Hi all, just a quickie - I've been reading a bit about suicide leashes, and would like to understand exactly what they are and why. I did a bit of a search but was still left confused as to how they are different from a normal leash.

I ride a Cabrinha Convert 12, and my leash connects to a ring on the end of my left hand middle line. Is this therefore my "flagging" line?

My instructor taught me how to ditch my kite, and we did it in lessons, but we didn't go through this sort of terminology...

Ta in advance!

Bucko

buckwheat said...

and my leash connects to a ring on the end of my left hand middle line.

is that some sort of a piercing you have....

Hey sunseeker, ssshhh! Thats still a secret, if my Nan found out she'd have a heart attack.....

No seriously....

Suicide leash - this is where you connect your leash to your chicken loop or in the case of a cabrinha onto your depower line. This allows you to do rotations like backrolls etc and kiteloops without your leash getting tangled around the lines. Make sure though that your kite is set up for full depower when you throw the bar before doing this. Not recommended for noobs though.

Attaching a leash to one of your flying lines or a 5th line is called a flagging line setup, however does not allow rotations or kite loops.

The REV has a connection for the leash below the bar.

sunseeker said...



Attaching a leash to one of your flying lines or a 5th line is called a flagging line setup, however does not allow rotations or kite loops.

Not quite true. With most 5line setups, such as North and F-One, the 5th line goes throught the centre of the bar and this allows you to rotate and kiteloop as much as like.

Riding suicide gives you the advantage that when you unhook and let go of the bar the kite won't be flagged and fall out of the sky.

It's the black plastic line that the bar slides up and down on - basically the connection between your centre lines and chicken loop. You can connect the leash to this line below the bar which is the same effect as attaching it to the chicken loop itself

Hey buckwheat.
Dunno if you've got the gist of it yet but heres my 2 cents worth.
Basically instead if clipping into your flaggingline- where when you bail, you are connected to one line only. You connect to your depowerline. this is the bit of rope that comes out of your chicken-loop and up, through your bar, up over a pulley, back through your bar and through your depower system. The idea is this. when you bail, your bar goes as far as your stopper-ball or the end of your depower line only. this will flag out your kite enough to turn the power off and it will hit the water. The benefit of this is, you don't get tangled in your flagging line and you can easily reset and kite off. The down side is, the kite still has some power and will drag you for a bit and your at its mercy. Hence the suicide term.
Watch a Rueben Lenten movie. Watch where he connects it and what happens when he misses a pass.
That is a suicide leash.
Hope that helps dude.

P.S- This can be a dangerous leash so practice on the beach. My girlfriend is a noob but i've taught her this leash for this reason. Whenever she pulled the safety and her kite flagged on one line, it would always tangle and that was more dangerous.

Hey everyone, ta for the lesson - very much appreciated!