REV Bridle and Lines

[harleyboy]

Hi,

I have a grounded 08 REV 13M.

I had an incident that forced me to cut through one bridle and my 4 lines. My kite still has the pulley attached to the kite but the bridle is gone. How do I replace with a new bridle? Does the bridle come with a new pulley?

Also, I need to get 4 new lines for my bar. I think I can see how to replace all of the lines except for the safety line. How do I replace that one? It has to run through the stoppers and through the small hole on the chick loop.

I need to source the lines and bridles. I have asked the shop where I bought them to see if they can dig them up.

Any suggestions on how to replace would be great.

Thanks

Mark

[Pepi]

Hi Mark :

Check in with the shop that you bought the kite from about how to attach your lines and bridles, they should help you with this.

If they can't help you, feel free to get ahold of us to help you out. If you call our shop, ask for me, Matt or Mike for this sort of help.

Thanks
Pepi

[lks]

Uh...may we inquire as to what sort of incident you had? LKS

[boredbrain]

I would like to hear the story. This sounds like a self rescue gone bad.

[harleyboy]

Ya it was a self-rescue gone bad. I posted my story on kiteboardbc.com. You can read it here:

http://kiteboardbc.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=533

Dumb mistake but one that I won't make again. If I didn't have a dry suit on it would not have happened but that is the way it goes. Just need to be more aware.

Mark

[boredbrain]

You have as little feeling with a thick wetsuit.

Once again, wrapping the lines on the bar proves nearly fatal.

Doing everything possible to keep the lines stretched out when self rescuing is the key to not getting tangled in them.

Doing everything to avoid a self rescue is my priority, even if it means not going out

I'm not sure which lesson you believe you learned and are not going to repeat, there was definately more than one wrong decision made here.

Famous last words "One more reach ......."

[harleyboy]

I agree on the thick wetsuit. this wetsuit or no wetsuit I would have felt it I am sure.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on different / better self rescue techniques. The one I have been taught and have used is to wrap up in the lines around the bar while pulling tension in the lines and bringing the kite closer. IKO standard one isn't it?

Having gloves/mits definitely doesn't help in the process...thus the one missed line.

Lessons learned...well there are plenty....I mentioned some of them in the post. The switching of the wind was my more worst enemy. Even with my leg tangled... if the wind was side-onshore I would have definitely been able to make it back without assistance. I wasn't that far out really.

[kitezilla]

Harley,

Thanks for the honest, straight-forward posting of your experience. I bet everyone of us has done what you did, when you grabbed only 3 out of 4 lines. I have done it more than once, but got away with only a gentle rap on the knuckles, with kiter-sister-superior's ruler. You got smited with Old Testament wrath!

You said: "Dumb mistake but one that I won't make again. If I didn't have a dry suit on it would not have happened but that is the way it goes. Just need to be more aware. "

If you think about it, the only mistake you made was an error in MATH, not that of wearing a drysuit. So, don't "throw out the baby with the bath water"! The only thing you failed to be aware of was numbers...1...2...3...red alert...that doesn't sound right...

Getting to your kite was not a bad idea, since you could than evaluate your warmth status, and if you found that you were hypothermic, the best decision would have been to stay with the kite, rather take a chance on swimming, and risk having your limbs go useless.

I also think that you made the right decision to use the IKO approved "wind up the lines on the bar" method to get to your kite. The other method that you could have considered in your situation was the "one-line" method, which would have been a better method, in hindsight, considering what happened. With the IKO method, done correctly (and I do believe you when you say that you will do it correctly in the future), you would have arrived at the kite in about a minute, with the bar in-hand, and with the lines neatly secured to the bar, and therefore you would have been able to immediately fashion the kite into a little raft-rescue- buggy, as shown in a picture in the following thread. If you had used the "one-line" self-rescue method, you would have had to take the time to retrieve the bar, and board, and fuss around with trying to disconnect lines with gloved hands.

You really just made one little mistake, out of the 100 things that you had to think about and decide at the time...but....

So, as a form of penance for that mistake, I suggest that you find a comfortable chair and set aside about 2 hours of time and read and follow all the references and tangent threads contained in this compilation of self-rescue discussion of techniques:

http://www.nwkite.com/forums/t-7972.html

Then, ask yourself...would I have done anything differently...except to count to "4"?

[harleyboy]

thanks for the note and the link.....good thread. Seems there is lots of debate on the best way to self-rescue. If you read the link on kiteboardbc.com you will notice a guy just responded saying that he had a very similar thing happen. He chose not to wind his lines and it went badly. Seems like there is a big need for greater situational awareness no matter what method you choose. There are a lot of "what ifs" to consider with each method and a big one seems to be about having awareness of the lines at all times no matter which method you think is best.

yes...I agree the math problem was one of the big issues. But I do wonder if I didn't have a math problem and I was able to swim freely would I have been able to swim in with my kite? The wind was holding me in one spot off shore before I got tangled and I was swimming pretty hard with my best side stroke. The reason I was self-rescuing was because of this change in wind, my kite fell from the sky and it was time to get out. It was pretty quick. I realized I wanted to be off the water and the whole thing just snow balled.

