After a light-medium fall, my quick release went so I was only attached to the kite by my leash...
I was 200metres (ish) offshore when it happened... The self rescue was a combination of one armed swimming to shore and trying to gather up the line at the same time... I must do better at this in the future.
Thank you to the kindly person that found and retrieved my board.
St Kilda ~6.30pm
Consider doing them more often and deliberately to keep your skills up to date and well versed in self-rescue.
I was out at Altona yesterday and I accidentally unhooked the bar. I also had to do a self-rescue, but it was great actually because I managed to hold onto the middle line, reeled it all in, re-attached the quick-release and relaunched the kite! It was awesome!
So don't give up for the day just because you accidentally released the kite.
Enjoy!
Hey Kazan, thanks for the words of encouragement, and nice work on the relaunch!
The thought of relaunch did cross my mind, but couldn't feed the safety line back through the quick release and I was being blown towards the mini concrete pier, so made the decision not to risk a relaunch lest myself or even worse, my kite, got bashed against the concrete!
I'd love to practice more in deep water, and even more so with someone else's kite!
Practice getting that bar back in your hands by pulling you flagging line till you reach the bar, be quick to get your chicken loop re attached cause once you kite takes up the slack and starts pulling on the centre lines it will become a hell of a lot harder to re attach.
Be carefull you dont get your lines wraped around you or the bar.
Happy relaunching
Thanks Suni.
To be honest I was pretty busy patting myself on the back as I'd finally managed to stand up and stay up for more than ~2 seconds before face plunging into the sea (hence my seabreeze name)... when it happened it I was a little taken aback.
I can't help wondering whether there was something wrong with the quick release mechanism. I guess the only way to find out is to launch my kite and give it a try.
Wish me luck!
When you relaunch the kite after safety was released take your time. Get to the bar hook back in and start feeding the flagging line through the bar.
As the kite fills with wind watch your lines - often the kite falls through the lines and both rear lines (or just one) might be going through the front lines. You can still fly it like that but be careful and head straight for the beach to reset.
At all times be ready to pull the safety again - in case the kite gets tangled up in lines or bridle.
I now have a new harness with a seatbelt style fastener to close the harness... another thing to fail (like my QR) and leave me stranded in the middle of the ocean...
Can't wait!
