Fluff piece- what is THE dumbest thing you have done KBing?

pdxmonkeyboy

Ok, so going to Sauvie on a poor forecast doesn't count. I KNOW that everyone has done somthing idiotic but lived to tell about it...

In 5 years of kiting I think the stupidest thing I ever did was to go out on my CB 9m when it was gusting in the 40's at RR. I went to boost for a jump and snapped an outside line, the impending death spiral ripped the corner off my kite and snapped my leash line as well. I had to run like hell all the way down to the stairs when I flagged a jetski that helped me get my kite.

holly · Since 09 Jul 2006 440 Posts Hood River Obsessed

a tindy

Kodiak · Since 01 Aug 2005 1114 Posts Slidey

First day kiting on my own. Took lessons on a Monday(no water time), then Tuesday (got up once or twice on the board). Went out and bought 3 kites, a couple of boards, because I was hooked. Went down to the sandbar on Wednesday. Since that was where I learned. (this was before teh huge sandbar that we have now).

It was blowing 40+, but I was like no big deal, I have windsurfed for years and love it when it is nuking out. I think there were only like 3 other people down there. Pumping up felt like being sandblasted. I blew up a 6 meter kite. Managed to launch safely. First attempt at getting up, I was like hey its only a 6m kite, I need to be agressive.

I think I got yarded about 30 feet and tomohawked the kite into the water. Blew out the end of the leading edge on the 6m. The funny thing is I almost blew up my 8m next because I was still jonesing so hard to kite Smile

tinyE · Since 21 Jan 2006 2004 Posts not really an XTreme Poster

let monkeyboy talk me into kiting in 900mph winds on my 7m.... good thing I wasn't flying a pink bull... Laughing

FlyDunes · Since 09 Oct 2007 1034 Posts Aloha XTreme Poster

I waited 52 years before I started to learn how Smile

DOPEFLY · Since 13 Oct 2007 97 Posts Maui

LOL...in 03' I was pushed up against an over pass while learning on my own in N Carolina. Thankfully I was able to get the kite to fall in the water and not infront of a car. The bladder valve popped open and the kite deflated while I attempted a self-rescue. I was 80 yds from someones lawn with a now wet tarp. I had to scale a breakwall with the whole mess and hitchhike to my truck. It was blowing off shore that day. LOL. I just wanted to ride not matter the cost. I also had to walk off a shallow reef in Spain once after the wind suddenly died. I was about 100 yds offshore and I wasnt wearing booties, the lacerations took weeks to heal.

stringy · Since 23 Jun 2006 1738 Posts vancouver XTreme Poster

I used to have a rhino 2 16m for light wind kiting. It was back when 5th line kites were the latest craze. I added a 5th line to this after hearing about how safe and easy it was to relaunch on a 5th. I was just upwind of logs and debri in onshore, but light conditions when I decided to check out how the 5th line worked. I reached up and pulled it in and sure enough it started killing the power of the kite and it started to fall. I thought wow this is cool. then about 30 feet from it hitting the ground with the kite still facing downward, I decided to let go of the 5th and then the kite powered up and tomahawked while dragging me over the debri before coming to a quick stop.
I never performed that manuever again. I got the darwin award that afternoon but nobody saw me do this.

TravisBickleRex · Since 30 Jun 2005 340 Posts Taxi Driver

...Related query, but at a time when kites were comparable to album exhibit 1 as compared to 2008 kites as portrayed by album exhibit 2:
http://www.nwkite.com/forums/t-398.html&highlight=kurtz

bulae99 · Since 12 Jul 2006 1692 Posts XTreme Poster

I was just learning to stand up on the board. The tide was out and I decided to self launch. Put the kite at 9 with sand on the edge and ran back to the bar. I figured I was far enough away from the log of death to avoid any accidental contact.

I pulled on my bar and sent the kite up to 12 just a bit to quickly. I didn't know that this was how you jump, but figured it out really quickly. The caution was lit and I was instantly up 20feet or so. As I went up I traveled downwind. If I wasn't so scared it would have been really fun. I was freakin for certain!!!

It seemed to happen in slow motion! I remember Chris(Storm Warning) saying to me, "always fly the kite no matter what." I'm flying the kite and I come down in the water just about 30 feet from the "log of death."

