Hey on my switchblade2 I have two places i can attach the safety leash.
Option 1 is above the QR for the chicken loop. If i attach here then pushing the safety on my chicken loop will leave me attached to the two front lines by the safety leash to my harness.
If I am just learning and not doing anything unhooked then I don't see the point of attaching here. If I am in trouble for whatever reason then I have dropped the bar as I am supposed to so I am attached by my chicken loop to the two front lines anyway.
If nothing is wrong with the kite then it should be fully de-powered pushing the QR on my chicken loop will do nothing except move the kite an extra 2 meters away and leave me attached to the kite at the same point by my safety.
Riding with the leash attached to the flagging ring on the left rear line seams to make more sense to me if I am not doing anything unhooked. Since releasing the QR on the chicken loop drops you down to 1 line if for some reason the kite wont de-power.
Any thoughts? This comes up as I was listening to Steve at KP talk to someone on Sunday about it in his store. I was thinking the same thing as the guy asking the questions.
And another thing how come the sb2 has red center lines and yellow and grey steering lines. Seams to go against the standard a bit. A guy was helping me set up my kite and kept asking if i had the lines correct. This red line shouldn't be connected to the front of the bridal.... hrmmmm....
Even the manual that comes with the sb2 talks extensively about the grey front lines and the yellow and black steering lines.
You are right, if the leash is on the center line then pushing the bar through the override ring is your only safety. Pulling the QR on the chicken loop just puts the whole thing out of reach.
Until you start spinning tricks or downloop turns where you need to spin the bar, then just leave the leash on the flagging ring, then you have backup in case the bar push doesn't stop you for some reason. Just be aware that if you crash and the kite rolls, then you are going to be all twisted up with the leash around the center lines. In that case you'll need to detatch leash from flagging ring, unspin the bar, reattach leash and then relaunch.
I tend to attach the leash to the flagging ring when launching, landing or anywhere near the beach, but move it onto the center line once I'm away from the beach and riding with plenty of space.
As for the lines, they are colour coded and kook proof. If you match the colours and connectors you can't go wrong (just make sure you don't have lines and bridles through each other - see Silviu's post). As was said before....check twice and launch once.
Hey Kared, thanks for asking the question! When I took a SB2 for a demo I was thinking the same thing. Andy's answer was excellent, makes sense to have the leash attached to the single line when launching/landing, then once out on the water move the leash to the Chicken loop - no more having to drag the kite back onto the beach if you stack it!
It's not often you should have to pull the QR on the SB's. When stacking and whilst everything is going pear shaped I resist the urge to totally depower the kite, they like tension on the rear lines and from most inverts(not many)and bow ties that I've seen, seem to because the bar has been let go or pushed out to soon or the kites under inflated. After the initial depower after a stack, get back on the power, you'll feel were the kite is and can always push out if it's going wrong, these kites are so forgiving. I'm not into tricks and things at this stage and have the leash on the flagging ring. I've only had to pull the QR twice, once when they were covered in stink weed and the lines bonded together, and on the other occassion, when it inverted and bow tides, ccnsidering what I was doing to the kite, I dont blame it.
