Hey Kevin,

The best thing to do is to pull the bar into a hard turn before the kite hits the water, with good fortune, the kite will hit on an angle and the energy will be absorbed more slowly rather than the nasty BANG as she hits the water under full noise.

Yes you can pull the safety and it will save your kite but resetting a Cabrinha in the water is almost as difficult as pushing a wet turd uphill with a sharp stick. Resetting almost any quick release is very difficult and dangerous in the water.

The repair shouldn't be more than a couple of hundred in a bad scenario. Drop it into Moti Levy on the Goldy, he-ll sort it like new.

Good winds,

The same thing happened to my 2004 Nitro - I had it fixed with no trouble. It did happen again though about 6 months later after which I gave up on the kite. What happens is that the seam where the strut is stitched to the canopy gets a bit stretched over time and becomes a nice perforation. When you crash the kite, the canopy stretches and tears along the perforation.

I suggest that when you send it in for the repair, get the repairer to take off the 3 middle struts and re-inforce the canopy where the struts are sewn to the canopy. It may cost a little more but you can bet that if it has happened once that it will happen again.

Resetting your recon in deep water is near impossible. It is hard enough on the beach as the lines get fairly tangled.

Moti Levi on the Gold Coast is your best bet.

Cheers
Nick

unless you get Moti to hook up a 5th line to your kite i wouldnt suggest letting it go.... if its falling from the sky Your best bet is to swim backwards to tension the lines, or if you cant, swim forwards so the kite hits the water with a bit of slack in the lines...