VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Hi all,

I was witness to a bit of a scary incident on the beach a while ago, and have been debating with a couple of other people the right thing to do. The student was launching towards the water with the instructor coaching. The kite went into the air, and quickly veered downwind. It landed leading edge up directly on the ground, directly downwind. The instructor kept yelling push the bar away, push it away!!!

Others have indicated the instructor should have said eject, pull your emergency release. Others have said that they would have told the student the same thing.

The student in this case pulled in hard and the kite went into the tree.

Any thoughts?

Eject eject eject. Safest way out of that situation. Let go of bar, eject. Live to kite another day!

If it was light enough for the kite to fall leading edge up, then a hot launch with the bar depowered would be my choice, that is if I were flying. If I were helping out my gf and that happend to her, "EJECT" would be shouted quite loudly.

When the student is just starting he or she should not even be hooked in .
Turbulent wind in the morning makes for a rough ride and will scare the student because he is still unsure about where the power is.

""YES " Eject , when you push the bar forward it makes the wind accelerate
as the back lines are slack.

I have seen that many times and it can be very scary and unpredictable.
I have to say "Eject" !! If the kite relaunches depowering will only cause the kite to rise fast through the window= Ouch! or worse.
To help avoid this launch with a little bit of power in the kite so it will drive slightly forward to the windows edge then slowly up. If the kite is let go to close or in front of the windows edge it will always fall back.

Hey Kev,

Release the emergency sytem!!! Bar none!!!

Really, this situation should have never taken place. The instructor shouldn't have had the student hooked in if they were on the beach. Comfort with the kite needs to be evident before they start hooking in. Experienced kiters will know to quickly respond and pull their release systems, however, students don't have the instinct to do so.

John

This is what I have been thinking is most logical. When you lose control of the kite on shore, eject is the answer.