by windzup » Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:59 am
So last weekend at the Snowkite Summit the term safety came up... regarding all of Snowkiting. The amazing thing is that few if no Snowkiters have been seriously injured or killed due to Snowkiting. With that, we are lucky and as an industry want to prevent any future accidents, at least the ones we can see and avoid. Avalanches were one topic, and flying was another. No one has died yet while 'gliding' with kites. With that, only experienced kiters on the newest gear have attempted it in the past. A fear is that newcomers with less experience and using outdated or un-safe gear may become injured due to equipment failures... injuries that could needlessly mar the image of Snowkiting.
Gliding with kites comes from the similar concept sports of hang-gliding and paragliding. Gliding with kites is pretty redundant and just plain dumb, considering that hang and paragliding has already gone through a similar learning curve (death rate). The world has learned that to glide safely a larger canopy and shorter lines (shorter pendulum) are far safer and easier to manage.
That said, we are all curious to see how far we can take our Snowkite sport and we are all stoked to be in the air and feel the joy of flight. The kite designs are so good these days that smaller wings are now offering potential for high flights and good glides off of terrain. Technology is good enough to take us mere mortals far away from our skill and knowledge base.
Because pioneers like Chasta and Rob started flying huge with their kites, they started building kites 'SAFE' for high flights that they were doing. These Snowkites (produced by Ozone) are built to the same design parameters and high strength (12 G tested) as the Paragliders built to the same exact specs with the highest grade of materials available. The Frenzy is the first kite on the market, designed to fly safely!
Important FACT: Most kites are built with the lowest cost materials and are not designed to handle aviation!!! Don't put your life on anything less if you are going high! Materials can fail, lines can fail, pulleys can fail!!
Inflatables offer only single points of attachment, even with a bridle, there are only a few connection points on the canopy to divide the high wing loading that occurs when full body weight is on the kite. (in the air your Gravity/weight increases as you accelerate and gain speed). If any one point fails on an inflatable, the entire structure fails!
Foils (properly built anyway) divide the wing loading across the entire canopy, not just the leading edge, spreading the load across the entire surface. Each bridle line can hold 300 pounds of weight or more, and even if several lines failed, the canopy would still hold shape and divide the load. I have flown both kites and paragliders with broken bridle lines, and experienced no lack of control in the wing.
If your wing has pulleys, make sure they are high strength, and backed up. The Frenzy uses pulleys to control the canopy shape, these are sewn directly into Amsteel leaders, the strongest line on the market.
LINE SETS - Chasta gets 52 line sets a year in his contract with Ozone. He replaces them weekly or sooner if he feels he put too many high flights or powered sessions on one set. He replaces the lines the instant he feels they have been slightly compromised. Ozone tests Chastas leader lines (the Amsteel) which are rated to over 1200 pounds a piece... these lines have held their strength for an entire year, showing no signs of weakness. With that, Chasta (and anyone flying) replaces his bar at least once a year. (you can keep the bar and just upgrade to new leaders).
Chicken Loop - We have had a dear friend fall from the Sky in France several years ago.. it was Spring time on a kite he flew hard all season. The chicken line failed and he fell 60 feet from the sky!! It was on an off brand kite, not an Ozone. That prompted Ozone to switch all chicken loop lines to Beal ( a climbing rope!!) These have never failed, even several years later... these are the strongest chicken loop lines on the market and only Ozone is using them... because we believe in our/your safety in flight.
NEWNESS - Ever notice that the dozen guys on the planet that are doing high flights are all sponsored? The point is they are ALL on brand new gear all the time, maybe even upgrading mid-year. DO NOT FLY ON OLD GEAR>>> IT IS DUMB!!!
If you choose to 'glide' you need to know the risk and the endangerment you put the sport and yourself in. Gliding is independent of regular Snowkiting and requires specific gear above and beyond the average snowkite equipment. Buy new gear that is designed for the purpose and check it daily, replace it often!
Remember the ladder rule folks, ten feet high and you can die.
Windzup.... please stay alive!
Brian Schenck
