note to self: try not to land kite in sea...


yeah, it doesn't end happily.
i was flying for my second time, with winds coming from inland. i lost my concentration of the surroundings for a while and was slowly edged closer to the sea. my perspective was a bit off, and i thought i had room to land the kite on the sand, but i guess there wasnt.

the wind was a bit gusty, and after a gust came there was no wind, just for 2-3 seconds, but this was enough time for the left half of my kite to collapse and the bridles to get horribly tangled. i realised she was going down so i ran back, and attempted to re-inflate the kite, but i was too late. the kite landed about 2-3 foot into the sea, and i can honistly say i though i was going to loose it.

i tried pulling it out, but it felt like it weighed a tonne. luckily with every wave coming in, it was pushed in a bit and eventialy i managed to get the completely waterlogged kite out.

i realised there was no way of me sorting it out on the beach, so i packed up and whent home.

into the garage, and i dried up the kite, and untangled all the bridles and brushed the worst of the sand out.

its all alright now, but for a second i thought i had lost it.

next time ill try to make sure to be more aware of my surrondings, and not attempt to take mt kite for a paddle...

tim

Lesson learnt huh glad it got sorted in the end

Yes water is heavy and if you are not careful pulling the kite out, you risk stretching the bridles out of shape. I dunked a kite once and it flew to the bottom when I tried pulling. I immediately figured out what was going on (rare moment), and very very slowly pulled it out sideways by one bridle so that it did not load the kite. For all the trouble I did not even catch dinner, but the kite came out OK.

Gesh, I put a few one liners in the drink from a boat. The deltas fly good underwater and don't come back.

However I had a 9' span delta go down 500' out one day. My cuz took their boat to get it even after I told them it was a goner. Some how they got it up. Still haven't figured that one out.

yeah, luckily my kite did not get submerged, just 2-3 inches.

i didnt pull it too hard, the waves did most of the work.

and yes, definately, lesson learned

Try dunkin' a NASA Wing!
It is shaped like a net basket to begin, not to mention all the tangled bridles.
When I finally hauled it out, it looked like a giant jellyfish / spaghetti platter had washed ashore!

You gotta try a two-line delta design. We use to fly Top Of the Line Hawaiian Team Kites in the outgoing
current of the Alsea river by Waldport Oregon. Stretched the hell out of the sail after a while, but was to much fun.

Hah. good post. Thanks for sharing. These kites do seem like they will be fine when they hit the water.. .until they actually do and it all goes pear shaped.
The closed cell HQ Hydra is pretty sweet for keeping water out though.

I've done this a number of times. Both with my Beamers and my Outlaws. In most situations, I have been able to get them back in the sky immediately afterwards. Though, one time I put my 5m beamer into the water so bad that I had to turn it upside down to dump out all the water and sand that got caught up in it. That was ugly. Minor bounces off the water, no big deal. I did put my 8m Outlaw down top first into about 6 inches of water once, it got some in it, but kept flying... Took about 15 minutes to dry out and fly properly though.

the weight of water is 8 lbs / gallon.

Something to consider, what if a wave washes your kite onto you standing in knee deep water.

Did you have a hook knife, were you prepared to let the kite go and save your life?

thanks for your coomments guys.

USA_Eli_A:

no, i didnt have a knife.

yes, i would obvously be prepared to let a £50 kite go if my life were in real danger, however, i would have pulled really damn hard up to that point....