Kitemare at Pt. Walter

Wow that is really scary stuff Shan, glad to hear your ok, just goes to show that even the most experienced face these disaster situation, I never entered this sport thinking it would be easy, as a newbie i have learnt so much already but still have such a way to go. As tempted as I am to brace the winter weather, i am really quite nervous at how the wind changes so quickly so intend to spend the next few months reading, watching and learning as much as possible before heading out there again. Good luck and I hope you dont experience that again.

I found a new quick release, purely by accident, just this season.

My harness was a bit tight, so I (naively) pulled the harness strap clip out a bit to let the spreader bar out a bit, and woofter - the whole shebang was gone! The load of the kite ripped the strap straight out of the spread bar, and off it all went.

I guess it depends on how your harness attaches to the spreader bar, but on mine it has the single fat strap. Pulling the clip up guarantees instant & complete disconnection from the kite .. kind of like a second safety...

Looks kinda like this fella:

the amount of times you'd accidentally release your front safety when you hook in and out will just drive you insane.

OkAY.........

So the current solution, is to keep your hands on the centre of the bar and fly your kite properly...... Even when learning handle passes this should be a piss of piss!!!

And a safety leash on the front of your harness would be stupid, it's so much easier to recover from a wipeout when being pulled backwards, and you don't get water in your mouth! Exactly how Shan described her wonderful experience........ Yea see Shan, keep your hands on the centre of the bar and being pulled backwards is a joy compared to being pulled from the front!!!

The reason why harnesses suddenly had bits of rope on the back was and is a copy of pro riders innovations during the handle-pass revolution. It wasn't some instructor going "oh my students would be so much better off being dragged from behind when they fook up!!!!!"

I've just realized I'm retarded and you all are sane, I am now going to lick my neighbors window and be the true retard I am

you're a f*cking kook and until you have experience in this level / field of riding and have experienced any of the above events you should neck up and keep your opinions to yourself.

you really dont need to be messing around with clips while trying to release. you need solid clips like what tom has shown that lock in and wont come out accidentally, then you need a good proven quick release similar to the one used on airush, slingy liquid force leashes, something slimline that you wont accidentally grab but releases with ease under load. i've been riding with mine taped up for a few years now so that i can't accidentally pull it halfway through a pass by grabbing the wrong bits, but when its under tension i just apply some force and it comes off piece of piss.

what abesy and sir rowdy said is on the money shan, use a shorter bar if possible, hold your hands right up against the centreline and when you are doing surface passes really try get it in your motor functions to grab back near the centre, it eliminates the chance of you accidentally looping the kite and getting pulled off your board as well.



problem on the ozone bar that makes it happen a lot is that shape of the bar end, it acts like a slide so when the leash lands on top of it instead of slipping off away from the bar it gets directed in towards the bar, that in combo with the gap between the float and the end leaves a good space for the leash to snag in. the airush bar has the same bar end but i've never experienced this yet (touch wood) and i think its mainly to do ith the floats going right up to the bar end and leaving no line exposed. perhaps try slide your floats right down against the bar.

this is one type of end though that i really think should get revised/replaced with something a little less catch friendly IMO.

Haaa shan lol

at least your keeping out of the bushes

Experienced exactly this ^^^ getting pulled backwards heading out to sea at woodies offshore today. Luckily after about 6 kiteloops it hit the water and gave me a chance to un-wrap the leash from the bar.

The bar ends are designed primarily to wrap lines up and not to prevent the leash or lines accidently getting tangled. I think I need to improve my technique or wait for a new bar end design.

I'm not interested in getting into a p1ssing match with you charl or anyone, you have strong opinions and voice them on here just as strongly. Its hard to understand your focus on the Ozone bar when as you say the Airush bar (and several others on the market, now) has exactly the same ends?
Its also hard to understand why any bar end with line winder indents isn't being grouped into this blame game? They all have exactly the same leash wrapping tendency, and I know of reports of leash wrapping incidents involving other bar end designs.

Pushing the limits on any sports equipment is going to reveal shortcomings in both the rider and the equipment. Some of you have pointed out that to do this type of trick a shorter bar works a lot better and we can supply Shan with a shorter current model bar if she requests it and wants to pursue perfecting this type of trick.
Pushing the limits or riding in conditions beyond or right at your limit of ability requires being prepared to pay the price when you screw up. Blaming the gear is ignoring the obvious.

Ozone do take every single part of their equipment design seriously, the bar end on the current Contact bar has been in use on several bars for a few years without any known issues, thats why it was selected for use on an Ozone kite.

There is a new bar coming soon anyway, but its not being replaced because of the bar end. The bar end is different, and made from a softer material and it has a substantially different shape (but still has indents for line winding).
The Ozone design team have come up with something really cool in the new bar and new chicken loop design, but I cannot say anymore until we are close to release of the bar and our new surf kite.

