Death looping on the beach - video

North, no surprises there...

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Big eeeZeee said..
North, no surprises there...

Big eeZeee "What's that got to do with the price of fish"

The guy basically connected the lines correctly. But picked up the bar the wrong way around, it was then uncontrollable.

When it came to a stop at the 15 sec mark, he could have simply activated his safety release, at the that would have been the end of it.

BUT he didn't so we continue to watch him death loop up the beach. The death loop was not helped by the fact he was pulling one side of his bar, triggering the death loop. Had he also just let go of the bar it would have probably just sat there too.

Easy to analyse a video but when your in the situation you don't think the same!!

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Alysum said...
I guess this is where I'd get the knife out of the harness but probably no time to react...

If you think about it, You'd probably not be able to grab your knife due to where it's located whilst being dragged through the sand, even if you did you'd struggle to locate it around the line without losing a grip on it, if you remove the stupid launch out of it , the hooked bar on harness could happen to anyone ,

Grabbing both front lines and pulling in would have depowered the kite and given him a chance to unhook or land the kite.

Isn't the topic incorrect? It is not a death loop as in out of control, kite doing it, no way to stop it. It is actually incompetent kiter deliberately (by holding his bar wrong) flying his kite in a series of loops. He could have stopped it at any time by just letting go of the bar and walking towards the kite.

As it was the kite was trying its hardest to stay down nose first but our incompetent pilot kept tensioning the lines and forcing the kite to keep looping.

Rule one of kiting, the solution to almost all problems is to let go of the bar. The vast majority of kite problems are caused by incorrect rider input. Let go of the bar and let the systems do what they're designed to do.

Rule two of kiting, all power comes from tension on the lines. Remove tension from the lines and the kite has no power and can do nothing. You remove tension from the lines in the first instance by pushing out the bar, by moving towards the kite, by activating primary and secondary safety releases.

It is a worry to me that people are coming up with magical ways of launching kites without being hooked in, with hands on the safety releases and all manner of strange methods. It is not that hard to do. The gear works well. The techniques are easy to learn and by learning them you understand the fundamentals of how your gear works. You are much less likely to have a serious problem if you have practiced and dealt with all manner of out of the ordinary situations from the start.

The idea that the first reaction to anything is to pull the release is absurd. You take what might be a trivial booboo and sacrifice all control in the first instance.

The mythical sling shot of death does not happen unless you make it happen. Even if you cross rig your lines the kite is still going to respond to releasing the bar and easing tension on the lines.

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flyingcab said...

Big eeeZeee said..
North, no surprises there...

. Most idiots i come across are either riding north or ozone.

Are you riding tree bling ?

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dbabicwa said...

Damo said..

cbulota said..

Damo said..


His lines might have been tangled but i don't think that is what caused this one to go so wrong. and a little surprised that the OP being a experienced instructor didn't spot this one. Have a look right at the start and look at his hands on the bar

I agree, I missed that part, I was paying attention at the crossed lines and the kite behavior. Mind you his bar could very well be rigged upside down in the first place (which is very hard to tell from the video). If the bar was rigged upside down (which I see some experience kiters do) then his hands placement was actually correct.

Have a look at the way the kite was flying. That was a turn not a loop. When a kite is put into a loop because of twisted or snagged lines it tends to stays looping in a consistent, even turning circle all the way round and usually it is a much tighter turning circle than what this was. This kite turned sharp but then eased up and flew straight into the ground.

Also why the hell would anyone that knows what they are doing rig their kite up backwards.

Lots of lessons for people to learn from this one.

Damo,


I did have a look, many times.

I am 100% convinced that he got a bar caught on a spreader hook. And there is absolutely nothing he could do. I praise the rider on his survival efforts in a very hairy situation.

Only if one could pull the opposite line to balance the tension, but that is easier to say than done. It's almost impossible to unhook the bar from a hook.

Just look how parallel the bar is with the depower line. He is not even holding the bar (0:29 0:31min).

And that my friend is extremely difficult to fix. Rigging the bar backwards? That's like driving on the opposite side, is it?

The bar was hooked onto his spreader, I'd say the safety was deployed putting all the force onto the bar end , causing the loop, your not going to be unhooking due to the force of the kite, you'd just hope for a moment where the kite stalls giving you a moment of slack so you could get it off

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flyingcab said..

Big eeeZeee said..
North, no surprises there...

Absolute stupidity. Most idiots i come across are either riding north or ozone. And just to ask a quickie, what was that guy doing at the start? why didn't he just grab the kite in the first place would have prevented this incident from happening.

Because the guy in the video told the student or whom ever they were, not to get the kite. That to me is the point where it went down hill.

1:10 min.... please...