Forum for kitesurfers
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jakemoore
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Postby jakemoore » Tue Jul 06, 2021 4:09 pm
I'm doing a BRM style release on the kite side and a shackle on the harness. Yesterday the ring connecting the two broke in a modestly powered download jibe. I was completely separated from the kite. The kite stayed about 100M out of my reach the entire swim downwind back to shore. It was a long swim but could have been much worse.
I wish I could inspect the ring but unfortunately it was lost. It was about 5mm x 25 mm and must have had a several thousand pound load rating. I'm guessing it was a welded ring and the ring weld corroded. There was no external sign suggesting impending failure.
So the question is who makes the best ring for this critical part?
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sflinux
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Postby sflinux » Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:36 pm
I would look for a heavy gauge. Looking at the specs of these rings, I would not call them heavy gauge with a breaking load of 1000#.:
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mar ... ecordNum=1
Something like this is probably heavy gauge with a breaking strength of 4000#:
https://www.velasailingsupply.com/wicha ... dia-27-32/
Typically the thicker the ring, the stronger it is. And typically the larger the diameter of the ring, the stronger. On my bars with rooster rings, I went to at least 1 1/4" diameter. You can typically find these at reputable boating shops. If this is the weakest link in your setup, probably a good idea to replace it annually.
I would still suspect that the release mechanism disengaged.
Quick releases are great when they disengage only when you want them to. When they unexpectedly release, they start becoming a hazard in themself.
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jakemoore
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Postby jakemoore » Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:46 pm
sflinux wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:36 pm
I would still suspect that the release mechanism disengaged.
Definitely not the shackle but yes that was my first thought too. Its a Tylaska shackle and it was closed on inspection immediately on losing the bar. The ring disappeared. And the spliced depowerline was intact where it went around the ring.
My guess is that there must have been a corroded weld in the ring because otherwise the ring did a David Copperfield disappearing act.
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