Take care out there, rehearse in your mind what to do when you get it wrong and are being dragged by your kite. If you put a leash onto your back make damned sure you know you can release from it somehow.

if i was interested in a pissing match my post would of been 10 words or less..
but what i mentioned was it can perhaps be the ways that the floats are set different. I'm not sure if you've read many of my other posts but I generally talk ozone up and say its a great kite etc, i have zero affiliation with the brand so it's no hair off my back whether they get sold or not i'm just saying it how it is.

in regards to the ends specifically i never said i LIKED the airush ones either as i feel the same would happen here, but i think the thing that makes it happen more on the ozones is the gap between float and end. This is only my theory but so far i think its pretty accurate and does make sense.

once again not having a dig at ozone, i really like their kites and they are great for teaching with and riding, its just this one aspect i find needs a bit more attention is all. I know it happens with a lot of brands but the fact that i've seen it, experienced it and heard more people mention it with ozone brings me to the above post.

also note we did mention possible solutions.

Maybe it's time for the INDUSTRY to think laterally,
if it's sincere about preventing fatalities caused by tangled death-leashes.
Tragically, the outcome of many of these ensuing death-drags has been severe injury or worse.
The question begs to be asked:
Why even have conventional line-winders on a bar?
*Because you need a means to wind-up the lines, you say.
Conventional line-winders catch and wrap death-leashes so change the design.
Maybe have line-winders that somehow retract flush to the curvature of the bar after the rider has rigged up.
Then the bar would look like a piece of pipe (cylindrical) when in action.
Don't handle-pass with a bar that looks like this...... [
Use a bar that looks like this....... !

Now I'm getting really confused.
I'm serious and taking this matter seriously, however I'm struggling to understand what you and CharlDv are on about?
In some posts you have blamed the bar end and that it makes the leash somehow wrap and lock over the bar end, and there are several other brands that use an identical bar end yet they are not mentioned, just Ozone.
Then in other posts you are saying that the leash is wrapping between the bar end and the soft neoprene rubber float. This description of the leash wrapping problem surely would implicate nearly all bars on the market, as nearly all have some sort of float on the end of the bar on the rear line leaders?
I can think of a bar that does not, but I have still heard of people getting the leash caught over the end of the bar and having a kite looping incident with the cabrinha bar (no floats).

So what is it? The actual bar end? The fact that there is a float on the rear line leader?
OR is it simply that the leash has hooked over the end of the bar and has become wedged there because the rider has let go of the bar and lost control mid trick, mid awkward fall on a wave?
And is that actually something that cannot be designed out?

Is it akin to something like a rally car driver over correcting in a corner, then losing control, crashing, and then blaming the steering wheel design or the road surface?

Hard to actually know where it is wrapping as you are flying backwards at the time and that's the point of this discussion, to work that out and try to solve it. Could be slightly different factors with various bar designs.
Too me the most important thing is to know how to attach the leash to the harness so that I can reach the QR in that situation instantly as if I had been close to the bricks it would have been messy.
Happens with wave riding just as easily hooked or unhooked especially in hollow surf and that means that it's going to happen more often as more surfers realize what they are missing on windy days.

oh my god read what i am writing steve and you will understand what I believe the issue is. go ****ing read my previous posts and you will clearly see i am not digging into ozone and i have actually ****ing supported them even though i have zero affiliation with them in previous posts. i am bringing one ****ing issue up that is of relevance and applies to all brands but for some reason seems to happen MORE on ozone kites.

how do i say this happens more, because a friend of mine i ride with (ABESY) i've seen this happen to on average a good 3 - 5 times a season in the past where it has happened to me maybe 5 times all up in the last 4 seasons. 3 out of those 5 were on an ozone kite and once on a LF kite and once on my airush. this seems average but seeing as maybe only 5% of my sessions have been on an ozone it shows.

now let me make this about as clear as i possibly can.

WHAT I BELIEVE is causing this problem is that GAP the ****ing GAP between teh float and the bar end. and also the fact the FLOAT moves easily along these lines making that GAP change. so when the leash hits that bar end or wraps around it gets trapped in that GAP and pins the line against the bar.

WHAT I BELIEVE reduces the chances on the airush bar from what i've seen so far is that there is NO GAP between float and bar end that exposes leader line and that the FLOAT does NOT MOVE easily so it CANNOT create A GAP! this obviously has not completely eliminated the issue but at least its reduced.

this is obviously a problem that is serious that ALL BRANDS should address and try to solve before some inexperienced person drowns themselves. I've pulled myself up the leash each time and untangled the bar to stop the loops, most of the time it WAS STUCK IN THAT GAP and on the airush it got stuck in front of the float.

you dont even need line winders to roll up your lines, you can just wrap them up oldschool, i'm putting wake handle ends on my bar so at least if the leash wraps around its got a smooth surface to slide over and no sharp edges to get snagged on.

I don't even use the endwinders and I reckon I can roll up and setup quicker than nearly anyone. Also I have been using bars with wake handle ends for years and never once did I have this problem on those bars. I would still use that sort of bar %100 but I like to support SS and ride the bar they give me, which I don't mmind anyway, but I have had this happen before on SS bar to. Only difference is I don't ride a broomstick for a bar so my kite loops once at the most then hits the piss.