Is it actually a thing that some kiteboarders believe that you DO NOT need a safety release? Or am I reading this wrong?foilholio wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2019 3:00 pmI am not sure what you are calling BS on? I am mostly agreeing with you about 5th lines on LEI, but my limited experience lends me some doubts, for foils it is mostly true but single line does work and has worked extremely well on foils better than fifth in some cases like on ARCs. For foils my experience using flagging is very extensive, I trust them far over LEI especially when the release goes wrong.Matteo V wrote: foilholio wrote: ↑
Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:52 am
Matteo V wrote:
It (5th line) remains to this day, the safest flag out system.
For LEI maybe, and for some foils, but any single line rear or front works well on foils and is unmatched or something like ARCs.
Matteo V wrote:
Also, the release needs to be re-loadable in real world conditions for it to be of any use after activation.
Easy reloading is far over rated. The release should really only be used were reload is not even a consideration. You have accidental releases, but that is just poor design. You shouldn't be fixing a leaky bucket with another bucket.
I am appreciative of your response. But I call BS on this. Just with the safety maintained by reloading quickly and getting back under way quickly, in regards to innocent beach goers, your statement goes out the window.
As to needing to reload to save beach goers? Why? Why are you releasing with a threat to beach goers in the first place? A further question is why are you kiting with beach goers at all?
It''s the same design philosophy as to avoid needing an easy reload because of accidental releases. If you catch and handle the prior cause then no further creative solution is needed.
It's great Ozone have a easy reload, but it's one still a chicken loop ,and two a big bulky piece of crap, like most all other systems out there.
Your control over the kite is best when the kite is flying. So the less time you spend 'not flying' the kite the better, regardless of the safety system. Thus a quick reload, after an accidental or intentional release, is safer than a slow or difficult reload.
It is fairly difficult to seriously injure someone with the kite itself. It is much easier to seriously injure someone with tensioned kite lines. But your body mass moving at 20mph, and accelerating, has a huge potential to injure someone. This can occur when you lose control of the kite due to a wind gust, or turbulence. If you do lose control and become a projectile, you also have little control over the kite or lines. Which brings them into the injury potential equation too. Thus safety activation, even when there are beach goers, can be the safest option for limiting injuries to all parties because it stops you from becoming a projectile. It also allows you to have relative control over the situation as in being able to recover, or relaunch your kite.
Given that there are other people on the planet, and beaches and water are desirable for recreation for the vast majority of them, there will be beach goers at potentially every location you can kite at.