Well I had a unfortunate happening today.

While flying in some great 15-25mph winds, synergy pullin and liftin. It seems, even when the donkey dick is all the way in, somehow when I lean back on my board, the chicken loop falls out.

The first time this happened, I barely caught it before the kite was a goner, I thought nothing of it and put it back and made sure everything was hooked correctly. I also Hooked my safety leash to my harness, per manual instructions.

Mind you I have not modified anything, all stock setup.

The second time I lean back, the chicken loop pops off and the safety leash catches, but only for a second, then somehow releases automatically?!?!?

I am running for the now completely disconnected Synergy and it happens to go right over a fence into some concrete/metal rubble. Both my friend and I hop the fence and grab the kite before any more damage is already done.

After releasing it from the fence and such, we look for damages.

It now has a diagonal, 4 inch long, rip right above the deflate zipper.

Man, me and kites are not having a good week. First one stolen, then a second broken...

I'm gonna send PL and Fixmykite and email tonight.

Brian

Wow that sucks. Make sure your hook is not bent for some reason. It sounds fishy.

Wow bummer man. I think that the lesson is always use a leash if there is something that is downwind of you that you don't want your kite to fly into, whether its a fence, road or person. I know you don't have to use one with the PL, but it is an extra safety. You don't need one for Ozone depower foils either, but they can be nice to have and protect your kite and your liability.

I almost lost my first Access on the very first day I had it. It was an 8m and it was gusting to 20mph and I can unhooked and had the kite on full power staring at a barbed wire fence at the end of the field. Thankfully I got a lull and was able to get hooked back in.

Definitely send it off for a nice professional repair. Don't put any goop or tape on it. Being a new kite you don't want to mess it up. With a professional repair it sounds like it will be just like new. And buy yourself a nice new leash!

Thanks guys I appreciate it, I will figure it out.

Just not a good week for me, yah know?

Here are some pics of the rip.

Anyway I did get some nice pics from before the problem.

cool pictures dude !!!
and the rip looks clean should be a easy fix and lucky aswell
it wasn't worst reading where it ended up !!!

quite interesting about the loop ..
hapened to me twice !!!! all was secure like you said was riding in nice winds on skis when just about to get some air i find myself hanging onto the bar full power because the loop came off as if the chicken dick wasn't rigid enough !!!
i always keep my leash on the harnes,but still not fun to fight trying to get it hooked up again...

it will be interesting to see why this is !!!

steff

I landed my Syn19 in a tree and tore the top skin. Much bigger then yours. What I love about PL kites is how easy they are to repair. If you get some ripstop tape or even some insignia cloth you can fix that in 5 minutes. You could go one layer, but I'd sneak one piece of tape inside the cell to put on the back side, and then one on top of it too. Sandwich that kite fabric right in there and it'll hold. Round the edges of the tape to minimize chance of the corners peeling back. You could send it off and pay for charges and shipping, but I'm telling you, simple tape will fix it right up and keep that tear from growing.

I blew my v10 to hell. Blew out 4 ribs and tore the top skin tip to tail and did some sewing and used ripstop tape and I still fly that kite today. I've never sent a PL kite in for repair. If you got tape and a sewing machine it'll be air borne again in no time!

A.

If its a zero 7 bar, chicken loop, and DD are a pile................modify with a new chicken loop and DD.............go front line safety as well...........fixmykite.com for repairs.......my 15m Syn damage was 2 blown cells, LE damage, and over 100 cumulative inches of damage................$90 repair

the zero 7 bar has issues................not a fan..............If you need pics of modifications on my Z7 let me know..............................

Sorry to hear that looks like an easy repair though

Losing the chicken loop ... happened/happens to me a lot cos I tend to pull the bar ALL the way in - and my hands knock the donkey dick around and it comes out, then when I pull the bar again it unhooks. Sounds like you're doing the same thing - and then, to add insult to injury, you knocked the red hat thing too and lost the whole lot.
Apparently for some #@%$#! French law, the safety is designed to release with a very small amount of pressure ... oh this is assuming you have a Zero7 bar!

Ease up on hauling the bar in

What Carl does and what I'm going to do next time I can fly is hook the harness leash onto that d-ring inside the chicken loop - the suicide leash setup. You'll be permanently hooked into the kite like a regular LEI or whatnot so you'll have to make sure you can use the safety on the leash instinctively ...

pics would be nice !!! i to have the z7s now.
funny how it never happened with the z4 bars.
they had the DD come straight down the centre,where the z7 has it on a rap arround velcro on the loop..
maybe that's part of the prob !!!???
and the other prob i find with the DD in the winter is the stiching seems to rip appart when it's nice and freezing while your trying to hook up a DD hard as rock !!!

but this is all part of the fun
can't wait for the snow to arrive..

oh and nice field you have there brian

steff

No worries on that rip, slap some tape on it and your ready! It would fly fine even with this hole. I took that red hat of my bar after the first time it released.I never use the leash to the loop, I always have the safety hooked to my harness. ........aj

Tri,

Post some pix of the upgrade to the Z7 bar. I had similar issues at Folly and still don't trust it.
Thanks,

m

tape and 15sec that was easy.

the loop/harness thing ??.. in the pic i don't see where the leash is attached to the harness? looks as though the leash goes from the back line and attached to the main above the loop/or on it and not to you. am i missing something with 07 loop safety? is there a small secondary ?

i like the front line for flag lines but some VPC arcs may do better with rear.

i do see the DD through the harness hook. the DD has to be pulled all the way down sometimes. Some have elastic and velcro that keep it stable. it must be checked and pulled in proper position . many a time i flicked the DD without pulling it down and the loop comes off. but the leash always catches it

Thats happend to me about 4 times this year too on the zero 7 bar, but I still love it. Luckily I was able to hook in to save it.

