Am I alone in thinking that the preferred direction of movement to operate a quick release would be towards the body ????

I have always found it easier to pull on a rope over pushing on a rope

As for the 200kg loading, I recency was smacked by a large wave, fell in front of it and was sucked back up and over the falls.
At some stage I managed to PULL the quick release.
I'm about 100kg, so if there was a way to measure and add my weight + the water over me + the pull of the kite I have no dough 200kg would be achieved.

terminal said...

Craig66 said...

Am I alone in thinking that the preferred direction of movement to operate a quick release would be towards the body ????

I have always found it easier to pull on a rope over pushing on a rope

If the kite was dropping back into the powerzone in a sudden lull and was about to power up in a gust, its hard to pull against a slack powerline.

Yes can see your point.

orynoco said...

Adrenalin has fugg all to do with lab testing!!!!! Ask the Hulk if you dare!

Orynoco I am not referring to adrenalin... Its the thought process of getting to releasing the QR... How many times have you see a newbie been dragged wildy trying to save his kite and not thinking about his life... Once he realises how stupid he is being, he then has to find the QR and tries to release....

If the french are already testing QR's, what lab test do they undertake? does anybody know...?

This is the problem with a lot of hobby sports. An idea is put into construction, tested 10 times in the field, if it does not fail its put to the market.. We dont do that with planes, cars, houses, bridges etc, because of the life costs, so why here?. Its odd we use rated lines, but we put no thought to where the hole load is at its greatest?

Given the number of kites sold each year, to undertake proper R&D engineering and testing would equate to a couple of dollars to each kite..

Again my 2 cents....

This is a big issue!!
After watching how safety releases explode after load testing!!
Work Health and Safety must get involved and insist all kiteboarders wear an approved AS/NZS 1337 face shield to be able to safely activate their safety releases in high loaded situations.

I also believe we need effective safety leashes attached to the beach so if there is any problem (for example the rider isn't a good swimmer) one can climb up the safety leash back to the beach. I have thought about it and extra long ones are needed for down winders.

May I add that perhaps a salted up used QR may not work as well as your brand new WD-40 sprayed shop tested QR. Also with basic physics that 25kg is 25 kg of force applied in the correct vector, most people in a panic situation will not pull in a completely straight direction and thus require more force to operate.

There are so many things that can go wrong just getting out of bed..........look at the poor fellow who recently went kiting at Woodies. There is almost no kiter I know that hasn't had some scary thing happen. I've had 3 bars snap, chicken loop break, line break, canopy blow out, not to mention heaps of inversions.............. and I do try to ride "safe" gear.

Kite gear will progress further just like all things. I do trust that people who make kite equipment want safe stuff, and they will be the survivors. Late market entrants risk losing any chance if they compromise on safety.............but surprisingly some do...go figure.

dafunk said...

25kg anit too much? take up something easier if its too hard for ya .
as long as the operator can use it .
and in a emergency everyone gets adrenalin power up

25 kg is WAAAAAAAAY to much... this isn't a bench pressing competiton. This is one hand quickly scrambling for the QR- you only get one shot.

200 kg is a bit over the top. Yes its possible to build up this kind of force as you are accellerating upwards, etc... but the whole 200kg force would be very short lived, and the most you would be likely to have when pulling a quick release is your own body weight or less.

By definition, to have a force of 200kg means you are accellerating at 2g's horizontal or 1g vertical (for a 100kg person).

Do the test again at 80-100kg force. Also, pull the release using another block, not by hand. You can skew the results by jerking.