Safety

The other day, at the Jetty beach, I witnessed a kiter struggling with his kite. He had a person assisting him with the launch of the kite, it was not a good launch, and something was off with the rigging. The kite crashed and drifted down wind into the power zone. He did try to eject, but it took an agonizing long time before he was finally able to flag out the kite. The wind was not very strong and nothing bad happened, but it was clear, if it would have been a strong wind day, it could have ended in a disaster.

This made me think about my own safety procedures. Remember the golden rule: “Never attach yourself to anything you don’t know how to eject from”. Have you checked your safety system recently? Can you eject from your kite in a split second? Check out your system, service it as per manufacturers recommendation before your next session.

How about the self-rescue procedure. I have to admit, I have not done a self rescue since… well it has been a while. On your next session, consider to practice a self-rescue. I know, there are more fun things to practice than a self-rescue, but just do it. How about first watching a video on a self-rescue. IKO has a great series of instructional videos, including a video on self rescue. Of course you can find useful videos on YouTube. In general, for what I have seen, they are all more or less teaching the same procedure.

Next, do it for real. Tell your companion that you will be doing a self-rescue, just so he or she can keep en eye on you, in case something goes bad. Go a bit upwind, not too far from the beach and pull the eject. If done right, the lines will not tangle too bad, and you will be back on the water having fun, knowing you just did a self-rescue, in no time.

Or, you may want to consider this: Come to our shop and book one or two hours of kite surfing lessons with one of our instructors. Of course, you don’t need a two hour lesson on self rescue, but maybe there is something you want to work on, maybe that downloop transition or some other trick. Spend the bulk of the time learning the new trick, but at the end, do a self rescue. The instructor will be there with you providing you with useful tips, and if needed can give you a ride back to the shop. Taking kite surfing lesson with one of our instructors is money well spend. Everyone that has gone out with one of our instructors always comes back with a big smile and telling us how much they have learned, how much confidence they have gained and how much they enjoyed the session.

If you are ready to book a session, follow this link.

Best, JC