2004 Australia

My rescued kite

For the second time my kite went rouge, the leash didn’t hold. So I screamed out to the nearest guy if he could go grab it for me. So he did … or at least I thought. He told me he could only hold it for me (he was a decent kiter skills wize), that was perfect. So I started swimming with all my might.

He tok a firm grip around the kite, held it for a while … then let go. His board was of more interest to him. So I screamed out “Just grab one of the oshit-handels, blue or red ring down on the bar”. So he continued down to the lines and took the entire bar up … held it for a while, then let go (again).

So he started screaming to me that I should swim faster, again I told him about the oshit-handels and screamed out “fudge!” (as I often find myself doing when I’m frustrated). At this point the kite had traveled pretty far downwind. So I continued to swim and swim, the kite folded the correct way (with leading edge down towards the water). He again grabbed the entire bar …. then when I was 10 meter away chucked it away right in front of my eyes (again) and said “don’t scream at me man, i don’t know your gear”. He kited happily away and my kite was still on the run, in a huge burst of energy I leaped forward as fast as I could and grabbed the oshit-handle. The kite was rescued.

In the aftermath of that experience I thought to myself, thanks … I guess. Without his help the kite would surely have been lost. But … how is it that he didn’t know what a oshit-handle was? He had one on his bar too. And the fact that he just chucked it before I got to it is even more bizare to me. What kind of people start a rescue operation and does it half-hearted? It could have been a short breeze getting to the kite the first time if he could have just held the kite when he first grabbed it. Instead I had to swim about 1,5km downwind to get to it. Cause he refused to grab the oshit-handle.

Maybee I am the one that handled that disstress situation in a bad way, maybee he was not as experienced as I had previously thought. Maybee I could have controlled my outbursts, maybee I offended him in some way trying to tell him about the oshit-handle.

To all those that don’t know what oshit-handle is, it’s the blue or red ring on your leader lines (most kites have them). Whenever a kite has gone rouge, the best way to rescue it (at least if you can stand on the bottom) is just to grab the oshit-handle and wait for the owner to get to the kite. I have had to perform this a couple of times myself.

But I guess the important thing is that I did get my kite back. Bless his soul for trying, without his help the kite would surely have been a goner.

© 2009 Kimie’s blog.