Hi folks,

New to this. I bought an HQ Scout 4.0 about a month ago for educational purposes. I took it out two weeks ago in 15mph winds and had a blast. Today the winds were whipping here and I took it out at a large local park. Gusty with lot's of lulls. Anyway, I got hit with a strong gust and had the bar pulled from my hands. It was the first time I got to use the safety strap which was wrapped to my wrist. Thing was, it snapped like a twig. Seriously, I hardly felt a tug on my wrist, the line just snapped right at the sewing by the wrist cuff. Seems like a defect to me but since I don't have any experience I'd thought I'd plumb the collective inteligence. FYI, winds were about 15-18mph, and that gust in particular was probably 25mph. I had to sprint 150 yds to get the kite which got hung up in a bush.

So, did I do something wrong or what?

Sounds like a defect to me ?

HQ are pretty good. I suggest you contact them or the dealer you got it from.

Send me an email and we'll fix you up.

chris@hq-kites-usa.com

Cheers,

Chris

Ya HQ is great for this. my Kite Killers had snapped on my old Crossfire and they replaced them and the handles. had it all set in less than a week

Qualifier: This is NOT intended as a "dig" on HQ kites. All of my kites are HQ and are exceptional sails.

The bungee leash on my 3m Scout also snapped in a similar circumstance. Upon inspection, the bungee was frayed at each end where it is sewn into the end pieces. It's almost as though the sewing weakened the bungee cord itself.
That being said, after having gained some experience and flying the kite in higher winds, I do no feel the factory bungee is adequately sized for the amount of power that the kite generates. I replaced mine with a loosely braided length of 1/2 inch webbing attached to the factory wrist band with a loop at the other end for a larkshead on the brake line.
The braid allows for "give" which lessons the jerk and the webbing is more than adequate to hold the kite under any conditions.
It is a comfort to know that HQ is quick to make right any problems with their product. Props to Chris for a responsible and prompt resolution for Treehousebuilder.
Mel

Ya, thanks to Chris from HQ and Chris from KittyHawkKites. Apparently it's a known issue. They are sending out a new safety strap. Not sure if I'll use it though. I'll probably just cut a small piece of high test line and replace it myself. That why I won't have to worry about it happening again. Seems like the kite survived it's encounter with the bush so no harm no foul.