Read the Ben Wilson wave riding tips articles on Seabreeze - they have tips on unhooking while wave riding.

Without actually seeing what you are doing wrong its hard to say what's going on. Timing may be an issue.

Its not too much a matter of bar setup as to whether you can unhhook or not. The crossbow has pulleys on the bar so you may have a different response when unhooked but that shouldn't affect you much.

hey JohnT..
Compared to the other Cabs Xbows are absolute dogs to ride unhooked. When you unhook they sit back in the window and pull like hell. I tried for ages on mine (12m)and found I had to depower so much that it was rubbish when I hooked back in. The big advantage of Xbows in the waves is their huge range between full power and no power, but you have to be hooked in and possibly in overide mode to take advantage of this.

If your only just staying upwind, what are you doing unhooking? Unhooking on waves is preferred by a minority of kiters, and while it can look good it has huge limitations.

I had the chance of watching a Pro renouned for unhooked wave riding at my locat spot recently, he was getting a few sweet turns in, but even though the wind was only 12knts he was performing deadman hang off the bar every second wave! (no exaggeration), ending up in swimming in twice.

Unhooking on waves has its place but I would wait untill you have more experience before you go hard at it.

Save the unhooked stuff for a c-kite, the power in the turn while unhooked makes it a lot easier, or at least a hybrid style kite.

It sounds like the crossbow excels in dumping lots of power quickly so use that to your advantage, 12m is a huge kite in the surf,

Thanks
Matt

ill just put my bit in.. that kite is a dog to unhook totally agreed i hate hate hated it for that great to jump fat whore to unhook and always seem to back stall or just go really deep in the window. anwyay change to a rev or a nemi or warroo for unhook preformance :)