Lincoln Sep 1

[Mark Johnson]

Great day! Started around 3:30 lit on the 9.5m. Some of my biggest jumps ever. Had a blast on the breaking swell. Most kites I have seen at Lincoln. No fishermen anywhere.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 531&type=1

[Don Losee]

On the "Pepe's Pizza Kite Rating Scale" it was a delicious Deep Dish with extra meat, eXtra cheese, and freaking everything! Perfect Day at Lincoln.

[BradHuber]

Awesome night.

You need wind for kiting. Light is optional

[ChrisPSherwin]

A few people have asked what happened to me at the end of last night, and maybe there's a lesson here for someone...

I was jumping and spinning in the greater Sal Padre area when a lull hit and I ended up inside my lines. My lines were already twisted from spinning, and I could feel that the foam line floaters were also tangled around the bar. I thought I might have them undone so I tried to relaunch and assess from there.

If you are ever thinking about relaunching with iffy lines, be prepared for a bit of a ride. The relaunch ended up looping a few times, not totally out of control, but enough for me to see that my lines were really screwed up. Once the kite was on the water again I was still getting pulled pretty hard and decided to flag out. My leash was hooked up to the spinner and I was trying to get it hooked up to the flag line, which I couldn't see or feel. I was getting a bit beat up, and was nowhere near drowning, but I finally said "Fudge it" and disconnected entirely.

Best case scenario would have been finding the flag line, connecting the leash to that, and then flagging out. I could have flagged out to my spinner loop, but I have never done that under load, and didn't want to experiment at the time. Looking back, I probably should have released to the spinner loop, and then tried to move the leash to the flagline? (Feel free to comment)

As it was I made the decision to eject completely, figuring that the kite would stop in the grass on the beautiful shores of Sal Padre. Well, almost.

The kite drifted waaaaay the F West and I found myself swimming a bunch and then "running" after it. At one point I knew it had pretty much hit the shore and wouldn't go further. Wrong again. The kite found the one friggin inlet of water out there, and was poised to go another 1/4 mile past the "beach." I got lucky and charged for the handle right before it powered up and went for another long distance ride.

My buddy Eric fetched my board and dropped it off with me, saving me a board and/or countless time looking for it. The trudge back gave me plenty of exercise and I was lucky that the reeds were low, giving me a straight shot to the shore. My booties were very handy.

I'm happy with the way things turned out. All my equipment is fine and I got some exercise. I am disappointed with my reactions regarding the release mechanism. Of the few times that I have fully ejected, I have yet to pull it off in less than five seconds. If you are a newer kiter, and you think that you have your release technique dialed, I would bet that you would appreciate some more practice on the beach on a calm wind day. Intermediate kiters like myself should perhaps be even more concerned as we are putting ourselves in more sketchy scenarios and we probably have not reviewed the safety systems for a while.

I hope this review keeps someone out of trouble in the future. Have fun out there. Do stupid stuff, but be smart about it.

[Todd Jacques]

intermeidate my ass!! advanced!
glad you are all good pepe, would hate to loose you to the weeds. nice kiting with you up north.

[Todd Jacques]

maybe hook to the release at the bar?

[Mark Johnson]

Not sure if you have a below the bar flag out release, if so connect there. The older kites with the little red loop above the bar I would say do not connect the leash there. For me it made the kite fly bad. I would in emergency, make sure your leash is not connected at all then prepare to release at the chicken loop. Maybe as you eject hang on to the flag out line. I have not tried this in high windso I am not sure if it would be possible to hang on till the kite hits the water, but I would rather try to hang on by hand than try and connect my leash in limited time. Loosing the kite alltogether is much better than going for a unecpected ride. If you do connect your leash and have to eject make sure you can react fast to pull your secondary release on the leash should the kite still be powered. I had to do this once at Deer Creek while being yanked at high speed backwards. I hate to think what the result had been if I would have missed my secondary as I was hooked above the Chicken loop and not the flag out

[Kenny]

Hey Pepe,

I am glad that were not injured. Better to release the kite, chase for miles, and live to kite another day!

It is excellent advice to practice using your safety.

Kenny

[Brent Bernard]

Mark, these are awesome photo. Really nice work. Thanks for sharing em!

[mike loeser]

I know its been a while since the 1st, but I found out I left a black pump on the grass. Anyone find or grab an extra one that night let me know.
Yeah good night by the way
Mike L.