Anabatic_co_nz wrote:If you are teaching a complete novice to kite in any current then you should not blame the kite in the headline. You should look in the mirror. You chose that teaching environment. This is Day 1 stuff. Assess the environment before all else.
Every kite will drag you away in a current by a single line or front lines.
She was smart, she released the entire kite + leash.
Her safety comes before that of your gear.
Bagging out on a brand/model because a novice under your supervision got a fright in special circumstance is off form.
Students skim reading the forum looking for brand advice will read headlines like this and not necessarily the content.
That is why guys log in to stand against your comments.
So edit your Topic.
Can all gear be improved... yes but that is not the topic of this thread.
you can improve it for one situation, but others will complain.
You must learn the best setup for your gear and your environment, before teaching and experimenting on others like your girlfriend.
A forum topic prior to your real world experimentation would have been a better idea.
I agree these are good points made by the gentleman from NZ.
To give the OP the benefit of the doubt I would say tis:
It is necessary to discuss kites and bars seperately, as well as how they work together. I don't always use the same brand (or model year) of bar that is sold with a kite because I may not be comfortable with it's features, safety, construction. etc.
It cannot always be assumed that the improvement of a brands kite means an improvement of their bar or safety systems - or vice versa. A bar design is something that can become very personalized with a lot of riders. Sometimes I will use a bar that is several years older than a kite because I like the way it works, and many bars I have owned have been modified in one way or another.
It's too bad that many new kiters cannot have the benefit of this trial & error experience, but if you are going to teach someone it's a good idea to test all the gear before letting a student use it. And if there is an idiosyncracy about how the safeties work (usually is) that should be part of the training - because it's very likely they might buy similar gear after a lesson. And it is also super important to point out that the bar/gear they buy could very likely be different and that a review with an experienced kiter is important. And having an experienced rider tune your kite (and explain the why's of what he is doing) is SUPER helpful as well
So hopefully people will learn from this thread and not treat it so much as "I am right, he is wrong". This forum is definitely a good resource for beginners and experts alike...and hopefully objective viewpoints can be expressed when it comes to these topics. I'm sure it's very confusing for beginners to wade thru all of this sometimes.
It will be nice (some day) when all bars (and kites) are perfect...but so far there is no such thing, although the gear gets better all the time in general. When I started (2000) it was downright scary
stuff.