Can you kiteboard alone

From there, you should unhook and walk carefully up the flagging line, not pulling but rather keeping a firm grasp on it, climbing up to kite. Once at the kite, grab hold of the leading edge to place it down.

For all intents and purposes, on a five line kite, the fifth line will function as the flagging line. Even in extremely overpowered conditions, I've been able to safely land the North Rebel by setting the kite on its wingtip and aggressively pulling in on the fifth line, causing the kite to drift backwards and fall with its leading edge against the wind.

If you are using a Cabrinha kite, the IDS safety system makes self-landing much easier. The IDS functions as a quasi-fifth line. In light to medium winds, you can engage the IDS by releasing the QuickLink system with the kite several feet above the ground, causing the kite to land naturally out of the wind.

If the kite fails to properly land and relaunches, unhook and walk up the safety line until you reach the kite, as explained above. Another method is to land the Cabrinha kite on its wingtip, grab the center lines, unhook, and walk up the kite. Once you reach the point where the lines split, grab the top line and pull it aggressively towards you, resulting in the kite falling on its leading edge out of the wind.

If none of the above methods work, you can always bring your kiteboarding kite about 30 degrees off of the ground and aggressively crash it in an effort to cause the leading edge to lay flat.

However, this not only creates unnecessary wear on your kite, but also leaves the kite a tendency to spring off of the ground and relaunch, or roll across the wind window. This sounds basic, but not everyone knows how to do this, and surprisingly albeit horrifyingly not all kites do this very well.

The most basic safety skill is knowing how to stop the kites power in every situation. So that means that Autonomous stopping technique is a procedure that deals with several situations. Can you stop your kite Completely?

How do you do this? What is the exact procedure to do this on your gear exactly? You also need to be able to do this as a reflex action, and do it without looking. This is where safety training comes in. First it is good to have an overview of the techniques on generic gear. This is that basic training we receive in lessons, from your instructors.

They include at least three steps to depower the kite in all situations. Understand your Safety Systems:. Then you also need a thorough understanding of the particular gear you are using. This means that every time you borrow or rent or test a new kite You must first study the safety system. This often means reading the Gear manual, and talking to the gear rep or shop guys, or find a certified kiteboarding instructor who is well versed in that particular brand and model.

There are many subtle variations and counter-intuitive idiosyncrasies among the different systems that must be understood. Or Pull on a twist-release system. What is the correct sequence of releases? More importantly how do you set up the system form the beginning, and reset the releases to ensure that they release in an emergency?

Then you need to practice using the releases, resetting them and using them in the correct sequence. Then you need to be able to do this while holding your breath and with your eyes shut.

Now you have stopped the kite, then what? Now you need a self-landing, and self-exit strategy. What do you do when there is no one there to catch your kite when it is time to land?

Still you have to be prepared to work things out on your own in all kind of undesirable situations. To kitesurf alone is not recommended in any way. In case you have a common sense, then use it. Choose a spot that you know well and have well-thought-out solutions for possible unwanted situations you might end up in.

Here follows some advices that are good to keep in mind in case you decide to go kitesurfing on you own:. During good conditions then self launching is a safe way to get your kite up in the air. All it takes is that you can judge the wind and that you can rig your kite. There are four different ways to launch a kite on your own with out help from someone else; sand launch , beach launch , anchoring launch och drift launch. If your kite spot is located at a beach or if there is big flat lawn next to it then you can choose from the beach launch, sand launch or anchoring launch.

When there is an absence from both grass and sand, then one can launch the kite by using the drift launch technique. Also remember that the different techniques for self launching vary a bit depending on you kite model and the current wind conditions. This method is well suited for spots with vast sand beaches free from shells or other sharp objects that can puncture the kite.

This method is in particularly great for bow-kites but works fine for all types of kites. Watch this video for a better understanding of the procedure. Fast forward to This method is actually called beach launch, but I renamed in here not to confuse you as a reader. Anchoring launch. The principle for this method is to find some kind of post, a stump or anything that is anchored to the ground to which you can hook in the CL.

Do like this:. Here are two videos that further describe the anchoring launch:. Another video that demonstrates how to perform a driftlaunch. Note that they have choosen to wind up the lines on the control bar in this example, which also works fine. One can read at Wikipedia that: Panic is a sudden sensation of fear, which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reaction.

Imagine a scenario where the kite for some reason has crashed in the water. Perhaps did the LE blow up or the bridles got entangled, the kite is in either case impossible to get back up flying. You lay there in the ice cold water several hundreds of meters from land and commence a self rescue. Pause for a moment and slow down, save your energy, think of a plan and slowly swim upwind using your arms only.

Keep calm and stay focused. For example you can put it in the space between your lower back and the harness. Exploded LE. Self landing You have just finished an epic session in the sunset only to discover that everyone has left and there is not a single soul on land that can help you land your kite.

Self landings in strong onshore wind is never recommended. If possible land the kite where there is wind shadow, for example behind an embankment or a high shrubbery. To kitesurf alone only requires some more thought and common sense in general. Please, read also this article about kitemares for more valuable tips!

Kitesurfing alone? Read this first! What this rule say is that in a water temperature of 10 degrees celsius or 50 degrees fahrenheit, then a 50 years old man have the ability to swim about 46 meters or 50 yards in 5 minutes with a 50 percent chance of surviving. If waves, currents or the wind will make you drift far away if you end up in trouble. Avoid shady launch spots and places which might be crowded by common people as you come back.