hi paul,
I had the same thoughts and some skepticism on how well this kite would relaunch in water.
the proof will be at the coast when I drop it in the wash zone and see how well it does at relaunch
so when I grabbed the gopro, it was really only for a small portion of my session.
I just held the camera by the floaty back door in my mouth.
I should patent that mount!
anyhow earlier in my session I pearled my board at a high speed and ended up dropping the kite.
I intended on spending a significant amount of time performing a deep water relaunch while bobbing. this is much more challenging than standing in 2 feet of water like in the video. I'll say that it relaunched just as easily as from standing in one spot. the biggest factor other than the shape of the LE, is those wingtip struts. there are pretty large and vertical when the kite is LE down. these act as goal posts and help keep the canopy from sitting in the water. once the wind hits the canopy it opens and fills with wind making relaunch pretty effortless. very impressive relaunch.