So I was chatting with a mate over the weekend about self landing...he mentioned that he will occasionally pull the safety if his self land is not going well on a high wind day. It occurred to me then that I had never pulled the safety on my current rig (Ozone 2011 C4 bar/lines), and I promised to myself to pull it the next time I got my kite in the air just to see how it behaved.
Well Monday's wind came in, and I did as promised...only nothing happened! I don't know if there was some sand stuck in there or what, but I pulled it, and the chickenloop did not open. I attempted to wiggle, push and prod to get it to release but to no avail...it took a full 10 minutes before it worked itself loose with the pull of the kite! Had this been a real emergency, I would have been in trouble.
I've since released it a couple of times, and it's working smoothly now.
Moral of the story (which many of you surely already know): check your safety release on a regular basis! They can get stuck...and a stuck quick release is neither quick nor a release.
Heres a top tip for you, when you pack or wash your bar down always leave the chicken loop released, that way when you come to kite next time you will have to re engage it therefore checking that it works...forces you to check it every time instead of thinking about it then not actually doing it because getting on the water is all your thinking of...
The new motto of our school. Quick Release - First Response NOT Last Resort.
At KSS we teach our students that its standard practice to practice the QR so it becomes 2nd nature.
There should be no thinking time required.
The QR routine we teach is simple & should be standard practice of ALL kiters. (imo - there will always be some who say otherwise)
Landing Your Kite:
Every time you bring your kite in to land it simply hit the QR once your catcher has it under control.
Almost every kiter out there either unhooks or walks towards the kite to slacken the lines for the catcher.
Adopting this simple procedure as a standard, every session routine is, IMO, a no brainer.
1) it gets the QR action totally dialled into the brain - no thinking time required.
2) it gets the rebuild sorted - handy to have it down pat when you are rebuilding in the surf or nuking winds.
3) it keeps the QR mechanism free & functioning - use it or lose it. Yes they can jam up if they are ignored.
4) it is a constant reminder that the QR is there to be used when dropping the bar doesnt stop the action.
It is one thing to have the action on auto-pilot but you also have to have the mindset reminding you its there when its needed.
Only disadvantage - a couple of seconds rebuilding the chicken loop. Hardly an issue when you could be saving your life.
Don't like side-pulls, personally. When I have used them, I've often been left holding the red thing while the CL has gone flying.
I check that my QR works (clear of the sand it was lying while setting up) before I hook in to launch. Same with my leash too.
