Why is the hook on the harness and the loop on the bar?

I assume this is a hangover from windsurfing, But if you were to do it the other way round what would be the problems? Has it already been tried? It could allow a serious re think on the design of quick releases and reduce the cost of new bars.
fdvj

you may find out how a fish feels when gaffed in the jaw or ribs.

i also think that hook 'alignment' would have more problems dangling from the trim strap.

but your guess that its just a hold-over from windsurfing days is as good as any.
.....give the winsurfers credit for going thru all the iterations so we dont need to.
-bill

Hmmm...

thought about it for a few minutes, sounded interesting. Could have some cool advantages, like the harness having a line where the hook slides from side to side, much like the jay-bar, and some other stuff...

But then, i realized...

I really dont want any open hook-like structure directly connected to all the potential force of a kite. That just asking for nasty accidents like fingers or hands getting stuck, hook hooking into something or someone, getting stuck on obstacles etc.. much prefer a closed loop... Just imagine a an unhooked trick going wrong.

my 5 cents.

easy answer, when you release the kite, you dont want a hook that can snag you!

Exactly - and the longer answer is, that windsurfers has the very same "load" like we do, and in the same direction most of the time too - so the spreader bar is a must to distribute the load so we dont get chrushed ribs

As said - thankfully the windsurfers has taken the toll of evolution for kitesurfers during the early years.

A sliding hook, or rolling hook, has always been offered for windsurfing harnesses too, so one can choose whatever one prefers - some like a fixed hook, others want a sliding hook.

No news here either, in kitesurfing perspective.


Always great to think outside the box though, very true

Peter

All the above points had crossed my mind, I was thinking of a closing hook that would only open up when in contact with the bar/fully sheeted in and self close when sheeted out or released.

The realease system could then be open to many possibilities of design. This is the area that was not needed during the evolution of windsurfing.

I am trying to think what the loop on the bar stops you from being able to achive, and weather this could be helped with a hook.

fdvj the more complex the system the more dangerous and the more points of failure. Current system you can unhook and drop kite to flag out even if safety jams. Think simple it's better.

I took a shot at this idea a few years ago, as seen on the below link to the thread:


viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2357056

It has been mentioned before that a spreader bar with a Q/R on the hook would reduce the cost of control bars by simplifying the loop on the end of the powerline.

It would also mean you would have one primary Q/R to learn to use that is very easy to reset. It just needs to be strong enough and be non-snagable with a line.

It could be done with the loop on the spreader bar and the hook on the control bar, but I think its easier the other way round ( you have the problem on the control bar as to how to orient the hook the right way up).

are you a rat lab or something its ok to make inovations or experiments but if you put more weight or more stainless steel iron parts on your bar its gonna kill ya or send you to the hospital