Need to know if a Rebel can be riden on a 4 line bar. Has anyone tried-it? What does-it change in the kite's behavior? Will-it ride like a North Fuze?
The reason I want to do that is because I own a hole quiver of them and love their performance but now I only do wave riding and if I drop the kite in the surf, that 5th line is quite a hassle, risking to rip the kite in two every time the kite flips over.
Thanks for your helpl

Have no fear in the surf with Rebel's 5th line

Do not try to transform it

I find that this kite "as is" to be ultra stable and very very difficult to drop out of the sky

Might explain why in over 250 sessions on them (12-10-8-6m) i had "zero" drop in the surf

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+1 with SupaEZ. The Fuse and Rebel are NOT the same kite!!!! With or without the 5 line. That horse has been ridden, put up wet and BEAT 2 death!!!!

what they said, the Rebel has a loaded 5th line meaning it carries load when flying. if you remove it the kite will barely fly enough to get you back to shore and that is after you pull the trim strap all the way in. you will also have no safety line unless you add bridles which is now called the Fuse with an improved design and shape for the bridle. If you are really worried about kite tears from the 5th line in the waves make what Slingshot used to call a wave grenade. it is basically a releasable 5th line pin, but then you have to redesign the safety.

two years ago I had two wishboom rebel 5 and vegas. ,one of the boom had stopper red ball mounted wrong from factory ( it was above the front line triangle instead of underneath).I was using both ,did not realize the mistake at once. had 7-8 session with good wind with 5 rebel using alternatively both booms.
when using wrong boom found my rebel 5 even dangerous!!!!!!! trmendous boost like a hammer
when I was using right mounted boom it was ok.
I got crazy could not understand what was the problem,waves ? gusts?my leg?it was me?the board?
once, around 35 kn I was with a good french kiter,good level going back and forth with vegas 5 ,good control with nice waves.asked him to try my5 reb ,as soon as it raised my kite he drop it and and gently told me you are mad with this kite.so I sold rebel for few euro and bought vegas ,only later discovered mistake.one of these boom was working 4 lines.
now I have only rebel ,when they fall is a tragedy, often I release everything and go to shore.
but riding a mustang is an emotion ,going with a donkey is a sadness!!!!!!!!
ciao

The other option is to experiment with a bridle to support the leading edge instead of the 5th line or something similar to the Hadlow 6 line system where the front lines split at the ends with an attachment on the LE to give it a bit of support.

Have been thinking of doing this on my Torch but never got round to it as I prefer 5th line safety.

Safety would be very easy to sort out by just using o-s**t rings on either a front or rear line.