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WILCO
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Postby WILCO » Tue Apr 15, 2003 8:59 am

Actually I'm thinkin about selling all my LEIS and getting another foil until someone comes up with a safe safety system for LEIS
Jo goin nuts or just psycho??
Why are ram airs safer then?? YOu mean the PL G, or the Flysurfers? If you can't unhook from such a kite, it still be powered up. So what's the difference?

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Mr Jo Macdonald
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Postby Mr Jo Macdonald » Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:13 am

You can kill them without unhooking, if I'd have got dragged by my foil the other day instead of having to search for my release in the moving sand under my stomach I just would have pulled down on the leash in front of my face and the blue leash cross line above my head, this kills the power of the kite and stops her flying, bringing her down depowered on her tail

You know, thinking about this getting draged shit, it's happened to at least 3 of us in the last week, maybe we ain't world class but we're cetainly not beginners and as we get more experience/braver/crazier we start riding more and more overpowered so i think the chances of it happening again are pretty high.
If/when it happens again I want something in front of my face that I can grab to stop the ride

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Nimbus2000
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Postby Nimbus2000 » Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:39 am

I think Peter-Frank gave the following suggestion once in another thread, and it makes sense to me:

When launching, don't shackle in or hook into the chicken loop yet. Just twist the depower around the bar a couple of times (so you can launch depowered) and hold your hand on it. That way, you can launch with only your leash permanently attached to the kite. Once you're in the water, you can just unwind the chicken loop or shackle line from the bar and hook in or shackle up.

This way you can just let go of the bar if anything goes wrong during launching.

My €0.02 ;)

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Mr Jo Macdonald
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Postby Mr Jo Macdonald » Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:47 am

Hi Nimbus, I used to do that and the launching trimmed down and unhooked is great but then you have to hook into the depower or fixed loop with your spreader hook to pick your board up and/or shackle into your safety system which means that at this time on land you have no safety system unless you're using a releasable chicken loop or fixed loop and in this case we're back to the "can you release it if the shit hits and you get dragged down the beach?" question.

EdDy_DiFfUsIvItY
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Postby EdDy_DiFfUsIvItY » Tue Apr 15, 2003 11:35 am

there are loads of good ideas coming out here, I need some time to think about them all but my favorites so far are -

Hand on relase whilst launching
OR push bar WITH Wichard QR as second posibility in case of failure
Q line / Sanding
Not Self Launching unless absolutly necessary
not leaving her in the self launch if i am doing it, launch immediatly.
Check check and check again


If I'd checked and done the above, it might not have happened. thing is, no one QR method covers all possibilities does it ?

serious R and D needed here. LEI's and their depower now a big issue for me.

Thanks to all posters here, much appreiciated, keep it coming, a solution must be found and agreed on.

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Postby Rossall » Tue Apr 15, 2003 12:10 pm

The hooking in on land thing is still a worry for me after my incident. There is no way I would of been able to pull a QR of any kind. One minute I was on the sand the next mili second I was 7 ft up going horizontal at 30 mph, it was that quick. For the time being I am ditching the Shackle on the harness and just going with a slightly modified SS 03 system, launch the kite next to the water then when safely in the water huck in. I think we need to start a data base for all the good ideas Ron. ( aren't you an IT type person )

phil.

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Postby EdDy_DiFfUsIvItY » Tue Apr 15, 2003 12:48 pm

yip dats me Phil,
I think Rick should help out on this one too. Will sort it.

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Postby jb12 » Tue Apr 15, 2003 1:37 pm

Hi,

Here is my current system to try to solve the "i can't grab the rope on my stomach" problem:
Image
It has several flaws i am solving:
- Looks horrible ;-)
- Lines may tangle on the release handle
To solve this i am planning to:
- Keep the look horrible ;-)
- Remove the sprinkle and handle (where the only things i had at hand) and replace them by a plastic pear-shappend stopper.
Any other ideas?
Last edited by jb12 on Tue Apr 15, 2003 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Nimbus2000
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Postby Nimbus2000 » Tue Apr 15, 2003 1:38 pm

Mr Jo Macdonald wrote:Hi Nimbus, I used to do that and the launching trimmed down and unhooked is great but then you have to hook into the depower or fixed loop with your spreader hook to pick your board up and/or shackle into your safety system which means that at this time on land you have no safety system unless you're using a releasable chicken loop or fixed loop and in this case we're back to the "can you release it if the shit hits and you get dragged down the beach?" question.

That's correct Jo. Still I think there is an advantage in this technique if you hook in only just before you have to pick up your board. By that time your kite is already in the air, and you are already sure that there are no problems with the lines and that the wind is not too strong. If you have to find out these things while already connected to the kite, it can be a bad surprise. Next time I will go out, I'll do it like this I think. Must say, I've never done it before.

Ciao!

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Postby EdDy_DiFfUsIvItY » Tue Apr 15, 2003 2:09 pm

ciao Nimbus, this solution is ok if you ride in the loop, but what if you need to close a wichard over the loop ? its hard, i often try to unclip and fly on 2 lines but getting back into the QR is near on impossible in high wind. Doesnt cover it for me, unless I am missing something.

The solution that is pictured above, in my humble opinion, is no good either as it appears to be biased to one side. this, if so can be very dangerous, if the side you need to release on is the side you are being dragged towards, you body will obscure this handle. SIDE is important, you need to be able to activate the release if the kite has overflown you to the side of the window. imagine you body contorting and covering your release. not good, you need access from both sides.

Please correct me If I missed the point or any detail.


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