Postby robertovillate » Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:50 am
I think this new QR from Core looks quite good. Of course it's hard to say for certain until tested under a variety of circumstances (which I am sure they are doing)...but it's not valid to say that "it's not good" if you've never tried it. Core makes really nice products, excelllent quality and engineering, and this bar was not developed on a whim or some "copy-cat" of another safety device. So firstly I think people should be open-minded and give it a chance/test it.
As far as the arguement of one system being more "intutitive" than another. My observation in over 10 years of kiting and over 500 lessons is that the strongest common instinct is to "hold on for dear life" (to the bar) when things go bad. That is the intitial response anyway. In almost every case I can think of there is never enough time/or quick enough reaction to deploy a QR on the initial lofting/dragging. It is usually after the initial "jolt", "teabagging" or few seconds of dragging that the rider eventually engages his QR skills.
I tell my students that the QR device should be renamed and considered to be the "second chance at survival" device. In a lot of cases the "second chance" comes after an initial "out of control" and unanticipated situation when the kite depowers momentarily and that's your big chance. Of course, sometimes the QR is handy in more controlled situations as well, for example if you are getting too close to the beach, or a hazard, or on the beach being pulled but still under control and the QR can be deployed with a lot of control and anticipation.
Unintended releases can be a big problem too, especially in landkiting/snowkiting conditions. Also, some QR's require too much effort to activate under load, and some require load to work at all as well. So that's a consideration too. The ease of reconnecting is important, but not the primary concern. In most emergency situations it's better to self rescue to the beach and make sure your lines are sorted, reset your QR, and relaunch if appropriate.
Getting back to the subject of "intuition". There is nothing intuitive about any of the QR's produced to date, and neither with this new Core device. The importance of recognizing and accepting this brings us to the next vital issue and that is "training". Assuming the device works when activated - easily, with one hand, under high load, under no load - then a person can be "conditioned" to act with the proper response. That's basically why they put pilots in flight simulators - to break them of their instinctual responses and develop a different and often unnatural response to an emergency.
I do not see how a twisting mechanism will work any less efffectively than a "push" or "pull" system, as long as the individual has adapted his response thru training himself to grab and twist. I did not see an kicking and screaming when they went from the old "rip chord" design to the more common "push out" designs. It's a simple adaptation IMO. All of the decent quality mechanisms currently available require some manual dexterity...except for the ones that deploy accidently which is no good anyway. No matter which style they end up with I always tell my student that, after my lessons with them, I want them to go out in increasingly challenging conditions and deploy their safety and do a complete packdown every time they go out for the first 10 sessions. This way they might see the different challenges they will encounter when the real shit hits the fan.
Getting dragged while underwater can be very very disconcerting, espicially when any "sushi rolling" is involved, and the ease of release is crucial...but whether a push, pull, or twist device, the training still needs to be there more than anything else. Ben Wilson wrote about this in a magazne article a year or 2 ago and he said that he practically forgot everything he was supposed to do while being pinned under water by waves - "the closest I've come to drowning" is pretty much what I remember him writing. So even the most experienced riders can get thrown off in a "survival" situation. When you're head is underwater your mind/body's instincts kick in and often over-ride any normal rationale - unless you have been highly trained to do what's necessary. That's not the case for most of us.
I am currently using a Core ESP bar and have been very happy with it. I'm very eager to see the new Core bar. I see that they have simplified the "mini-fifth" line (eliminating the former third piece of cord) and they rotated the double depower line 90 degrees, so that it passes thru the bar with less spacing between you fingers (more comfortable riding one handed) and the depower system looks really clean and simple. The optional stopper ball device looks good too. As mentioned before I like to test things before giving a 100% thumbs up, but it all appears well designed from the manual I read.