Have you done a practical self-rescue in lessons?

Yesterday I recorded one of our students during a self-rescue he had to do since he accidentally bumped his Quick release.

Since he already practiced a few rescues without his board in his previous lessons, he felt like he could pull this one off with his board and using it as a rudder. All went pretty well and he came back to the shore with no assistance in within 5 minutes while 200m out in completely side-shore 20-22 knots wind.

Over my last 5 years (600+ days) of kitesurfing teaching experience I can’t help but notice that only a minority of kiters getting in trouble are actually competent at doing this… It doesn’t take much digging around to realize that this is because only a small minority of schools will have their student’s trial practical self-rescues during the lesson with no assistance, without standing up.

Some of the excuses I often hear from the school/instructor is that the students don’t need to practice self-rescue during lessons since the lesson spot is in shallow water or that there is a boat support in case something goes wrong...or that the wind direction is not ideal...

With the right expertise you can teach a self-rescue to a complete newbie from scratch to successful completion of a practical self-rescue in deep water in within 30 minutes. You can even do it in waist deep water asking the student not to stand up during the entire process, so shallow water is no excuse.

3 days ago, I rescued a kite that was released completely and was drifting directly off-shore. Concerned members of the public even called in emergency services for help, police came down... After speaking to the newbie, he told me he panicked, couldn’t relaunch or control his kite and decided it was a better idea to swim in without his gear. He recently completed a series of ‘’professional lessons’’ but was never even shown how to self-rescue…

One would think over the years the safety standards in schools should be improving, but it’s obviously not the case. I believe that unfortunately one of the only ways to slowly improve this situation is for students to start complaining and demanding these skills to be taught properly during their lessons.

Doing at least 1 practical self-rescue without any assistance should be a minimum standard for any student who is paying for professional lessons, regardless of the location where the lessons take place.

Thanks for reading,

Christian

like I say to everybody, self rescues are very likely NEVER textbook. Work with what you have/haven't got, be prepared to cut away a kite or two in your time. Every time is different, and stay calm.

We did not do it as part of our lessons (I guess for a couple of reasons.) Most of what I know about it came from watching your video's as well as some others. Always meant to go out and practice it. Before I could, I had a kite inversion, was just too slow with the release and had to do a full self rescue...
It worked a treat, and I am so glad I prepared for it (at least as best I could). It is surprising that it was not one of the first things we learned as the lessons was extremely safety orientated!
All I can say is thank you for all your efforts and uploaded videos. I know it should be done during the lessons, but at least you are doing something about to help.

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Medic said.
All I can say is thank you for all your efforts and uploaded videos.

What are these videos you speak of?

Dont worry, searched u tube

I think it is not taught in deep water because the instructor would then have to untangle a mess of lines before the next lesson.

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KIT33R said..
I think it is not taught in deep water because the instructor would then have to untangle a mess of lines before the next lesson.

Yes, this is another excuse for not teaching self-rescue. 95% of my students self-rescues are untangled and good to go again in within 2 minutes. The other 5% can sometimes be a bit longer and if it's too long you just grab a different bar and untangle at the end of your day of work. It's all about your expertise in teaching in avoiding excessive tangles and believe me in 5 years of experience of teaching self-rescue every day to many hundreds of students, you get very good at it and so do your students!

It's all about priorities, but in this day and age unfortunately flying a kite and getting on board quickly is WAY more important than teaching people how to get out of trouble!

Self-rescue could save you gear, and your life. Not teaching it properly is completely unacceptable and there is no excuse not to do it.

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Brohan said..
I'm pretty sure when I was going through my lessons I was taught how to do it on the beach and I don't think it was for that long. Just a if this happens then wrap your lines up like this kind of thing.

Unfortunately, that's what most schools consider ''teaching self-rescue'' a demonstration or simulation on the beach, often done by the instructor himself with no manipulations from the students!

It's a bit like if I had a driving school and asked my students to watch me drive, then say ''we'll that's you do it! You're ready to go by yourself now! ''

No instructor can claim they ''teach'' self-rescue until their student has completed a successful self-rescue by themselves, in deep water.

Self-rescue is seen as an inconvenience by the schools and they think they are doing the right thing by doing a quick demonstration...might as well tell your students to watch videos and learn to kite from there.

PS: Have you ever tried wrapping your lines in 20 + knots in deep water?

its a technique worth learning,i had 2 x occassions where it went pear shape real quick when i was still learning early on,crapped my pants but just remember what i had been taught and stayed calmed and all work out.Alot of line tangle meh.

I have done a self rescue in deep water in 30-35 knot winds. I was flying my Cab Drifter 2015, with single line flag system. It was an Fu..ing Effort. All I can say was thank God for the single line flag system. By comparison I've done a self rescue with 2013 Cab Drifter in 25 knot winds, it definitely was harder again. It didn't have the single line system then.I too learned how to self rescue from the internet, I then practiced it about 10 times in the surf in lighter winds on different days and different strength winds, to make sure I could do it if necessary. Thank God I practiced. I remember other Kiters asking me why I was doing it, I said S..t happens and I want to be prepared. They all told me that I'll never have to use it, but they are not as Adventurous as me. I like to go to Kite the reefs and Bigger waves. I'm a longtime surfer in all kinds of conditions and I've experienced Crap happening in all kinds of conditions. So I take precautions and expect worst case scenarios and practice for them.My mate was out with me in the 35 Knot self rescue situation and he hadn't practiced, his lines were tangled after swimming towards his kite, but he did get onto his Kite and wait for help. A Rubber ducky came and gave us both a lift back to the beach, he then said I think maybe we should practice the Self Rescue procedure. I just Smiled and said Yeah.

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Jesk said..

Long story short he said he "couldn't be bothered" doing a self rescue as he wasn't really sure how to do one, decided to try and swim to his kite in 30+knt wind, got the lines tangled around his foot, kite powered up and it had sliced all the way down the bone. Needless to say that was a trip to the hospital and a good dozen of so stitches to start off your weekend.

Had he pulled his chicken loop and wrapped up his lines, this never would have happened.

Good story and Thanks for sharing.

BTW, have you ever tried wrapping your lines or seen one of your students easily and successfully wrap lines in 25 knots or more?

I've asked many instructors around the world the same question and some tend to answer ''YES, my students can wrap lines even in very strong winds...'', but I seriously doubt it. Why? Because I can't do it (easily and well enough) myself and I've never seen anyone else do it in such strong winds either in the last 5 years, in deep water that is of course.

Because of the high level of difficulty and poor chances of success, we don't teach wrapping the lines anymore for a rescue that can be done using your kite as a sail to get back in (no need to swim or kick).

On a separate note:

I've seen my fair share of kite tangles over the last few years, and most often when there is no way out both kiters begin trying to wrap up their lines!! This typically leads to one or both kites powering up and they (understandably) end up releasing their kites. And guess who's going in to rescue the runaway kites?

It makes sense they try to wrap their lines since it's probably the only method they know...but in case of kite tangles, that's just silly.

Last week two experienced kiters (not previous students of mine) tangled each other in strong wind. I was amazed how well they handled the situation. After releasing the safety system, they both got to their kites following the safety line without wrapping their lines and sailed in, each in their own kite. If they are reading this, congrats for a great dual rescue!

Christian