power kites , the early days
Mat J reminded me of one of my early power kite experiences.

over on the rugby fields near cannon hill park in Birmingham,
stack of two flexifoil super tens "remember them" with those padded wrist straps, in an absolute howling gale.
fuck me the biggest fastest scariest air i ever got i was yanked bodily up about six feet, fuck i thought this is ace, then a freak gust caught me and i sailed up another ten at least, shit i thought am going to die
the sheer violence of those stackers in a high wind is something to be believed.
the float is of course non existent i came down very fast and hard, then i got dragged through the mud and dogshit for a bit.
i wrestled the kites back into the bags and fucked off sharpish, nobody saw it, it must have been quite spectacular.
( amoebaboy chose for death by unga bunga on, Sat 29 Jan 2011, 19:52, 3 replies)

bah
had a VERY public experience recently. I've always flown bows (nice and stable), but got talked into getting a C as I'm jumping now, and it's sooooo much easier to land with a C. Anyway, where I launch the wind is often quite flukey, and I'm used to putting the kite in the air and not having to do anything, my old bows just sat there quite happily. Not so the new bastard. Started falling out of the sky, then gust whistles through, she powers up and I get lofted a good 6ft, land on me face and start dragging downwind on my belly. Get it under control, stand up, and does exactly the same thing. Repeat more times than I'd care to admit.

By the time I get the hang of it I've attracted quite a crowd, most of whom are pointing and sniggering :(
( kappynitty doubled your entendre on, Sat 29 Jan 2011, 20:48, closed)

Remember them?
I still fly em, as well as a stack of 4 6's. Still great fun
(ceeej, Sun 30 Jan 2011, 3:02, closed)

I remember those
I always wondered what the hyper 12s were like, but they were well before my time. I still fly a stacker 6 occasionally though.

I had something very similar to the OP happen to me with a 7.2 blade - 15ft straight up in a thermal with a panicked cry of "HELP ME!" at the top.

Sadly, that was witnessed by two under 13's football teams.
( MatJ LOOK, Sun 30 Jan 2011, 19:04, closed)