Kite Surfing Crashes

[C-Ya]

The video below is why I probably won’t try kite surfing....... but it looks fun otherwise.

 

[lakemadness]

FUCK

 

[Javajoe]

Brutal

 

[PlumLoco]

I bet collisions are common in the Columbia River gorge. That place is nuts at times.

 

[4Waters]

Those rock and jetty hits were like a grinder

 

[Boat 405]

Explain how any of this looks like a good time...

 

[rrrr]

You wanna talk crashes? In 1972, before we started hang gliding, my friend Benny's dad bought a Bill Bennett flat kite. He saw them at Cypress Gardens, and figured "Eh, how hard can it be to fly?"

So that summer, we went to Elephant Butte to become kite flyers. The kite had a rigid aluminum frame with foam floats on the down tubes, and it sat in the water with a positive angle of attack. The harness was brutal, a nylon belt with a crotch strap, and it connected to the kite with the old WWII aircraft style seat belt swing over handle. It put a serious load on one's junk.

It turned out the Cypress Gardens flyers were either way more skilled than us, or the kite had some kind of flaw in its construction.

The victim got in the water with one or two skis, hooked in, and the fun began. The tow boat was a tri hull with a Mercury four banger, and when everyone was ready, the boat took off going upwind. Getting up on the skis strapped into this 50 lb monstrosity was a challenge, but the real fun began when the kite lifted off.

Because the kite was flat, it was completely unstable. Since the harness drop connection from the kite's crossbar was only six inches long, it was almost impossible to use weight shift to control lateral movement. The kite would start moving from right to left perpendicular to the direction of travel, and each time the oscillation got bigger and bigger.

Finally the thing would become uncontrollable, and when the inevitable wingover occurred, the observer in the boat would hit the quick release on the tow rope. Depending on the height at that moment, the ride down to the water was... interesting.

Luckily no one was seriously hurt. The next summer saw the advent of the Rogallo wing hang glider, and the death kite never flew again.

 

[Taboma]

Funny, I guess a few have done some kitesurfing or wind surfing during Havasu's north winds months, but I can only recall a couple I've seen.

Curious I googled it, the comments on the Kiteforum were priceless.

" I guess if you like crappy beaches to launch from and gusty as crazy heck winds................"

"Havasu is the closest the west gets to "deep south" It's just country music, go-fast boats and drunken "necks" The water is fresh? By fresh you mean filled with years or urine, vomit and gasoline. And the girls are way to old to be wearing 2-pieces. Don't waste your time.

"

" Worth a visit if you are into mullets, cigarette boats, sunburns, cheap beer, and girls in thongs. I have had some good times there, but bring a boat. "