Newbie's first tea bag

Im still learning water start, today was the 6th session in the water and I was up and riding several times, Whoohoooooo! No up wind carves yet but it felt good.

Anyway, after two hours I was very tired but wanted another go, was not paying attention to the kite while fiddling with the board, it steered towards the water and I overcorrected the wrong way and caused a loop x2. I got tea bagged a bit and crashed the kite in the grass just off the beach. It gave me quite a fright and near lump in the wet suit behind! It happened real quick, so newbies take care.

I am not new to kites, have been flying trainer size kites on land for several years before getting into this, flown my kiteboard kite several times without getting wet and had lessons. Can also confidently water launch. So I am quite confident with the kite control.

My point is: If you are new to this, when you get tired get out and go home. There will be more days. When the kite is crashing, let it crash and leave the bar alone till the kite is stationary face down. Do not learn near the shore so it crash in water and not on people.

I would like to know from experienced kiters their near misses.

Thanks for sharing your story, things can always go wrong very quickly no matter your skill level.

What worries me the most is not the fact that things go wrong but more that newbies don't give themselves enough space in case things do go wrong and/or are kiting in dangerous wind conditions/directions such as on-shore winds. These basic safety precautions are very rarely covered in lessons...

On a different note: if you get nervous and completely loose awareness of the kite's position or suddenly loose control of it, it's ALWAYS the safest option to simply let go of the bar...something that's also no taught well enough in lessons. If you managed to do 2 full loops it means you've been sheeting in and steering hard on the bar for at least a few seconds...

It may take a while to learn those reflexes, especially if you've developed a super firm bar grip from flying a trainer kite for several years and your instructor hasn't picked up on this in your first lesson. If letting go of the bar wasn't something that was repeated many times during lessons, this could also explain part of your misfortune.

If you always find yourself having your thumbs wrapped around the bar with a firm grip and your hands wide, try simply dropping your thumbs off the bar, using a light finger tip grip and keeping your hands close to the center of the bar, especially when you're just walking around, flying on the beach, launching, landing, etc.



I cannot understand how come most instructors don't encourage students to have those sorts of safe kite control habits right from the beginning? It's so obvious when students have the ''death grip'' and if not corrected at the early stages it's an accident waiting to happen.

Christian

During my training I was not told to hold the bar like that; it makes sense now and next time I will remember. I think beginners need to get more safety training, if serious injuries result the sport will be regulated by the fun police.

Kite control is automatic with a Peter Lynn ARC kite like a Synergy or Charger II.

I could make breakfast whilst the kite happily sits on the zenith all by itself.

But do inflatable kiters know or appreciate the beauty of foils? Nah.. probably not.