I guess if you get stuck with an off shore wind that is strong enough you are a bit screwed.

[boredbrain]

The main problem with winding the lines is the potential for the kite to power up and you have unevenn line lengths and you kite will loop loop loop. And this is where people can lose parts of their bodies

I attach my board to my bar typically not the 5th line or flag line but the chicken loop its self.

The main reason is that my kite is f'ked and there is no way to relaunch and get to shore AT ALL. this is the most important point. Self rescue is the last resort, and I mean last resort, they are always a screwed up mess, I have body dragged from a mile, it sucked, I could of made it if I was patient!

The other things plan on a breakdown when you leave the beach, Plan on NO
ONE helping, have a plan before you leave the beach. This is my safety approach.

I attach my board to the kite and get my self out of the lines, you need to pay attention to whether the lines are slacking or not, slack lines coil and straight lines will never wrap around your legs.

kitezilla is right in one aspect, that is that your inflated kite is a life raft you can actuall stand on it and signal for a very short burst if you have to. People will notice the frantic behaviour.

The thing about your post that is most horrifying to me is that people actually thought that letting you swim was OK, maybe in august when its 100 and the water is 80+, but in winter and spring that attitude is unacceptable, those are not friends. When things go bad in the winter life is definately threatened.

I am glad someone had enough thought to get help for you.

It is obvious that having your knife ready when self rescuing is the key when things go bad, and I will bet they don't tell you that in class.

I taught myself how to kite and how to survive kiting, the most important thing to remember IMO is to

ALWAYS RESPECT THE KITE

[tstansbury]

call the slingshot rider hotline they are very good

[tinyE]

here's a self-rescue question ....

light wind, big waves on the outside ...kite goes down in the surf... board long gone...hooked in to the kite...

what is the best way to self-rescue?

1) climb one line? when the waves come and catch the kite, you can feel the line peeling flesh from your hand as it zips through your fingers. Also, the other lines are slowly being churned around your body in the overhead waves.

2) wind up all the lines? taking the chance of the waves grabbing the kite, or possibly the kite powering up, or the waves pushing out panels in your kite (I agree this isn't the highest priority at this point)

3) just hang on to the bar until the waves pull you in to a better area? taking the chance the waves destroy your kite? what if the wind is slightly off shore?

4) ditch the kite, try to swim/body surf back in - take a chance on drowning

i'm just curious what other people do in this situation... (non river crisis).

[harleyboy]

If you listen to Ben Wilson he tells you to ditch the kite all together if you can't get it relaunched.

Mark

[pkh]

Poll? http://www.nwkite.com/forums/t-8112.html

[biggins]

here's a self-rescue question ....

light wind, big waves on the outside ...kite goes down in the surf... board long gone...hooked in to the kite...

what is the best way to self-rescue?

1) climb one line? when the waves come and catch the kite, you can feel the line peeling flesh from your hand as it zips through your fingers. Also, the other lines are slowly being churned around your body in the overhead waves.

2) wind up all the lines? taking the chance of the waves grabbing the kite, or possibly the kite powering up, or the waves pushing out panels in your kite (I agree this isn't the highest priority at this point)

3) just hang on to the bar until the waves pull you in to a better area? taking the chance the waves destroy your kite? what if the wind is slightly off shore?

4) ditch the kite, try to swim/body surf back in

i'm just curious what other people do in this situation... (non river crisis).

_________________
BIG waves? Ditch it...your life's not worth the price of a kite....but when you do, you put other's lives at risk.

My self rescue technique...keep the board with you as flotation(and it's nice not to lose a board) pull yourself to the kite on the one line, then when you get to the kite put the board on the kite, and one arm over the kite to use as flotation, then THROW the bar the hell away from the whole mess and let it take the lines with it down wind of you as you swim away from the whole me...the wind and/or current will keep the lines tight and away from you...also as you approach the kite swim upwind of the lines so as not to get caught in them in the first place.

When you finally make it in, the lines won't be too tangled as they've been kept tight by the wind/current, and you'll have your kite/board with you...also it's easy to take a break with your arms over the kite's leading edge and just float.

In the beginning years I had to do this a few times when the wind just dropped out on me...once I got picked up by a Japanese fishing boat 3 miles off shore(it was a huge lagoon and I was right in the middle on my way to the other side)

glad you made it out safely,

j

[harleyboy]

just wanted to say thanks to Slingshot via Gorge Performance...they gave me all new lines and bridle for free after this incident.

That is customer service. Thanks

Mark

[Kataku2k3]