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Kamikuza
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Re: Red on left side

Postby Kamikuza » Tue Mar 12, 2013 1:34 am

romkite wrote:Right. Maybe as the OP I wasn't very clear in the first place when comparing to navigation lights, hence the strange comments and comparison I could read. I meant red left, green right, as a legacy standard coming from the nautical world. Well, it seems it doesn't make much sense for most of us.

Anyway, I still think everyone should be able to understand why standards are good and why as customers we should put pressure on kite brands to apply. Because it makes our lives easier and even safer to some extent !

(And if on your own you still want to make it red right, please be careful when ou lend your kite to a
friend or some beginner on the beach)

[bad quoting edit]
Conventions like this never seem to make much sense when reconsidered at some time in the future :) I'm of the opinion that we're better off sticking with at least red on the left... for the very reason in your last paragraph.

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Re: Red on left side

Postby Geronimo79 » Tue Mar 12, 2013 2:07 am

As long as a bar has an obvious difference between left en right i dont really see why the colours should matter except for a universal standard.

The new Blade bar (very cool design btw) has 2 colours which make it clear to me which site is which. Once i know this it doesnt really matter to me if its red or yellow or polkadots.
If both sides are the same.. then its getting more difficult and that i think is wrong.

Overall i think it would be best if all brands used a basic color code for left/right. Like the QR in red i think is best too.
The Epic bar was designed based upon input here on Kiteforum. There used to be a topic about these standards. But most bars i seen from brands have this colour codes these days.

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Re: Red on left side

Postby tautologies » Tue Mar 12, 2013 2:26 am

You guys have to look at the bigger picture....
As much as you think you are the only one that will control your kite...I can tell you at some point you will need some help. When you help someone you do not have time to check to see how s/he set up the lines...or what bar s/he has. You have to make a decision.

Btw. there is no way a bar was designed based on input from any kind of majority saying that red should be on the right. No Way. If you do not care you simply have no preference, but most people that have 5 minutes of experience in boat / on the water / sailing will strongly oppose red on the right.

I fall in the category of I do not care what the colors are as long as we could standardize them AND it is not opposite of other water rules.

Back to the topic: Have you never rescued someone? Or helped someone that got drug on land? Or had to quickly help control someones kite? I have and if the red had been on the opposite side it would have led to a potentially catastrophic outcome.
Once was when a kite started looping pulling him face down the grass at pretty high speed. I pulled the bar so the kite hit the ground. If the bar had been opposite the guy would have gotten air born and probably landed in some cars / on a road (the kite would have looped across the wind window).

Other times with run away kites in the water, it would not have been as bad, but probably could have hurt my hand.

So yeah there is a strong case for standardizing the color coding, and definitely not to be stupid about it and use red on the right side.
Last edited by tautologies on Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Red on left side

Postby nherbold » Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:35 am

Couldn't agree more.
It's not only about your personal preference but about safety for others (beginners?) incase things goes wrong. You might know all there is to know about your bar color coded bar but the person trying to someone who is in trouble will not and the price for that might be more than anyone should have to pay for that.

I'm sure if someone came up with the idea to change the color coding for boding into yellow and grey (or whatever) that would never pass no matter how beautiful it looks.

Speaking of safety....some standard quick release system for all bars would be nice to see as well

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Re: Red on left side

Postby SalmonSlayer » Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:13 am


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Re: Red on left side

Postby voodoospirit » Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:44 am

if u really want to help someone, u use the QR, u dont control his bar.

it would be far better that peeps learn how to use they QR, than a pointless red color on a bar.

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Re: Red on left side

Postby romkite » Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:27 am

SalmonSlayer wrote:different year, same topic

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2351153&hilit=red&start=40
Interesting, it seems more people new about port & starboard back in 2008. But you explained it all pretty well back then, and we are still there, so it looks like a dead end ... Except for epic who did it right, I can't believe I am saying something good about them. Also, I discovered that this morph bar of them is the one I use except I bought it from a small french manufacturer (reseller I should say) with different crapy colors. Could it be I have actually been using an epic design so happily all that time ? please no ! :lol:

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Re: Red on left side

Postby tautologies » Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:41 am

voodoospirit wrote:if u really want to help someone, u use the QR, u dont control his bar.

it would be far better that peeps learn how to use they QR, than a pointless red color on a bar.
Nw this is why I think people gotta start thinking. You cannot imagine a situation where this is not possible?

The guy being dragged.onhis belly. Id like to see you try to access that cl.
Or some guy in the water?

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Re: Red on left side

Postby leepasty » Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:05 pm

Glad to see so many people agree we need RED ON LEFT.
for those that dont see a need for it to be standardized , imagine if some car manufacturers put the brake and clutch pedals the other way round or the accelerator and brake for those of you that drive automatics.
you then hired a car or borrow a friends and need to take avoiding action, lets say a child runs out in front of you. you would automatically do what you are used to in your own car but this brand was the other way round. you can imagine the outcome is not nice!
same thing can happen in kiting as mentioned above. simply pulling the wrong side in an emergency situation could be the difference between life and death.
When its all for the sake of being different, I think its crazy and we as consumers and especially instructors should push for all brands to have-
Red on left side of bar, (grip, bar end, float and line/leader)
Push away safety system


if its all the same its easy to help out in a situation where doing it wrong could cause dire circumstances as Tautologies says.
Hope the brands listen. Maybe we can get the IKA and national associations to help push this?
thanks
lee

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Re: Red on left side

Postby briansuntrax » Tue Mar 12, 2013 6:04 pm

As an ex Hobie Cat and windsurf racer who was indoctrinated in the red/green port/starboard thing, I have always thought in these terms for kite bars. However an earlier poster mentioned an aditional stripe along the full length of one side of the bar for the colour blind.
This got me thinking, why should we have to think about which colour should be on which end when we can simply have a right side and a wrong side (not end) of the bar ? we could have a white side and a black side, or any 2 contrasting colours, plus maybe a stripe/s or zig zag for the colour blind.
Surely this would be much easier to remember than which colour should be on which end?

For the purists we could still have a red floater and leader line on the left.

Or have I forgotten something?


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