Hi pattiecannon. I think you will find that as you gain more time on the water then the trim adjustment is will become less of an issue for you. You will find you can set it at the beginning of a session and leave it for the rest of the day, only adjusting it if the wind gets up or drops. You may be interested to know that Naish have gone back to a strap above the bar on there 2012 Tourch. I know you were talking about being hooked in all the time but if you start to try anything unhooked you will find there is a benefit to a uncluttered chicken loop, and this is why some freestyle kites have gone to the above the bar adjustment.

The amount you adjust your front lines has nothing to do with how long you have been kiting. If anything being a learner it's one thing that gets forgotten while riding. To have your kite in the correct trim is very important, I adjust through most gusts and luls, most importantly getting trim right for unhooking. People that go out with one setting all day should see them selfs kite, when a gust hits they are forced to lean over forward to get the bar out, which in turn changes your weight position on the board and makes the effect of the gust much worse as they are no longer hiking against the kite. They will then lose alot of height upwind and will probably lose speed as they bring their kite up to lose some power. Yer UTBD is difficult to reach on most bars but if you are proactive and are ready for the gusts /luls and know how much to adjust by you can make the most of the wind as it comes without loosing height. I use the UTBD system from a cabrinha 2011, with a f-one bar and a custom line setup with a 2010 pro kit swivel chicken loop. The cabrinha setup works so well with the spring setup that it doesn't restrict depower and the lines are still in reach. For unhooking I want nothing in the way of my chicken loop, cause flying towards the beach unable to hook back in isnt fun. I have also had the depower line on a BTBD wrap around the bar when unhooking, locking the bar to the chicken loop at full power. Sorry for the massive post

Try trimming the bar for unhooking so that it is powered up nicely with the bar fully in. When a strong gust comes let the bar out slightly to a more arm straight position and edge hard using the board to control your speed, not your kite. After the gust has passed you are still trimmed to unhook. Its all about edging and using the board to control your speed not the kite. Try it you will be surprised how much power you can handle without having to reach for the trim strap at every gust.

Grab a demo Ozone kite sometime see why people rate its depower system so highly

Kitemare trying to pull my btb rope out of the cleat when the wind had dropped, to give it full power, which just pulls the whole front of the kite down towards you! so I used my other hand to hold against the tension and pulled upwards So naturally i've grabbed the nice large hand shaped piece of plastic just above the bar which (obviously) is the safety release which un hooks the chicken loop and releases my kite into the waves Then I lost my board in the surf zone trying to swim in drifted 400 m down wind till I got back to the beach and while walking back up to find my board the wind momentarily dropped off, dumping my kite into the bushes - puncturing my leading edge!!! I'm voting 1 for above the bar strap systems Kiting 7 years, and still finding new ways to stuff things up!!

The longer I kite the more a realise how little i know!! Things I once thought where **** are now on my must have list. Iv had a 2010 Ozone and Naish. Now ride 2012 Switchblades. Love the switchblade ATBD and the swivel, but miss my Naish stopper and my ozone wind range. !!! I find that most of the "Faults" i found with my kites ended up being faults with my technique instead. Now I'm slow to blame the gear and instead ask advise and than listen to more experienced riders. A little respect for experience gets you a lot further than going off half cocked. I ride all my new gear with the state of the art de-power alongside a bloke that rides a 5 year old Cabrinah with a 6 year old Naish bar that has lots of "adjustments" to make it fit. He ****s all over me in avery way!! He rides better! He jumps better! He's way cooler than me! And he still has all his hair!!! I hate him! A lot!

^^^^ agree If you find this messy or complicated ....... you are a "special" person IMO it just doesnt get any simpler

That sounds totally crap m8! My AtB hooked the bar & was doing the death loop on the beach and I was in panic mode. I can't imagine having this happen mid jump - shykes! As to trimming on the fly, I have seen videos of Dimitri constantly adjusting the trim whilst on board, so, if it's good enough for him....... no worries. The fact that the Ozone AtB is so simple actually makes ATB sound a little more appealing to me, so now i'm gonna check ATBs Cabs and Ozone BTBs Airrush,SS & Naish I have a 2011 BTB Naish bar coming in next week so can't wait to give it a try with the quiver Hey Daggy thanks for the vote - easy to laugh after! Cheers

some one mentioned the Zeeko bar earlier. it is a great system, it can be above the bar OR below the bar anytime you want and no loose ropes flying around when you depower(actually trim) the kite. best of both worlds and you can make one yourself for cheap.

I haven't seen many bar systems break, but the few I have were mostly cabrinhas

To a search for the Aus zeeko distributor. He is based in Melbourne. Been meaning to check it out to see how well it would work in practice.