I was out there this afternoon holding it down with a fair breeze blowing , when snap went my chicken line. All of a sudden I am holding all of the kites power in my hands via the bar.
Only 100m of the shore, I let go of the bar and the kite simply rolled on its back and I was able to lower it on the beach.
These bar and lines where only 18months old, guess what a North Reblel 08 setup. This time all was sweet but if had of been further out the back all if my kite had gone it to someone elses in those condition it could of been carnege.
So it does not even have to be rider error for the proverabial to hit the fan - I thought the gear would be ok for 2 years but apparantly not.
Any way busted home to get the 2 nd set of bar and lines, and hi tailed it back out there to have a fat old seshion on dusk.
There where actually some decent rights coming through.
Déjà vu
10 months ago I was on the outside of main break at Lancelin on a big ole day like today on my '08 10m Rebel. Chicken loop snapped and I was very sad. Kite crashed. As soon as a wave broke on it I went like a torpedo under the water until my near death leash popped. Swam back through the impact zone and that sucked a lot. Actually caught up with my kite a few hundred meters from shore with lines tangled in some reef. As I was slogging the final bit I stepped on a sting ray (actually though it was a bronze whaler on my calf). Christ. Two things from this incident which are memorable... (1) As I was launching I said to myself this chicken looped needs changed out after this session. (2) Key treatment for the sting ray (clinic in Lano) was a bucket of piping hot water (took about 2/3 of the pain away almost immediately). Never recovered the board.
I saw you at Leighton today on the black/red Rebel.... I was on the outside on the '09 Pink/Gray Rebel. I wondered what happened as I saw your kite flying on it's back just moments after you entered.
A quick point on chicken line durability, wash the sand off it before the kite is launched or at least go for a quick bodydrag pre-ride to get the line wet.
1, it gets rid of all that abrasive sand
2, the rope is stronger once it is wet (or so I am led to believe)
It is very easy to get to the water, launch from either sitting or standing and not wash the line till your first stack (which may take awhile) in the mean time your sheeting in and out and the line is wearing.
My 06 bar and line are still going strong having done this.
Yep it can happen at any time, I snapped a front line yesterday and although I was able to pull the safety and swim in no worries, it highlighted the fact you should thoroughly check your lines when you are heading out in gusty wintery conditions. I have been flying a different (better 
) brand of kite lately but yesterday I dragged out my 5.5 DOS and because I had sold my DOS bar and lines with a 10 DOS recently I used a set of lines off an 08 7.5 Bandit, I had several bandit B&L's and thought I had replaced all the front lines but obviously not.
I have quoted a reply I made to a post on the gear review forum recently that came back to bite me on the bum.
It was actually the front line where it meets the splice that broke and the fifth lines was still ok.
Check your gear!!!!!
) brand of kite lately
) brand of kite lately 
Yes the time has come for me to change kite brands. I wanted to stay with this company but i have seen and heard to much to to give them another chance.
The question is what to next, there is so much out there on there market.
I suppose I will look for a well balanced (power wise) hybrid kite.
A company that has been around longer than a couple of years.
Someone that is offering support in the metro area and is going about it the right way.
It's not only kite hardware that can give you grief this time of year. 
I went for what was supposed to be a short cruisie session last Sat at Leighton. Didn't stretch or do any warm up at all in the cold conditions. Hadn't kited in about 3 or 4 months either.
Stepped on my strapped surfboard with the front foot in and the back foot out of the straps. First wave I hit the back foot slipped off and I do the splits and feel the horrible tearing sensation in my hamstring. Session over in 30 seconds 
To make matters worse I'm off to Indo for 3 weeks surfing so now madly trying to rehab my hammy in time 
On the subject of safety. This time of year you get alot of seaweed on the shore line. Went out yesterday, tried to do some kind of jump, back roll thingy unsuccessfully. Crash landed in a big patch of floating seaweed. Kite crashed as well. When I surfaced there was nothing but seaweed clogged everywhere over my lines and bar. Because the seaweed weighs down the lines it kind of pulls you under as the kite gets pulled by the waves. Lucky it wasn`t that deep and the kite wasn`t really going anywhere. But I`m sure I would of had problem trying to release my safety quickly if I needed to, there was that much seaweed clogged around my bar and chicken loop etc. Just be careful.
Ioz,
Here are a couple of pics of you (or the person out on a red Rebel at 17:00) at Leighton yesterday. Hope the sunset made up for the previous pain.
Cheers,
Gorilla
Cheers Gorilla,
That was indeed me on the Red Rebel, It was a classic session in the end and I thougerly enjoyed it.
Decided not to put it down when the rain squall came through - and got away with it this time, though I was lucky it was not the main part of the front that hit when I was out there.
I had practiced using my safety before I went out for the 2 nd time though so I would like to think I would have been ready to deal with a lofting if it had happened, but who knows.
