Why suicide leash isn't a good idea

[Toby]

On the beach and onshore winds can be very dangerous with the suicide leash...plus having it attached on the back of your harness...

https://vimeo.com/205173807

https://vimeo.com/205173807

[kiterocky]

Just Connect the safety ring and the chiken loop.. When release the chiken L the leash will stay with the safety line.. Easy

[Bushflyr]

Yeah, there's a reason they call it the "handlepass leash attachment". If you aren't doing handle passes, attach in front.

Looks like he was OK though, the lamp post activated his release.

[Toby]

I heard he hurt or broke 2 ribs...got pretty lucky there.

The light mast saved his life...

[dylan*]

it's not called a mast toby, it's a strut

do freak gusts like this really happen in many places? here the only time they happen, you can tell it's coming because it's from a squall line rolling through. when i lived in the gorge there were big gusts but never something you couldn't control unless you were on a very wrong size kite

[Toby]

I heard it was 45 knots...same day when Nick J broke the Woo record...

[dylan*]

I guess losing control of any size kite in that wind would be an easy accident, then

[Ozone Kites AUS]

Incorrect post topic.

If he had his leash in real suicide mode, which is when the leash is placed above the chicken loop onto the centre line, then he would probably be dead or still in hospital. The cause of all his problems was not letting go of the bar and activating his primary safety.

Riding with the leash attached to the flagging line ring that the chicken loop has been passed through is not suicide. It is the widely accepted best way to ride for those that unhook, and or that might accidentally unhook and who do not want the kite to flag out. It is not an unsafe way to ride.

Riding with a leash attached to your back, is the dumbest and most dangerous thing anyone can do. Even advanced freestyle riders mostly don't do it, because a missed pass means getting slammed into the water backwards with almost zero chance of recovering the bar. Most freestyle riders use a side or even front attachment for the leash, and just pre wrap the leash prior to doing a bar pass. This way if they miss the pass, they only get pulled sideways or forwards and can reach for the chicken loop/bar mid air and rehook back in.

Leash to the back of the harness = NO needs to be a sticky Toby.

[Bushflyr]

Leash to the back of the harness = NO needs to be a sticky Toby.

Good point, but then why does every single harness manufacturer provide a loop of cord across the back of their harness specifically labeled as a leash attachment?

[edt]

Leash to the back of the harness = NO needs to be a sticky Toby.

Good point, but then why does every single harness manufacturer provide a loop of cord across the back of their harness specifically labeled as a leash attachment?

you would have to ask them. My best guess is just inertia. that's the way they've always done it and there haven't been enough deaths yet to satisfy them to fix it.