 3-4 footers which she was watching the kite and missed... So I was like hey you! You gotta watch me! So I went for another and a big gust hit, I went probably 10 feet in the air and redirected the kite too far in front of me (I was freaking out on adrenaline when I felt the power of that lift coming) so I got pulled forward as well, ended up doing a sideways summersault and landing on my knees as the kite came barreling down towards nose crashing, I turned it hard and saved it by a couple of inches but then it launched me up again, not as high and landed alright. My girl thought it looked so natural that I did it on purpose haha, win win:bigok:! I packed it up after that, I had fun and learned a lot so It was a good session even if it only lasted 20 minutes or so. I had to play in a soccer game a few hours after the session so I didn't wanna short my team either.

One time three years ago on ice, bruised left knee nothing broken.
One time last year on ice, bruised and bashed left knee/shoulder, could hardly walk that same night but nothing broken.

I see a distinct pattern with the left side of my body, coincidence? Dunno, at least I've still been able to bounce back without any serious injury.:bouncy:

Nothing has happened to me in the past besides some scratches and little stuff.

But yesterday I went out and dropped 8+ft. directly on my right hip.
knocked the wind out of me and its pretty painful to walk at times.
No bruise = no doctor... for now

Before I knew to bail on kites in the waves, I dropped my kite in the impact zone in 10-12 foot waves. Swam under a big white water. While I was under water, the wave hit my kite. I thought my spine was going to snap. I surfaced, my harness was half ripped off my body, so I couldn't find the quick release, and another wave was coming. Swam down again for round two! This time my harness ripped the rest of the way off my body.
Note to self: don't do that again.

early 90's - first buggy, going to show it to everyone on the weekend but decided to go for a rip on a sports field on the way home with a big kite - started to rain and buggy doing more sideways than straight and worried about the kite tangling around a goal post - looked at the kite, let it go, looked forward and (with my best Titanic impression) "goal post dead ahead"
KaWANG!
broken foot and thought I broke my wrist and the kids that rode over on their bikes looking down at me with and accent saying "mr kite are you dead?"

who has not used the spank-o-matic,
step right up

#1-- 50mph gusty ,2.2 eclipse, supermanned , one line broke before acheiving full apogee. No injury.
#2-- exteem gusty ,5m beamer, in the park behind a treeline , feeling the meaning of rotors and swirly wind, lifted sideway and slapped into the ground, hip , elbow , shoulder and head got whacked , I would sometimes wear a helmet after that.
#3--Tug hill , decent wind , 5m element , coming into a landing BSing with the boys and lost track of the kite , up and over bassakwards me and my hotwired sled go and the kite slams down close enough to a couple of guys to really get their attention. No injury.
#4--somewhat gusty , 5m apex ,Southwick beach, coming in for a landing , looking at everything but the kite and OBE onto my tailbone , pop the tophat just as the kite catches some lower branches, kites ok ,tail bone probably broke, barely walk for days ,hurt for weeks.
#5-- Oneida lake , extreem gusty, 25mph , 7.5 apex , snow squal, stopping to help my big guy who had just released his 5m apex, took my eyes off the kite , suddenly I'm plowing snow with my face and there is 35# of alluminum and skis doing cartwheels allong side me. Ripped a ski completly off the sled. No injury to me.

I get beaten up by Garry Point's terrain and my buggy than by my kites. Things like catching a wheel in a dog hole during a slide happen all the time.
S

I forgot about the time I was at the Pinery on lake Huron. The wind was cranking dead sideshore.. I had no buggy yet and liked to body drag in the shallows
Decided to put up my 6.3m Cquad and told my wife to drive down the beach a few km and pick me up after my epic downwinder..:wee:

Hot launched it dead downwind and I was off.... flying the kite in figure eights getting tea bagged the whole way got dragged under water hit my head on the bottom
the force of the water had my swim shorts around my knees.. Broke a line and put the kite into the water to stop the pain.. I was using a old PL backstrap the skin under my arms was raw..

The worst part.. I had to limp 3k down wind to where my wife was.. after I put my shorts back on that is

I've had a few good spankings but the two worst were...
Fall WBB 2010 Horsing around in strong wind on the Ratbuggy 120lbs with 4mSDT and sliding sideways cought a ditch in the sand. Flipped the buggy through the air and landed ontop of me. One side rail cracked my dirtbike helmet, the other cracked me in the ribs. A few bruised ribs one bruised kidney. Went home got a new helmet and ordered body armour!
The other was at Hamonasset State Park at the Skydog photo shoot. Winds were 25 gusting 35 or so. I was sitting in the buggy to get photos with the kite flying. Then I was going to put the kite away, and a gust grabbed the 2.8mSDT and tail whipped me like a toy across the feild and slammed me face down on the frozen ground. I was wearing all of my gear but still broke my toes!!

Man some of these stories are just plain ugly.:evil:

Man I love Kiting- Self inflicted abuse that you just cant seem to get enough of. Most memorable spanking- 3.8 reactor lofted me on mtn board- maybe a foot or two but landed funny and felt the acl in my right knee snap- that hurt surgery 3 months later and back to flying 3 months after surgery.

Watched my 12 yr old son get supermanned with 2 mtr scout and bounce so hard on his side that he got a concussion (head never hit the ground but the body smash rattled the brain). MOM was not happy.

Now we just fly bigger kites so the landing are softer
Scott