Self-rescue to Ft. Point - worked, but don't try
Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 1:51 am
First off - a big THANK YOU to whomever grabbed my board in the swell at GG today (Sun 3/29). I know how tough that is and the wind was getting iffy, I owe you big for taking the chance and the time!
I'm posting this as more like as a "don't try this at home", as I'm not sure my self-rescuing today at Crissy should EVER be considered an option, although it worked out quite smoothly (this time).
So, I dropped my kite in the shadow of the south tower, by the time I could relaunch, the swell twisted the kite so the lines were crossed (center lines crossing back lines). I could still fly the kite after a fashion, but my dilemma was how safe is to ride all the way back with the lines crossed? I didn't want to play chicken with the bridge foot either, so I let myself drift right outside the gate and considered whether to radio the CG.
As background, a few weeks back somebody working at Ft. Point let us through the normally fenced off area under the bridge to show some out-of-towners "the views". There is a tiny "beach" there, lots of big rocks but it happened to be low tide so it kind of stayed in my memory.
I remembered it today and decided to body drag close to it, and just call CG if it looked too risky. There is a ~50ft opening clear of rocks, but not much land depth to the wall. With one hand on the eject throughout, I self-landed the kite right on the waterline, swam the remaining line-length and literally walked out of the water.
Now, I probably got lucky, not only because I happened to know that spot, wind was light and tide low. Yet big rocks litter the shore, concrete walls are less than a line length away and surf breaks shoulder-high onto the "beach". I didn't even contemplate launching back out of there to ride home, I think that would be really insane. Some other form of "escape from Ft. Point" was next, as you're on the wrong side of fences. After some foot recon, I packed the kite, headed up the hill, found a more jumpable fence and ended it up in the parking lot of the bridge vista point.
Besides the couple of misdemeanors committed, I'm pretty sure self-rescuing to this spot is not advisable, but wanted to share this just in case.
What's a good advice on what to do once the kite twists and is flying on crossed lines? Thanks again to the folks keeping an eye out for my adventure today.
I'm posting this as more like as a "don't try this at home", as I'm not sure my self-rescuing today at Crissy should EVER be considered an option, although it worked out quite smoothly (this time).
So, I dropped my kite in the shadow of the south tower, by the time I could relaunch, the swell twisted the kite so the lines were crossed (center lines crossing back lines). I could still fly the kite after a fashion, but my dilemma was how safe is to ride all the way back with the lines crossed? I didn't want to play chicken with the bridge foot either, so I let myself drift right outside the gate and considered whether to radio the CG.
As background, a few weeks back somebody working at Ft. Point let us through the normally fenced off area under the bridge to show some out-of-towners "the views". There is a tiny "beach" there, lots of big rocks but it happened to be low tide so it kind of stayed in my memory.
I remembered it today and decided to body drag close to it, and just call CG if it looked too risky. There is a ~50ft opening clear of rocks, but not much land depth to the wall. With one hand on the eject throughout, I self-landed the kite right on the waterline, swam the remaining line-length and literally walked out of the water.
Now, I probably got lucky, not only because I happened to know that spot, wind was light and tide low. Yet big rocks litter the shore, concrete walls are less than a line length away and surf breaks shoulder-high onto the "beach". I didn't even contemplate launching back out of there to ride home, I think that would be really insane. Some other form of "escape from Ft. Point" was next, as you're on the wrong side of fences. After some foot recon, I packed the kite, headed up the hill, found a more jumpable fence and ended it up in the parking lot of the bridge vista point.
Besides the couple of misdemeanors committed, I'm pretty sure self-rescuing to this spot is not advisable, but wanted to share this just in case.
What's a good advice on what to do once the kite twists and is flying on crossed lines? Thanks again to the folks keeping an eye out for my adventure today.