windsufering said..
Please I need some advice from some one who can kite. Is it unnatural to pull the QR system ?
If some one finds this post offensive I will delete it.
I pray all the best for the American
The Quick Release is quick but there are a few instinctive reactions that need to be belted out through repetition and replaced with new instinctive reactions before pulling the QR is instinctive and effective.
For those that don't kite pulling the bar in and out changes the angle of attack of the kite, in short and very crude terms pull in it powers up, let it out and the power drops off. So when something goes pear-shaped the common sense response is to let the bar out (but not let go). Unfortunately one of many inbuilt instinctive response to an immediate danger is to retract in and protect yourself, think of someone punching you in the gut, they may withdraw and bring their arms in to protect their abdomen. Same thing can happen to a Kiter if something goes wrong, they retract inwards and pull the bar in which is exactly the wrong thing to do. It takes time on water and experience to overcome his instinctive reaction.
Another is one is, "yeah I got this, I can fix it", the second it takes to realise that the kite is looping out of control or whatever is time you needed to pull the QR but in that second you may well have been launched and be beyond any hope of recovering it.
Pretty much every kite has two QR, the first actually keeps you attached to the kite but flags it out to only one or two lines, instead of the four or five. Normally this will be enough to kill the power and keep the kite from blowing away. If things go further pear-shaped the second QR allows you to totally disconnect from that last flagging line or two.
There is an inherent problem with the primary quick release though. If the kite has already done a few loops the four or five lines are now starting to bind up and turn into a single rope, effectively making it impossible for that flagging line to take the load by itself. Which is probably why there is a secondary QR.
Another problem with the QR is each manufacturer has their own 'safest and best' system, and even they change every two years or so. Me, I have six different bar and line sets from three different manufacturers and in there are 4 different primary QR mechanisms. Some require you to push the release away, some want you to pull it, one requires the mechanism to be rotated, some are above the chicken loop, some are part of the chicken loop. Pulling the QR needs to be instinctive, you shouldn't have to pause and think what bar and line set you are using then remember what needs to be done.
Both recent serious kite incidents highlight that you only have barely a second to appreciate the situation unfolding and react to it. Inexperience, or too much experience, instinctive reactions and equipment are all fighting to take up that one second.
I hate to think how the guys in the early days of the sport survived it, no trim options, no quick releases and kites that flew like absolute pigs.
