Be Safe: A Friendly Reminder.

Knowing when to pack it in can prevent serious injuries and ensure access to our favourite places.

I thought it might be a good time to remind everyone about the importance of kiting safely, not only for personal reasons but also to ensure the continued use of our favourite locations.

Use the following safety guidelines when kiteboarding:

1. Do not kitesurf without a safety release system that allows you to disable the kite at any moment.
* Traditional kites cannot be fully depowered while the kitesurfer is attached to the kite (chicken loop or chicken loop line). When things go wrong, the kitesurfers activate a safety release system that detaches themselves from the kite. While this system works when you are conscious and can react fast enough, it DOESN’T when you are not conscious or don’t have enough time to react to a dangerous situation (a few kitesurfers have had serious or fatal accidents in the past due to these devices). Use such kite and safety release system with care and only do so when you are out in open water. Also make sure that you test your safety release system properly as described latter on in this page.
* The new generation of kite (e.g. Flat LEI) can be depowered fully by simply dropping the bar. Such kites are safer as once the control bar is dropped, the kite become more manageable and the kiter can have more time (and chance) to activate the safety release to detach from the kite.
2. If you use a traditional kite which cannot be fully depowered while hooking in to the chicken loop, do not hook in before launching and landing. Depower your kite using the trim strap before launching or landing. If you use a “spin leash” or “swivel bar”, use the modern bar that allows you to launch and land unhooked.
3. Don’t launch, ride or jump upwind of people or hard objects. Give yourself at least 1.5 line-length distance from those obstacles.
4. Check your kite, lines and the set up before launching your kite.
5. Don’t ask a non-kitesurfer to assist you in launching or landing a kite (it is safer to launch and land the kite yourself than having a non-kitesurfer to assist you).
6. Attach the safety leash “permanently” to your wrist or harness using Velcro tapes or a quick release.
7. Don’t kitesurf near power lines or airport.
8. Don’t kitesurf before, during, after a thunder storm or in stormy weather.
9. Don’t kitesurf in offshore wind.
10. Make sure that there is a “friendly” beach downwind from where you start.
11. Don’t kitesurf in crowded water. Get out to the open water or any un-crowded area as soon as you can.
12. Do not kitesurf in very strong wind if you are a beginner (in 20+ knots) and be careful even if you are an experienced kitesurfer (in 30+ knots).
13. Wear a life jacket or impact vest
14. Wear a helmet.
15. Flying lines can cut when the kite is flying. Never let yourself or others even having a chance of getting tangled up with the flying lines (e.g. do not fly your kite over other people, never wrap flying lines around your hand).

courtesty of http://www.kitesurfingschool.org/safety.htm