Kitesurfing with a safety knife

Its something you never hear much about. Many people may even be carrying a knife and not know it. Often harnesses will have a knife tucked away in a pocket somewhere. But what is it for and why do you need one?

Kitesurfing safety / hook knife

I must admit that until I needed one I didn't give it much thought either. I had been kiting for a couple of years. I was doing OK at an intermediate level. It was a big swell day. We were all out having a lot of fun.

Me having fun in the surf

One of my friends had an issue with his kite. The kite was down in the water and he was trying to get it back up. After some time in the water with no success and a failed attempt to swim in, I offered to pull him in. He lay on my board and held onto my leash. All was going well until we got tumbled by a small wave on a sand bar. He went over my head and his kite decided it wanted to start flying again. I ended up with a line around my waist and wrist. He ended up with a bunch of tangled lines around his ankles. Our kites were dancing in an endless death loop.

We were both getting pulled really hard by the kites that were straight down wind looping in the middle of the power zone. We both released, but the tangles were not coming undone. Instead, they got tighter. I felt like the line around my waist was going to cut me in two. The line on my wrist was caught in my watch and felt like it was going to snap my wrist. We were both getting dragged under the water and back up again on each loop. I was struggling to get a good breath and swallowed a fair amount of water.

After what seemed like minutes, but was probably just seconds, it occurred to me that "I have a knife. Its in my harness". Just as I reached down to grab it, the lines went slack.

We had been dragged in close to the shore, and one of our mates had run several hundred meters down the beach to help. He had tackled the kites to the floor.

Incredibly, neither of us were injured, however, it was impossible to untangle the lines from my friends ankles. We had to cut the lines off him.

Kite line tangle from another day

There was a lot of adrenalin pumping and a lot of confusion. It wasn't until I got home and calmed down that I started to realise how bad it could have been. We could have made the headlines. I kept asking myself "What if we had been out in deep water? What if I hadn't had a knife?"

I drew a few conclusions from that day. The most important thing I learnt was:

• Don't ever rescue anyone that is still attached to a kite. They either need to release the kite first, or they need to wind in the lines and hold onto the middle of the kite.  

The next thing that disturbed me quite a lot was how long it took me to think of the knife.

I have another friend who was out with us recently on another big wave day. He got tumbled in the waves and released the first safety. He was still getting yanked on the 5th line by the braking waves on the kite, so he went to release the leash. There was a problem with the leash and it would not release. He gave up and settled for being dragged in to the rocks by the 5th line and the white water. He was a little shaken but luckily unscathed. I asked him afterwards why he doesn't carry a knife. He looked confused at me and said, "I have a knife, but it didn't occur to me to use it". 

So my next big tips are:

• Carry a knife
• Remember you are carrying a knife
• Don't hesitate to use it

Since our kitemare I always carry a knife. In fact I carry 3. I have one on my harness:

Knife one on my harness

And one on each shoulder of my impact vest:

One knife on each shoulder

Knife tucked into pouch

The knives are made by mystic. They are delivered in a pouch, as seen on the harness. But be warned, the Velcro that holds the knife in the pouch is way too small. I lost a couple of knives due to this. So I stitched extra Velcro onto both the pouch and the handle of the knife.

For the impact vest, I stitched Velcro onto some old neoprene, and then stitched that onto each shoulder. The knives tuck up inside and stick to the Velcro. I added a loop of sailing cord to all the knives so they are easy to grab.

3 knives sounds over the top, and it probably is. But, I figure:

• In a desperate situation, you may drop one. (It was suggested to put them on a lanyard, but I don't like the idea of having another thing that could strangle me)
• In a desperate situation, you might only be able to reach one of the locations. For example if you have a line around your wrist.
• As mentioned I have lost knives before, so I don't want to just have one.
• I have had my impact vest close to ripped off over my head in a tumbling wave. So best to have 2 locations.
• They are cheep, and having them does not restrict my riding in any way.

Regarding remembering you have your knife: every now and then (and especially on a big wave day), before I launch my kite, I practice the following:

• Release chicken loop
• Release leash
• Grab knife 1
• Grab knife 2
• Grab knife 3

It may sound stupid, (and it probably looks a bit stupid), but I want to get into the habit, so that next time I find myself in a sticky situation, it will all happen quicker. 

To round up:

• You wont ever regret getting a knife, but, if you are unlucky, you will regret not getting one!

PS: If this didn't inspire you, try Googling "kite line injury" and click on images. Its not nice. You have been warned.