http://masskiting.com/kiteboarding-foru ... ath-spiral
So this weekend my bar got wrapped up and my kite took a solid crash. Then with the bar completely tangled the kite launched and did a loop and hit the water again. This is what we refer to as the death spiral. As you try and fix your wrapped bar, the kite is fully powered and cinching your lines even tighter. As you try and fight a twist loose that you can barely see you are being dragged during all of this.
It really has not happened to me in a awhile. In my case the bar actually sucked the steering line into the bars depower hole where it was caught. The bar was in a position of a hard kite loop steerinline/bar fully pulled to one side. This was an impossible situation with that much tension on the lines and a death spiraling kite.
The solution:
Reach out and grab the opposite steering line.
Easiest to do as the kite intermittently crashes the water surface. So the kite is looping because one steering line is pulled hard. So the answer is to pull the opposite line then you have two steering lines equally pulled and the kite stops trying to loop or turn. Not only is it now not turning but its also totally oversheeted and not going to fly. Then you can get the time you need to review and fix your tangle.
So if you are being dragged by a death spiral, do what you can to pull the opposite steering line. This is easiest when the kite crashes the water you will have a few seconds to reach out and haul the opposite line. I write this so that next time you know what to do with that few seconds you get to grab it.