Hi !

After my post on towing someone and the post on attaching yourself to the ground I thought of something. Would it be nice to have a safety release that releases when a specific amount of pull is generated on it ? Just a thought...

imagine you are snowkiting and flying 50m high...and a gust comes and hits hard...

I think it is best to release manually, automatically can only be more dangerous than secure IMO.

No, it would not be nice. I want to be attached to my kite. I use the power of the wing to load, pop, fly, climb... It's called power kiting for a reason.

This one is called the "KiteRelease"...don't think it ever went into production. Here is a link:

http://www.nwkite.com/forums/t-1426.html

Not really. Extra expense and no gain in safety, malfunction and reliability issues. You'd be hard pressed to design one to release only when you want it to.

If you're thinking from the point of view of safety then it's way better to work on kiting, board and weather reading skills IMO. It's surprise weather conditions that cause a lot of problems for kiters no doubt.

I agree ! But the purpose of this was not for pro riders but for real beginners that do not want to be lifted from ground. Anyway better learn step by step !

Why didn't you say so?
Even worse idea for beginners. Have to learn to save your own ass IMO. Don't want to rely on some gizmo.

With the amount of depower new kites have when you let go of the bar it would be kindad redundant. Pluss reasons others have stated.

I googled and found this:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7762497.pdf

Thanks for finding that patent. Looks like it was begun in 2003, and was meant to automatically release the 2 front lines, and allow the 2 back lines to act as the "safety" system. He must have thought that the future of kite safety systems would be based on the system that Flysurfer used, where the 2 back lines "super-stall" the kite, and the kite backs down into the water.

A lot of people were trying to invent a way of dealing with the problems that plagued the releasable snap shackle, in those days.

I like the way he referenced the KF thread by Rick I...."Warning to Snap Shackle Users"...viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5202&start=0