It has been a pretty ok couple of weeks with some days of wind from 20 to 38 knots. At the same time the air is getting a little chilly as the air temperature is barely reaching +10 C. That does not matter too much when you have the correct gear. Unfortunately, while there has been fun times on the water, there have also been a close call of serious injury and some very sad news in the kiteboarding forums about injuries and even a fatality in France.
Safety in kiteboarding is a combination of many things like the weather, location and gear. We cannot change the weather or rearrange or remove all the hazardous objects on the beach but we can choose to go out or go home and kite another day. There are many reasonably good weather forecasts free on the web to have some idea of the predicted weather. Surely, everything cannot be predicted so we need to keep our eyes open to notice how the weather changes.
All the beaches are not wide sand with lots of space and shallow water. There may be rocks, trees, buildings or other structures that reduce the size of the safe area or cause major disruptions to the wind. Local knowledge will help a lot and also using some time to evaluate the current conditions when you are on site.
Once the weather and te spot is found suitable, it is up to the gear to meet the expectations. Wearing a warm enough wetsuit/drysuit when it gets colder, a helmet, a life jacket or an impact vest should be self evident to us. The next thing is to have a correct sized kite. The current kites have such a wide windrange that people ride easily with too big a kite even though they could be out with a size or two smaller and have even more fun. The reason they give is that jumps are bigger when the kite is overpowered. For sure a kite that has more power may go bigger but the power is nothing without control. With correct kite size people can ride faster with better control, can time the jumps and keep the edge better to load up the power to jump and that combination makes people go big. So the solution in gusty wind is to take out a kite that keeps you going nicely through the lulls and you can still handle the gusts without being overpowered.
Sometimes all the preparations just are not enough. There may be a sudden gust, much stronger than anything earlier or the kite drops into power zone in a lull and you know that when it powers up again, it will pull you downwind or loose lines may cause twisting or tangling. These situations require us to react to the changes fast. People may be dragged or lofted on the water or on the land but they are not pulling quick release to get the power to minimum. Sometimes it is hard to say if a rider is frozen and cannot think clear to make the decision to pull the release or if the rider trusts himself to regain control in a second but may never actually manage it in time.
Idealistically, the quick release is pulled just by a fraction before the kite yanks the rider. This happens very rarely as it is hard to estimate what happens next. Most of us find it hard to react quickly enough to release the kite in time. However, when the first loft is over or the kite keeps dragging the rider without control, the quick release should be pulled. The later the release is left, the bigger the risk is that you get into more trouble and you may be dragged to hit something or you are lofted even higher.
One thing about safety is that we train tricks a lot but very rarely we utilise the quick release. Whenever purchasing a new kite and bar, we should check the new version of the quick release and how it works. We should also remember to check regularly that everything works and is not stuck due to sand or salt water or snow. It is equally important to know how the kite behaves when the quick release is done as there are differences between kites. Some kites will drop nicely down with almost zero power while others will take more time and a couple of low-powered loops to drop or may have some power left to drag you slowly on the water. The only way to know how your kite behaves is to try it more than once in different conditions.
Kite manufacturers have been working to improve the safety of the gear. Kites are much more stable and have a lot bigger wind range than those we had five or six years ago and new kites are easier to handle when depowered or overpowered. Quick releases have improved and have become easier to use with less power required to release it but there is still room for improvement. Personally I prefer a quick release that is symmetric and push away type so I can release it with either hand and also when flying lines are slack.
The design of the LEI (Leading Edge Inflatable) has evolved from the old C-kites to current palet of bows, SLEs (Supported Leading Edge), hybrids, delta shapes and high depowerable C-kites. This evolution has made the kites more user friendly and safer in most conditions and occasions. However, there are some cases where the kites have not yet evolved enough. Some models still have quite a bit of power after quick release is launched and are not totally flagged like the old C-kites were. It also seems that sometimes the current kites are a little more prone to dangerous situations. These situations are the continous kiteloops aka death loops caused by the bridle line being tangled in the wingtip. It goes even worse if after several loops the lines are twisted so tightly that launching the quick release does not kill the power. This may be a rare case but it has happened to many kiters and it has been discussed in kiteboarding forums. This is something where the kite designs need to improve.
When the kite is still powered after quick release is pulled, the only option is to release the leash and get rid of the kite completely. In this case it would help a lot if the leash were not on the back of the harness in handle pass leash. It is hard to release any type of leash if the kite pulls you backwards in the water. The simple solution is to connect the leash into the front or to the side if you are not doing handle passes in every run.
To summarise, you need to know your limits and equipment and need to check out the conditions you are planning to go out. It is important to try out the emergency procedures regularly to be better prepared if something unexpected happens. Some may say that we cannot be ready for everything but for sure being able to make correct decisions or react at the right time will help in most cases.
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti