Being dragged at high speed and not being able to successfully unhook or perhaps even unshackle is not a good sensation. Many riders have experienced this now and some have also been injured. The following general trends have come out of this:
1. If you are hooked in and lofted or dragged you may not be able to unhook, many have not, and
2. Your snap shackle may not release
One solution that may help the situation is to use a quick release chicken loop, called QRL for short in this post. The problem is that you have to buy a new control bar to get a QRL. Not so. One QRL that I just picked up from Bump and Jump is shown below:
http://bumpandjump.com/prod/detail.php? ... ge=english
It has a stiff velcro quick release that appears to be pretty simple and straight forward. This QRL can be retrofitted on any bar. The external fairlead can be used if it has one or alternatively it can be fitted with one. Some external fairleads are sold on various sites including:
http://www.murrays.com/new_items/new_kite.html
I am still checking this QRL but it looks good so far short of doing extensive riding with it. Some reports have come on in some mixed experiences with this system so it would be good to hear more about what sort of performance people have had it. One issue appears to involve the release ball clearing the harness hook without problems.
I really would like to see fixed chicken loops go the way of the dinosaurs in the near future. Too many accidents and incidents have happened in which the kiteboarder just couldn't get free. So please checkout a good QRL. Pass on your experiences with the various systems out there to the rest of us. It would be good to consider retrofitting your existing bar systems with a good QRL, soon.
Rick Iossi
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RickI on 2002-09-07 11:44 ]</font>