SAT had solid 30mph winds with gusts. NE

and raging ocean to go with it. big rollers in the area are around 8ft with this blow

V13 and 142 board after about two hours a throttling gust comes along and yards me and all

slam bang kite crashes and powers in a blink(and the bad part) loop comes off the harness! suicide leash catches the main dragging me like mad i reach to pull the leash in and recover the rig hit the leash release under load and ...kite is gone ...board long gone (75yds and four swells away) and the challenging part i am somewhere around 1-2miles offshore.


the nail biting part....wind is tittering to offshore

to get the board would have exhausted me , kite is done can't even see it anymore.

so a good two hour ride and good hour or so swim later my session is over and i am light one V13 and my fav board.

but today great session on the 16 and second string board.

probably hitting the release in the frenzy was life saving . The stark emptiness that arrives out in the ocean is always one of those moments when you truly have to stop thinking , relax and start swimming.

choosing to fly on a RISING tide i think gave this a happy ending

Man, that scared me, and I wasn't there!! Glad you are ok and safe. Sorry for the loss of your board and the V13.

Hey Chad!

Glad you made it back. Sounded a little like that final scene with Markie Mark in The Perfect Storm. Were you alone?

We were in Jekyll yesterday and I had no desire to hit the water. It was not inviting at all. The landboarding was sketchy...the wind was ridiculous. I was overpowered with a 6 mtr Access. I can't imagine how lit you must have been with that V13.

Welcome back!

Chad,

Life altering. Welcome back.

Glad to hear you went back out today. Keep the demons at bay.

Mel

Quote:

Originally posted by kitedog Hey Chad! Glad you made it back. Sounded a little like that final scene with Markie Mark in The Perfect Storm. Were you alone? We were in Jekyll yesterday and I had no desire to hit the water. It was not inviting at all. The landboarding was sketchy...the wind was ridiculous. I was overpowered with a 6 mtr Access. I can't imagine how lit you must have been with that V13. Welcome back!

two of the regular guys and a third all on windsurfers. (flying 4.0 4.7)

we are all pretty good about spotting for each other

we where all in rotation i was jumping on both points of sail to keep from bunching up so when i was on the bottom and i always take a longer leg out to come back in on top of the up wind line but this time things changed.

the board i will miss , sails i got
i will sail different stuff for a while but i'm sure something will come along

This NE has been great! Glad you're ok...I'll keep an eye for your stuff considering NE and my location!

Wow - glad you're OK. That sucks. Board loss too - I bet that hurts more for sure. I think it's a good ceremonial burial - sending them out to sea, hopefully they die peacefully. I'll mourn your losses and praise your safe return.

Chad, I'm really sad that you lost equipment. that must really hurt to know its "right there" and yet you won't see it again. This is the closest weve come to losing one of the regulars here and especially locally. I'm glad you're here to tell us about it.

Why were you not able to retrieve the kite. I didn't follow what happened between pulling the leash release and the kite was gone.

Glad you're ok.

i run a suicide leash( you hook the safety to the loop not to the ring slide) kite is still powered and you get dragged. as i was pulling in the leashed kite under load the safety tripped on the leash and slipped away. wind was 30mph and swells where like small houses.

glad your fine sorry about the rig.......you must have been out in the am early, power winds here in the am too............................afternoon winds dropped to 15 kts or so onshore. If you need that 13m SS I can mail it to you..........................

Glad you made it out of this one. Isn't 1-2 miles off shore kind of far out to be riding?

our rotation usually is about 1 mile or less sometimes shorter but if wind is solid we will go out further for position up wind

Wow, scary #@%$#! dude. Glad you made it back okay.

:shocked2: Scarey stuff :shocked2:

I'm glad you are O.K. I'm also glad you realize you can get new gear but you can't get a new life.

I always put my name and phone # on my kites + gear. Turns out people around here are pretty honest and many get there stuff back.

the name thing i know it's the thing to do, but ...just not that attached to it i guess. i guess if i bought NEW stuff i would want to get time out of it. it makes me fly the good used gear i already have. it will come around

trying to hold the leash with kite raging and dragging me,

frightening within the five seconds, or less, it all plays out, the decision and reflexes go right to maximum penalty.

it is my daily play ground, respect and limitations every session

let it go, live to fly again

I was going to ask you how to hook up one of these "suicide" leashes, but I believe I want to think about it a little longer. :wow: I hate you were put in a position where you had those decisions to make quickly.

That's scary stuff man, glad you shipped me the Titan before you went out, HAH!

Just Kidding.

Glad you're ok and you have the right attitude, gear is only money - money you can make, your life is a different story.

all glad here!

matter of fact just got hooked up on a directional board. guys not using so... try it out til something comes along. nice how the world works like that

Chad,... I am glad you made it back in ok....sorry to hear about the gear.
Being out 2 miles...how deep is the water? Do you use any type of flotation vest? This has to be the biggest fear of mine not having the strength after getting pounded like that to be able to swim back to shore. Im curious.
Hope you can get your gear back soon. Best wishes

depth maybe 15-20ft some parts fairly deep.

biggest rolling swells around 10ft with NE blow 30mph.

i only wear a seat harness which has flotation, it is just enough.
without that would have been pure nightmare no question. after a very hot 2 hour session in 30mph, fatigue was probably the reason the gust caught me off in the first place, the loop coming off the harness(finger could failed in a really laid back angle).


so yeah about the first couple minutes after all was gone just lay back rest ... slow and steady start in comfortable easy back stroke is may rescue mode. check references about once a minute, relax, easy kick, steady stroke .. i have music so it's just part of the work out...and i didn't once look for the kite, 2 second glance at the board (too far away and rough) .....fun is over get to work and save your ass.

grateful the strength and endurance to take a licking and keep on ticking