Hey guys and girls
I'm pretty new to the sport and I just got my first kite the 08 crossbow 3 but I'm am having a problem that every time the kite does a loop the safety leash becomes tangled and although I can spin my bar to untangle my lines the safety leash remains tangled and the only way to untangle it is to loop the kite the other way or to undo my safety leash, both options are not ideal. I was hoping some1 else has in counted the same problem and was aware of a retrofit to bring the safety leash attachment point close to the chicken loop or has worked out another solution to the problem. Any help would be much appreciated Cheers
just hook it onto the centre line that runs through the bar (the black plastic-coated one). there should be a red ring between the bar and the chicken loop. attach the leash between the ring and the chicken loop. the ring stops the leash clip from messing up the bar when you unhook (which at your stage and on a xbow3 you should avoid).
the flagging ring is only relevant for self-landing in dodgy conditions. if you must attach to it i suggest doing it at the end of your session, still in the water with kite at 12. that way you can transfer the leash from centre-line to flagging ring with minimum risk, although if your arms are less than four feet long, you'll need to grab the centre line (below the bar with the bar right out) to pull the ring within reach.
xbow3 is excellent for learning at early stages, great relaunch and depower but as soon as you're comfortable holding ground upwind and riding toeside i'd suggest a lighter bar-pressure, faster-turning kite if you can afford it. meantime, enjoy that seven-strutted 2:1 beast.
there's heaps of depower on the bar when you push past the stopper. enough to take care of basically any situation other than breaking a front line, but if that happens it's a 50/50 chance that its your flagging line anyway.
you can also put it on the flagging ring if/when you have to self-launch and are not confident/experienced with this.
you can ride with the leash on the flagging ring if you really want but you'll just have the twisting issues mentioned in first post.
check your gear for wear regularly, check your lines aren't twisted when you set up and you can avoid most of the scenarios that would require instant flagging (broken and twisted lines).
and keep asking questions and practising launch, land and safety techniques in light wind on a beach with lots of clear space until you're clear about what to do if the sh!t ever does hit the fan.
This is something I've been thinking about for my Naish. Could you not use an off cut of kite line (or similar), and run it down through the bar and attach on the end of it. Or am I missing something that would make this an obvious hazard?
