Was hoping for a bit of feedback from the proficient kiters out there...was down at Spanish Banks today and had just launched, puffy close to shore so body dragging out towards steadier wind. Gust comes with planing-on-the-calves type pull and I drop my board from leading hand to steady bar/control kite. No worries, just drag back up to where board is, but then notice my leash has disconnected from my harness attachment, leaving only the harness hook and my arms holding bar. Out of my comfort level with no leash/attachment should I drop the bar, so I decide to head in. Now the problem..in the past I have just tossed the bar and gone up the leash (front) line to get to the kite and/or wrap my bar around the remaining three lines. With no leash/safety today I tried to wrap one line quickly around the bar a few times to prevent inadvertant re-launch while bringing the kite in. Would up pulling in the kite by one of the lines and letting the bar trail behind. Needless to say I was a little nervous with all that loose line around as a grabbed the kite to drag back to shore. Also wondering how to grab both wingtips of the kite while lines are in the way. Any insight/comments would be appreciated. Kite was a Three year old four line Naish Aero with newer bar. Thanks

1. You need to wrap 1 line until you've at least wound the span (longest dimension!) of the kite. 2. When you reach a wing tip & have a secure grip on it wrap the other lines as much as you can. I found that holding the tip of the wing on the water and using a line from the opposite tip as a sheet. (like on a sailboat) enabled me to modulate the power in the kite as I was towed downwind. When you experience one of these kite 'moments' you realize why kite knives are provided in some harnesses. I hope this helps...

Bad advice.....revoked!

well for each occassion there can be different scenarios..... beyond a doubt from my experience the safest practice is to wrap your lines around the bar, pretty tough to do with no safety hooked on your harness. so (as a suggestion if it ever was to happen again...) you could land the kite leading edge down in the water and wrap one line around the bar until the kite depowers. which as mentioned above takes the wind out of the sail so that the remaining 3 lines are slack and the kite should be like a sheet in the breeze. once you have that happening you can then wind up the rest of the lines. there is a method of tying off the line on the bar so it doesnt come off again by looping the line over the end of the bar (you would want to do this to the one line that is tight).

the next time you have finished a session before you land and pack up its a great idea to simulate a emergency proceedure. if your at the banks you may be able to cheat a little by being able to stand in the water. then let your kite go (with safety attached and no one downwind) and simulate a kite retrival. the experience of doing this has been invaluable for me and saved my ass on more than one occasion.

to leave you lines out puts you in a dodgy situation for more things to go wrong. if your lines get snagged your kite can power up and you may then put other water users into danger, if your kite powers up and your holding onto one line i wouldnt want to see your hand if you decided you didnt want to let go of the line.......the list goes on.

once you have wound your lines up and reached the kite you can grab the tip in the water easily enough and if you need to grab the other tip to assit getting you back to the LZ you should be to pull the tip towards you close enough to grab with the bar and lines wound up. so you would need to wind up your lines virtually all the way up to the kite. if you get it right you can lie on the bottom tip between you and your board and use the tension in the lines off the top tip (holding onto your bar) to sheet the kite and get you back to land faster!

without a doubt its easier said than done!!! but i can tell you that if you practise this when the day comes (and it will come probably more than once) you will be prepared (and Baden Powell will be proud of you.....)

tight lines dude

x3

Check out this link, might help
http://www.kitefilm.com/video/rescue_te ... _part1.wmv
Basically what i was getting to before.