Please note that I always clip in to OS handles when launching and landing 4 liners. However, once on water I clip in to the "suicide" which is 1 line going to 2 front lines.
I don't know about other 4 liners exp. the Rev, but "killing" to 2 front lines does not totally kill the kite, esp. in high winds; I know this from previous experience on the 9m jJekyll at a shore break in 30 knots and it is scary! The kite was still flying way above my head and I was just lucky that it landed in the water and not on shore. From the water I was able to grab the OS handle and really kill it.
Yesterday my student released on 12m to "suicide) in 17 knots and she was just being dragged to South Perth. Lucky I was close enough and the wind hadn't picked up any more, otherwise this person or the kite was off to South Perth.
Anyhow, here goes on what I did. Caught up with student after she released to "suicide." Pulled myself on "suicide" line to where leash was clipped in to student. Under water I clipped my leash to this line and let her free. Then pulled my self under water to the bar, grabbed OS handle with one hand and unclipped "suicide," then clipped OS to leash...........now the kite finally was dead. Then I just wrapped the 1 line to the bar until I got to the kite.........all this required staying cool because all the other lines were wanting to wrap around my body. However, being calm and holding the bar I eventually got to the kite. Deflated 30% of the air from the leading edge and used the kite as sail to get back to beach.............just made it before passing the point where the next stop was South Perth.
The lesson here is that things happen out there, and you better know what you are doing or you are going to drown or lose you kite. From my experience a 4 line kite only dies when flagged to one line.
Stay safe out there and perhaps the above can help someone in a similar situation. Yes my student is progressing well, but teaching is a long process where many many things have to be experienced, even the unexpected. My student is also learning on 5 line Fuels which are much safer IMO. However, the Jekyll is a great kite and you just have to know what to do when the crap hits the fan.
Also, make sure that the velco which holds the OS handles from slipping are not too tight, because if they are you can still have lots of power in the kite before the velcro releases. This is esp. important when doing a self land. IMO the velco on the Jekyll is too tight and I just leave it undone.
Please peoples, no matter what kite you fly............try a sea rescue just for fun so you know how your gear behaves, because I tell you someone is going to get spanked one day because they have forgotten what to do when things go wrong..........have a plan and see if it works.
My contribution to safety for the day........have a good one.
Maybe leave a student flying with her leash on the OSH? That way if she releases it flags to one line. I thought suicide was for experienced riders. If the OSH is too far up to easily reach, a line extension to clip the leash into can be easily made, or a long leash.
Yea, good idea pinofpale and thanks for heads up. However once on the water, the leash does get in the way of things IMO. No more spinning bar, and the leash can get caught on the bar and make for an ugly experiences as well.
But you are right, that certainly is a good way to go. I believe in getting people in to habit of clipping to OS on launch and land, but once on water they can go to suicide as not much can really happen usually.
I agree, the leash can get tangled this way and its not ideal but I suppose if it gets ugly they can pull the leash safety too. Actually I had a leash wrap around a bar when I was self landing on an OSH once.. Kite powered up and looped into a cliff! Nothing is foolproof. Depends on the beginner... some you see are going to handle it and others look scary! The scary ones go on the OSH I reckon!
Yep i connect to front flag out and tryed it WARNING it works great but when you get your bar back , lines are in such a big bunch of crap you cant relauch have to go to beach untangel and reconect them . Cant they make the front flager so that when you do flag it only takes a meter or so . How much line dose a kite need too flag out 1 meter 2 meters it wont need much more than that . why companies dont put a stoper ball on flaging line i dont know so it only flags out x amount of line . Who am i the little person who knows s..t but i still buy there product and the customer is always right arnt they .
To flag your kite the difference between flagging line and the rest of your lines needs to be more than the length of your kite. So one meter is fine for a 1m kite.
Airush used to have a disc which connected to the spreader bar and your leash. It enabled you to connect to the osh and spin the leash around the bar, it worked but still not as neat as a 5th line coming down through the bar to the chicken loop.
Standard safety leashes are far too long for most riders, except for those riding unhooked. If the attachment is below the bar, you need only a foot long line to connect to your harness...in that case you can do loops fine......if the flagging line stuck for any reason, you can still reach the bar and an OSH to grab and then release from the safety leash........in case of a beginner, by that time the instructor is already there, but it is still good learning to rescue from that position....(I've done that few times with not particularly much enjoyment 
)
I fly Ozones and one of the most valuable bits of equipment is a little red stopper ball, half way up the centre flagging line.
Two weeks ago I was kiting with my safety on the centreline flagging ring. Not something I normally do but that's another story. Anyway, in a transition my chicken loop popped from my harness hook and "BING" kite instantly flags out. I think the donkey dick is a bit worn. The bar flew out of my hands and went out to the little red stopper ball about 15m away and I slowed to a halt.
So I sat in the water thinking "What now with a flagged out kite?"
I decided to slowly pull in the flagging line, making sure it was not wrapping me up until I'd retrieved my bar. Then I let out the flagging line. Once I was sure everything was neat and tidy again and the kite was sitting straight down wind full of air I hooked back in and relaunched.
Love that little red ball
.
I thought suicide was where you hooked your leash to the chicken loop when riding unhooked. So if you loose the bar you only have the depower throw of the bar and can no longer reach the chicken loop hence suicide. Is this correct?
I actually have a stopper ball on the 12m, but underwater and in the heat of battle I lost my cool and pulled the OSH which didn't have the ball in place, and that is why I could only really wind in the one line and all the other lines were too far gone for them to be added to the wind up.