Will do Mel......................good news is easy fixes for hassle/worry free flying....................last time I saw the front line safety released was in 25 plus mph winds.........13m V was released from zenith.....rolled over on its backside, landed, done..................I asked if he wanted a catch and I got the LOOK........................flown by Phree:duh::duh:

bottom line is you do nothing with the zero 7 , nothing changes (easy math) not trying to be critical but uncommanded unhookings are too frequent with this rig. My moded Best bar is all round more user friendly/safe than the Z7........................

Thanks guys, I do appreciate the help

I plan on getting one of these
http://www.fixmykite.com/shop/proddetail.asp?prod=kitefixrip...
and this while I am at it
http://www.kiteboarding.com/proddetail.asp?prod=pks_standard...

That should have me flying very soon. :D

Brian

That directed at me, Phree? The steel loop inside the chicken loop - hook a regular leash onto that ... no good if you're doing fancy tricks but ...

With my north 5th element bar I've had it fall off two times in a row, then no problem afer that. But I was flying in low winds so the bar was sheeted all the way in.

sorry to hear about your accident.

i never did like using a bar leash, i thought if we have auto zenith i would trust that and just use a kiteleash instead.

yes, i agree the Chicken Loop and DD suck and doesnt work on all Spreader bars. the DD with the velcro sides up and down so it comes out quickly. In some cases i've removed the DD completely and took my CL and squeezed it so it had less of a circle and more oval like.

ive heard that some take the bar leash and connect the clip to their spreader bar as a semi leash, doesnt work if you like to un-hook

another thing is flipping the RED Hat, opposite how the pic (above post) has it.

what's the difference between a kite leash and a bar leash?

Bar Leash is the one pictured above. The kite leash is the one that hooks to your harness and to the CL or Safety line. I think

What do you guys think? DIY fix sounds easy enough and cheaper, but a professional fix would be good too?

Thanks

Brian

bar leash is the picture above ... where the if you pulled the safety the kite would flag out.

a kite leash is a bungee type strap that attaches to bar and to the back of your harness.

TDMC96, upload that pic / video where I have the kite leash activated. please.

Quote:

Originally posted by brplatz Bar Leash is the one pictured above. The kite leash is the one that hooks to your harness and to the CL or Safety line. I think What do you guys think? DIY fix sounds easy enough and cheaper, but a professional fix would be good too? Thanks Brian

a. depends, if you like looking at repair tape on your kite ... its the cheap way to go

b. some repairs they just replace with patched material

c. depending on the professional repair, some will actually remove all the damaged cells and replace with new material so you kite looked like it NEVER was repair.

its just thread and ripstop chikara / dacron, it can all be replaced.

if you DIY tape inside and out....................fixmykite are awesome and do outstanding repairs on ARCs.........BBob and I can attest to that.........................dont use that fiber glass patch in that link you posted............good ole ripstop tape and your good to go...............Angus at coastal, WOC, Powerzone, and Ripsession have what you need...............

swap out your CL, add a front line safety, no more issues......................

DYI fixes can be easy and pro looking job too. I used Kitefix on my 15 Syn with a foot long dogleg tear on the LE. I can hardly see it even when I know where it is. I put the fiber tape on the inside so it's not visible. No stiching and lasted over a year of hard kiting on water, snow and ground and a few good impacts too. Took an hour to repair and that included opening the TE. I had to sew the TE back up though.

Sounds kike a DIY fix is in the works soon.

This or
http://kiteboarding.com/proddetail.asp?prod=minirepairkit
This?
http://kiteboarding.com/proddetail.asp?prod=completerepairki...

Brian

Someone suggested running the DD through the Suicide leash attachment. I did that on mine and haven't had it come off yet, I was doing 360s, grabs. etc... and never had it come off. it seems more stable with it through there. But this has me scared, I think i'll get a suicide leash from that site you posted with the emergency release on it incase i ever have to detach myself from the suicide leash...

Quote:

Originally posted by ripsessionkites TDMC96, upload that pic / video where I have the kite leash activated. please.

Here are the 3 pics I found of Rip. (sorry...no skirt this time):singing:

All good comments on the fix - I've done many twinskins and for most guys a simple tape job would suffice unless they want a nicer sewing job. You can even carefully put the tear fibers aligned and put a bead of crazy glue to weld the tear but I normally only do that on smaller tears and might still back up with tape.
if you are replacing panels you'll note that all appliqued sections are taped. It's actually rare that a tear gets into anything taped, usually the skin and stitching will tear out and the taped areas are solid.
Ribs will tear a long distance and will rip the edge off so they take a bit of edge rebuilding first and usually when the stitching pulls out with the rib it'll cut the upper or lower skin in spots where it rips through instead of breaking. All fixable just takes time.
One of the downsides to twinskins when they come down in any place with things that can impale the pressurized kite it doesn't take much when the wind pushes the big surface area down. Seen it happen a few times with buddies on holidays the first day they get somewhere and discover thorny bushes etc.

Quote:

Originally posted by brplatz Sounds kike a DIY fix is in the works soon. This or http://kiteboarding.com/proddetail.asp?prod=minirepairkit This? http://kiteboarding.com/proddetail.asp?prod=completerepairki... Brian

The kits you linked seem to be geared more for LEI's. You can pickup dacron tape from other sources if you ever need to repair holes that are missing material.

At the time, I just bought a pack of the fiberfix white tape (all that was available) and a tube of gluefix each seperately.

Maybe this one... http://kiteboarding.com/proddetail.asp?prod=kitefixripstop