hey, just a reminder check your line knifes in working order or make sure you have one, dont think your good enough not to warrant one , some highly skilled kiters died last season through not having a knife which possibly could of saved them, stay safe and good winds
I have one, I check it often.
In the back of my mind I question it's effectiveness in an emergency.
Suppose it's better to have one. For 15 dollars it's very cheap insurance.
I do, and I check grabbing it before going out every time.
Any thoughts on how you check it is still sharp etc, without actually cutting your kite away! ?
Maybe need to setup some sort of jig with spare lines to try it on
got into trouble last week when my kite went down in 7ft surf, got my lines wrapped round my waist- and the kite was pulling me under. If I didn't have anything to kite my lines I probably would have drowned. then it also took me half an hour to swim in. Lesson learnt, hook knives save lives, and never kite alone when the conditions are unforgiving
I'm not a well seasoned kiter.. So excuse me if this seems silly, but don't all harnesses have a line cutter built in? I thought it must have been standard kit.
would have to be in serious trouble to consider cutting lines.
i have a knife, in my harness, and so far havent needed it.
i have,
if its 25-30 knots, stay away from those kind of people.
totally need it tho, if you end up-up the beach in the fence.
Wisdom received from the Seabreeze education forums led me to buying a line knife some time ago.
The one I bought (Dakine) is in a pouch that has a belt loop on the back which seems to be made for fitting to the harness strap.
So I wear it on the strap right next to the hook that connects to the spreader bar.
I'm hoping this can be seen, but where you have the wee white arrow on the underside of the spreader bar, tug that and **presto** one has a cutter
I also thought most harnesses these days came with line cutters?
I also have the ION harness as above, as well as the ION B2's and both have the line cutter as shown.
My old Mystic harness also had a line cutter tucked into the side of the harness as per the ION.
Out of all the stupid situations I've gotten myself into, I've never thought to myself "hmm, a line cutter would be handy right about now..."
I have one and used it once. When a line wrapped around my foot in a 50+ knot squall then I chose to not wait around to see how it ends.
One quick ping with the hook knife and the kite is gone. Once free it depowered and sat safely on the water so I could run up and grab it.
In retrospect I should have just completely released in the first place. The beach was huge and deserted and in the country so there was no risk to people or property downwind.
I got trapped the other day in some fishing nets about 100m off shore. The net was anchored and the kite was being blown across the water. I was pulled between the two which left me about 1 ft under water.
I guess I was only under for three seconds wishing I was ontop of the water.
I couldnt unhook, or release the safety due to the pressure on the kite and the fishing gear on my bar and harness.
It was only a few seconds and I thought I was history.
The kite collapsed after a couple of minutes which took enough pressure of the kite for me to unhook but not after it powered up a couple of times and pulled me under a couple of times again.
I m a beginner and I guess in hind sight, I should have had a knife and or undone my harness which I didnt think of at the time.
Ive started to mentally rehearse things a bit better now including escaping from my harness. I bought a knife that day.
cheers
Nice timing for this topic, I was kiting on Sunday in 30-40knot winds and was getting some pretty decent air, after being out for 15 minutes I thought it was time to get cocky and start throwing down some loops. First attempt I got super high and threw down the loop, I somehow got put out of shape and found myself swinging downwind of the kite, I thought no worries I will chuck in another loop or 2 to fix things up, how wrong I could have been. I then got even more out of shape, came down through my lines and the kite landed after me, it then fully powered up and started death looping, the bar was completely between my legs and the lines were wrapped all around my legs and tightening rapidly whilst getting dragged backwards underwater. I released my IDS line which is similar to a fifth, but nothing released, as the lines were so twisted up around me the kite was still looping and dragging me backwards underwater, fortunately for me the wind eased for a second or two and I managed to ease the bar from between my legs and completely release the kite from my chicken loop and get free of the lines. If the wind had not eased I would have grabbed my knife for sure, haven't had a kitemare like that for years, it was a serious wake up call....
Yep. sure is, I was hungover and forgot for a few seconds where each safety was, it's all well worth practicing, as those few seconds could have turned to sh1t real quick......
