KITEMARES! and how to avoid them ... (kiteboard accidents explained)

welcome to kite surf college in this video we're going to look at several kite surfing accidents more commonly known as kite mare's this is not the shock value and cheap entertainment which is often the case with compilations rather we're going to see what we can learn from each one and hopefully make it so that these accidents don't happen in the future let's get started here the chicken loop was ejected you would expect the kite to flag out but instead it starts looping and keeps looping in fact the only reason it stops is because the kite flies down into the wind shadow behind this pier so what caused the kite to behave like this way before the accident you can see the center lines and safety line are knotted around the bar this means the bar is not free to travel along the safety line which is required to flag out the kite instead the bar is locked in place plus the knot on the bar tilts the bar to the left which keeps the kite steering to the left one huge lesson here is the importance of line inspection you should be able to see that your lines are not tangled center lines passed through the bar to the leading edge unobstructed steering line should pass from the bar ends to the wingtips unobstructed you should do this visual check often and always before launching even before relaunching or self launching you need to look and check that those lines are in order another fundamental lesson here is to always be prepared with your next safety step so if you've a ejected you're chicken loop get ready to use the leash hold onto it and wait to see what happens with your kites if the kite starts dragging you is probably too late to start searching for your leash eject let's look at another kite man it was a shocking scene in South Florida caught on camera this is a nasty one I don't think any other incident has done more damage to the reputation of kite surfing I've spoken to the culture in this video and I'm happy to say he survived he informed me that a pulley malfunctioned on his kite and presumably that sent the kite steering to one side for me however the big lesson here is actually about knowing your limits when you finish your lessons you're ready to kite but you're not ready to kite in all conditions you have to build up your years and years of experience and then gradually you'll be ready for stronger wind in this video we have tropical storm conditions in that kind of wind if something goes wrong it goes wrong quickly you can see there's a window of only a few seconds where the kite er could have used his safeties in your first years of kiting you haven't seen it all and the kite can surprise you from time to time and you will be slower to react let's move on to the next video so the keiter here got launched even with the bar out there's a clue to what caused this at the start of the video we get a glimpse upwind of the keiter and can see buildings and trees there that means the wind is passing around these obstacles before reaching the kites that makes the wind changeable and gusty wind is very dangerous unless you know how to handle it that's a big reason kiters look for an onshore wind since this wind passes over the ocean without obstructions let's move on to the next video this is a nice clear video as you can really see what's going on the right steering line is tucked behind the bar which adds extra tension and steers the kite to the right the kite er does a good job of counter steering with the left to slow the kite and then ejects the chicken loop just in time once again this highlights the importance of line inspection your lines should be completely unobstructed this video also shows how risky launching a kite can be the moment when you launch is when you find out if your kites flying well or not and it's very common that there can be an issue the kite can surprise you as it launches for that reason I strongly recommend you learn to fly with one hand so that your other hand can be ready on the chicken loop eject during a launch or a relaunch or a self launch another way to reduce the risks when you have flat water conditions like this is to ask your launcher to walk your kite upwind into the water and then you can do your launch they're far away from hazards [Music] the keiter here was going for a straight jump without rotation however he starts to rotate panic sets in and he starts steering the bar he steers so much in fact that the kite loops he then accelerates and land so hard he's knocked out if there weren't other people close by this could have been fatal so what can be done to avoid this if you're disorientated in the air you have two choices if you know for sure that the kite is near 12 you can hold the bar in and keep it completely straight this will keep the kite above your head give you some lifts and help you glide back down if you have no idea where the kite is then it's usually better to let go of the bar if you do this before gaining height the landing should be fine what you never want to do while disorientated is steer the bar my second tip on avoiding this is to get lots of practice in light wind in light wind mistakes are far less costly you can work on thousands of jumps and rotations in light wind and iron out all of your mistakes and problems let's move on to the next climb there this is a really nasty accident but there are plenty of ways to avoid it simply connecting the leash to the front or side of the harness would have given him a good chance of ejecting that leash before getting dragged into the car park with the leash attached to the back of the harness it's almost impossible to eject it once the kite powers up also it looks like his leash is connected in suicide mode people use suicide mode to keep the kite flying if they drop the bar while working on unhooked tricks but there's no good reason to be on the beach near hazards in strong wind in suicide mode also semi suicide mode might have been a bit safer as this still allows the kite to flag out if the chicken loop opens up of course the vast majority of kiters should be leeching onto the safety line as normal okay come on let's look at what caused this accident the cleitus self launches the kite aims upwards from the self launch and therefore climbs quickly the cleitus sees the kite climbing so stairs right to keep the kite down however the bar is the wrong way round so he's actually steering the wrong way the kite then hits the ground and stops moving for a moment however the kite er is still moving downwind this allows him to travel over the top of his own lines which leads to the bar getting jammed under his harness hook this is a really bad situation with the right side of the bar stuck under the harness the kite keeps steering to the right and with the bar jammed in place the chicken loop ejects and the leash eject are ineffective by this stage the only solution is to stop the kite from turning to stop the kite turning you need to counter steer to stop the kite turning to the right you can pull hard on the left line the kite will then sit on the sand allowing you to unhook the bar or wait for someone to grab the kite however this is not the lesson I want you to take from this it's far more important that you learn how to avoid getting in this situation in the first place as they say prevention is better than cure the first way to avoid this accident would be to do an assisted launch with someone holding your kite you have plenty of time to check your lines the accident could have also been avoided simply by letting go of the bar for a moment you don't need to cling to the bar when you launch a kite let go of the bar assess the kite and then fly it also it's very important to launch using one hand so you can keep your spare hand ready by the chicken loop eject these simple habits will get drilled into you early on in lessons so that you don't have to come face-to-face with a death loop like this that's all of my clients for now if you've seen any kite mares that you'd like explained please put the links into the comments below as I will make another kite mares video thank you very much for watching and safe kiting to all of you you

Channel: Kite-Surf-College Tutorials and Tricks

Views: 331,067

Rating: 4.9414287 out of 5

Keywords: accident, mistake, crash, injury, gust, safety, review, explain, kitesurf, kiteboard, kite, power kite

Id: xSJHixtNiTk

Length: 12min 44sec (764 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 17 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/I_am_a_fern]

Solid video, as usual.

[u/Julices_Grant]

Nice, great video.

If you ever get into a death loop and hooked to your bar (like a 10:47), you don't necessarily need to counter steer. Just grab one line, doesn't matter if it's the one that's hooked to your harness or not, just grab one line until your kite stalls. Nice video on the subject.

[u/shelterbored]

A good reminder to stay alert

[u/ryandc61287]

some serious scary shit.

[u/pilgr]

Was about to post this one. For me watching this or similar videos helps to be very cautious even in calm conditions and keep head cool.

[u/chrisfarley11]

Loved it dude.... Keep going, I learned a ton as a beginner