damm another one bites the dust

corey4x4man · Since 13 Jun 2011 134 Posts Beaverton, OR Stoked

I recently picked up a 2011 10m airush used and took it out and found it has a small leak in the leading edge bladder... so that one needs to go get fixed

Been depending on my 2011 12m and today had a bit of a kitemear, crashed the kite tearing a LARGE amount of the sail away from 2 bladders, got separated from my board.

Noticed the tear when relaunching and knew i needed to make it back to shore ASAP.
tried a few small body drags but was unable to get back to the board. "Ships are coming so i better get out of the way." No one was close by to ask for a hand so i drug myself back to the beach on the other side of the river....

Felling like there was someone out to get me i got back to the beach and another NWkiter offered to let me use their board and kite to try to catch up to my board... no luck.. Sad

wrapped up my lined and deflated my trashed kite and decided to take a long walk down the river in hopes to lessen the blow on the pocketbook for the day.
About a mile down river i find an older gentleman walking upriver with my board!!!!

Thank You to the nice guy with the dog!!!

Off to airtime I go to take both of my kites to get repaired so i can feel the rush again another day!

Youkai · Since 08 Feb 2010 553 Posts Beaverton Addicted

Ouch, Sucky dude. Sometimes, especially when there is light wind or your kite is gnarled, it's better to just: drag to shore, drop the kite, run downriver to your board, and swim for it. So long as you are wearing a wetsuit/flotation anyway. I guess if you were out in the channel then that would have been too long of a swim so borrowing a board is probably the best idea.

When you get your kite repaired you might want to try borrowing someones board and just tossing it in the water then trying to rescue it back to shore. It's surprisingly hard to get started while holding another board. Considering this is your first season (I think) I would have been surprised if you had gotten to your board and rescued it without losing the borrowed one. Someone told me once and I have found it seems to be the best way is to take the board and lay it upside down across your arms. As long as you make sure to steer the kite while keeping the bar horizontal it shouldn't fall off. If you really need it you can put an arm through one of the footstraps.

corey4x4man · Since 13 Jun 2011 134 Posts Beaverton, OR Stoked

Yea at the time i was more concerned with getting back without trashing my kite even more or myself in the shipping lane.

As for the board retrieval I carry a second leash on my harness so the plan if i had found it would have been to attach to to the leash and drag back.

All is well now, I just shipped out both kites to KiteRx to get fixed and should be back on the water later this week.

craz z · Since 01 Dec 2008 130 Posts Montana Stoked

yeah 4x4 had a similar incident a few years back.

Wind was cranking higher and higher was on 12 meter. me and this other guy were jumping football fields in the river and decided to comeback and sizedown.

Ever since the first time in hood river after speaking with locals and trying to get the what to do and what NOT to do. My kitemare begins.

having fun and knowing I needed to comeback I'm constantly looking over my shoulder for the barges no where in sight. On a jump I think i cranked to hard on the bar and did a involuntary kite loop sending me down super hard and tomahawked the kite.

Get all situated and assesed what just happened. outta nowhere there it is a BARGE it wasn't 5-10 minutes and the river was clear as far as i could see now here i am with a decision.

The kite had something terribly wrong it was all noodled and not doing what kites should do. I had to either limpit up and get outta the way or decide to swim it out didn't want to do number 2 and didn't really know if i had time to do so.

All of a sudden the kite got enough air and went up flying like total shit i hauled ass back to the sand bar. get it down and see the sail seam that connects to the strut is blown top to bottom.

Didn't loose my board through all this so i was only partially bummed but was def done for the day. walked straight to Airtime and handed it over said how quick?

oh bout a week we're busy
ok
anything quicker as in tomorrow.
Oh you want overnite service
yes
no prob except more money but who cares when on vacation right?

Went flying the next day very grateful for the helpful people that are there to assist you when your thinking your whole vacation is ruined.