A session too far

Skivved off work and went to the lake. Got there about 3:30pm and unpacked the Silberpfeil and got on the water; just me and Auntie were there.

Tough slog to get upwind in the light breeze but I got a few line lengths off the beach in the direct onshore wind, then started playing. Wind picked up and I forced myself to try toeside both directions and toe- to heelside carving turns. Tried to jump higher and higher with the kite, which lead to a mixed bag of results :D A couple of times I collapsed the kite, once I dropped it and got it a little tangled but relaunched it fine. Several times I screwed up and slammed the kite LE down :(

Kept riding after the sun slipped behind the hills in the west and kept trying to jump ever higher ... guess I pushed it too far cos I ended up with my head underwater, ass in the air and must have slammed the kite LE down again real hard. Relaunched the kite and noticed it flew a bit odd and looked a bit odd so I recovered my board and rode back to the beach.

Landed the kite and found an A bridle line had ripped the knot off a LCL so I replaced that but when I relaunched, noticed that a rib on one side looked funny. Landed the kite again and checked it out - yikes, ripped it through the middle, LE to TE! Time to pack up ... just as well I did cos that was when I discovered that the Spare Parts line had be shredded - only the core was keeping a 40cm section together :o

Piss. So I got to send it away for repairs ... and will be forced to pump up my Xbow if I want to ride any more :(

What I learned today ...
• The Silberpfeil is not indestructable :D
• I need to figure out how to avoid nosediving the kite at full power ...
• Don't land jumps with your knees straight ...!
• Really tighten down the lower straps on my harness so it sits snug under my butt cheeks, then the leg straps tight then upper straps tight-ish ... eases the wedgie effect.
• Don't trust the stick in the ground to backstall land the kite - especially if it gets wrapped up into the safety release! Borntofli's method is much better ... walk down the FLS line.