It was then I realized that jumping was going to be the main reason I wanted to learn how to kite.

I'm lucky to be alive,

WTMF'r

Very Happy

Reaper356 · Since 10 Dec 2006 781 Posts Salem / LC Oregon Opinionated

Went to eastern Oregon w/ my cousin etc... decided to take the kites. At a reservoir at the base of a hill it was blowing over hill gusting 5-30. Put up the 12 meter C kite out of the sage brush. Hooked the lines time and time again on launch - nowhere to launch, no bank. Crashed into the brush many times - finally got it up and she was like a limp taco. Almost got pulled over the earth dam at one end of the reservoir on the first trip out!

Handed the kite to my cousin for some drags and he pulled himself through a bunch of saje brush into the lake! Then he left me in the middle of the lake while I was dragging w/ him and I had to swim him down! Turns out he came unhooked. Sucks to be in the middle of a lake w/ no flotation device.

Net result: 19 pins holes in the LE, took 5 repairs to fix all! Never do that again.

Spike · Since 13 May 2007 1414 Posts Alameda Spelling Expert

railgrab · Since 29 Mar 2005 177 Posts Seattle, WA Stoked

Self launched my 13m AR5 with a Flowbee 4 line reel bar in front of the house I was renting in West Seattle. I found out later that the wind was in the 30s, NOT in the teens. Well, as soon as I launched, the kite lines started unreeling uncontrollably. If you've ever caught a marlin, you know the feeling. When the lines finished unreeling moments later, I was instantly 25 feet in the air, level with the roof of my 2 story house. I landed on my knees on the rocky beach and steered the kite into the water. Huh, no injuries! I still have the Flowbee as an expensive memento, but I never tried it again. In 10+ years, I plan to sell my Flowbee at auction and retire.

Ethan

DrewB · Since 16 Aug 2006 385 Posts PDX Obsessed

Dumbest thing: My first time rigging the kite unsupervised, I hooked the front lines to the back and back lines to the front. Oops. Embarassed

Pepi · Fri Jul 11, 08 9:43 pm

I think that this was the summer of 2001 and I had been kiting for about a year and a half.
We were at Rimrock Lake Reservoir next to Mt Rainier, running a windsurfing hero jibe event, using a buoy we anchored in about 5' of water off the beach.
I was jonesing to try out my new LF 6m2 Flight Kite (2 line kite with rolled tips to convert to a 4 line).
Tried to beach launch the kite with the kite on the shore and me in the water unsuccessfully. The kite dropped, then drifted downwind face down. No problem I thought, I'll just steer it out away from the shoreline for a safer relaunch.
Just by chance(or stupidity), I was located just upwind of the hero jibe buoy. As the kite (face down) slid along the water across the wind-window, the leading edge lifted up just enough for the buoy to get caught between my lead lines right at the meeting point above my chicken line. As luck would have it, right at that moment, a freak gust came along and semi-hot launched the kite up into the air with the buoy stuck in the lead line, pulling me out of the water and the anchor shooting out of the water and swinging between my legs. So, there I am, kite lit up, buoy stuck in the lead lines, carrying me up about 20' in the air, and the buoy anchor (which I should mention was a concrete block)swinging around between my legs.

After purposely crashing the kite about 5 or 6 times to try to shake the buoy loose, I was finally able to shake the buoy loose after pulling myself up my lead lines far enough to free the buoy.

Needless to say I did not do a very good job of converting any windsurfers over to kiteboarding that weekend. In fact, I unfortunately validated a lot of the dangers of kiting to those windsurfers with my converted 2 line kite, custom kitebar made from mountain bike handlebars and marine hardware parts, and a 4' long kite leash attached to my wrist.

Pepi

jsj · Since 11 Sep 2006 83 Posts Hood River

dumbest thing ever?

uhhhh

attempt to teach wife/gf/significant other?

jsj

Blue · Since 03 Jul 2007 469 Posts I used to be Obsessed

hamlindp · Sat Jul 12, 08 5:04 am

Getting my kite rescued by a jetski, and not disconnecting from it, then wondering why it isn't flying right. Embarassed