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The bethwaite idea is not a bad one imho

A little adaptation to make it easy to "hook" back in might be in order.
Bigger ball may be needed than for skiffies

I did not see the QR listed as a product on the Paraskiflex website.Do you have a link to a place where the QR can be purchased?

I could sell you one as we have that QR in stock but you can certainly find that locally I guess? If you want one and really can't find any locally, send me an email : seb.waxdesign@gmail.com

rightguard wrote:I do wonder if we could just switch things around... What if the chicken loop and safety release were on the harness and the hook was on the depower line. Not quit that easy but you get the idea.

Yes, it has been done. A hook that opens...i.e. the old Slingshot releasable hook.

I am surprised that no one brought this "up"

I mean that for over 20 years i windsurfed with the hook "up"...(very unpopular and bit weird)

I always felt trapped with hook down over the harness line

I was much EZier for me to get out of and release the harness line with the hook up

Pull the boom towards me and bend down at the waist a little

So the question to the original poster is:

Could you have got yourself out of that tragic event if the hook was "up"instead ??

With the chicken loop in the hook "up" position plus the donkey stick securely in also...

Accidents like that may be averted or able to get out of much more EZily

By the way i kite with the hook down

Around where I live people are cutting the hook off and simply tying a rope across from each end of the spreader bar. Then they just use the QR to put the chickenloop on it. If you go on Ian Alldredge's Facebook, there's a description and a bunch of good photos of him using this simple system to great effect. It's the simplest solution for those of us who are technically challenged. Thats a great point that the hook could snag on some part of the bar or lines when getting douched in the soup. Where's that hacksaw?

If you ride a lightweight surfboard the hook punches a hole in it when you f... up and/or self rescue. Hardly anyone unhooks in the ocean, that I see. You'd need for-arms like Popeye (or Felix).

I am teaching a middle aged surfer buddy to kite, and since he can afford the best I had him mail-order the Dynabar from the get-go. Perfect. One less thing to think about. We will have to look at the hook and think about the benefits and liabilities. One of my bars has a chickenloop that does not open up for QR, and so it needs a hook. But that could be solved by the panic-shackle described in the previous youtube. Thanks for all the suggestions in this great post, plenty of dangers and solutions being addressed here.

Oldnbroken... I dont mean an opening hook.

Let's say... At the end of the depower line you had a hook. If you like to unhook it could have an automatic straightening feature.

Attached to your spreader bar you have a safety release and then the chicken loop. Not sure what it would look like.

In this case when you release you have no hook attached to you.

Not sure it makes a big difference which side the various things are on.
People went through a lot of trying with Wichards and release mechanisms like the one this ski kite company is using.
I would never use what the ski guys are using (panic release hardware) in salt water or sand.
And the Slingshot releasable hook never caught on with many riders, even though it was good.
A chicken loop release (if done well) is far safer than the Wichards (complicated hardware works crappy in salt and sand).
Dynabar systems are pretty great.
The welded U Bolt home made system is bombproof and works for a hooked in only kiter.
You can self launch and self land with the u-bolt (instead of a hook) arrangement, you just have to use a certain self launch carabiner.

andrepen wrote:
The wind was 35 knots, the kite 6 meters started to loop like krazy...

Well maybe that was the start of your problems
Kites are great but they're not a high wind fun tool IMO. They're lots of trouble.

<steps off the soap box>

But I wonder if they made the bars a little bigger round and the hooks just a little smaller would be a nice simple fix for this problem. I wouldn't mind that actually... I think the hooks are plenty big and the bars are sooo thin... I've got small hands and I still find them kinda tiny to hold on to for long periods of time... I'd prefer 1" dia bars... like the small dia windsurfing booms.

But then I'm fine with the way things are now.

Oldnbroken wrote:

rightguard wrote:I do wonder if we could just switch things around... What if the chicken loop and safety release were on the harness and the hook was on the depower line. Not quit that easy but you get the idea.

Yes, it has been done. A hook that opens...i.e. the old Slingshot releasable hook.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130761091465?ss ... 1438.l2649

Finally a use for all those broken (Dakine) spreader bars...? That looks doable...