I was out kite surfing the other day about 100m out in about 22 knot winds cross shore, and then out of the blue, the stopper on the safety line in my chicken loop came off (where my leash connects to). As a result, the kite crashed and I lost both of my front lines cause the middle lines were no longer joined to the Y.
Having no idea what to do in this scenario, I released the chicken loop from my harness and held on to the QR whilst the kite was towing me towards the shore. This gave me a bit of time to calm down and think of what I was gonna do next when I was close enough touch the ground.
Unfortunately since I was quite a bit down wind, there wasn't gonna be anyone to catch my kite so I was all on my own.
Eventually after a few minutes I was pretty close to the shore and had still not come up with a proper solution in my mind. Luckily though, there was quite a bit of chop which sunk my kite enough in the water to kill the power. I quickly ran to my kite hand over hand holding on one of the rear lines ( as I had no front lines) until I reached it and secured the kite...phew!
My question is what is the best course of action to take if this happens? Had it not been for the waves to sink my kite, I'm really not sure how it would have ended.

I also snapped my Core safety line twice in one week in light winds (15kn) last summer. Except the lines were brand new so was it was either faulty gear (unlikely), bad luck or, most likely, the result of kiting to close too a haunted ship wreck?

I wasn't far out so i just unhooked and the kite came to rest nicely on the water and drifted in before being swamped with water. Never been an issue since but now when i kite that spot i never pass between the wreck and the cardinal marker

All this talk about Core bar lines snapping gives me doubts about my bar, suddenly I feel like they are not that good quality as they say.

I mean just in this short time there is 3 ppl saying how their safety lines snapped and in one case two times already that makes 4 events.

kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2390587

In this forum post a guy had it happen twice in a session with two different(Core) bars...

Would love to know if there are more cases out there... I haven't read so many cases for other bars in the Market.

Hi Rockykite,

If you talk to kiters with many years of experience you'll notice that equipment failure is just ''part of the sport'' and it's not definitely not brand specific. I've had other line and depower / safety line breaks in the past with a few other other big brands. Each time such an incident happened, a closer inspection revealed that I should've replaced those parts in the first place as they were showing signs of advanced wear and tear.

Looking at the general state of your bar it just looks like it's had some heavy use and was in need of some TLC.

No Kite manufacturer is perfect, but they all learn and evolve from such experiences. Core has now added a protective sleeve to the depower line where it connects to the ''Y'' to help reduce line abrasion.

The picture below is probably the same as what you have. As you can see on the upper part of the image there is some considerable rope fraying/abrasion where is actually tensions and slides around the metal ring. This bar is no longer in use and will need a new depower rope. Yours probably looked like this or even worse before the incident.



If you order a new Core depower rope, it will look like this:


As you can see this depower rope will inevitably get a longer life. The only issue with any kite brands covering such parts is that you can't actually see if there is any wear and tear underneath the protective cover.

So yes it's worth replacing it. Check your lines as well perhaps they need replacement as well.

Kiters are quick to blame brands for equipment failure where most of the time it could've been prevented with regular inspections and regular maintenance.

Check your equipment regularly and rinse your bar and lines.

Christian

Hi all, just my experience with core, bought a second hand 2012 12m gts to learn on. Kite was stalling like crazy eventualy tuned the lines etc. Crashed once in sub 15kts, not hard, tore leading to trailing edge in 3 spots got repaired kite stalls like crazy still even tuned maybe from all the repairs. Found the kite super slow compared to the 12m rally i now own. Crashed later another leading to trailing edge tear.

More repairs then canopy now so unlikely to tear if anyone wants a cheap pre-repaired kite so you dont have to :)

Took it out one 20+kt day probably out 500m or so very cross on wind went for a sent jump chicken loop rope snapped half way up the ascent throwing the power to my arms which i then let go and fell for what felt like a bit, probably only a head high jump tho. Had a lovely self rescue/swim back

I recommend core for learners, learning to self rescue early on could prove invaluable

had 1 full length repair, didnt really know what i was looking at at the time but had it pumped on the lawn and checked under canopy toward the sun for pinholes and there were none that i saw, maybe uv damage...

Sorted the lines to equal lengths as they were stretched, still backstalls like crazy especially in lighter wind. I know they are designed in germany arent they made in shri lanka?

loftsofwind said..
I notice this is the old sensor bar.

Does this wear still happen on the new sensor 2 bar?

The new bar has the same protective sleeve as I posted in the second picture above.

purpleninja said..
had 1 full length repair, didnt really know what i was looking at at the time but had it pumped on the lawn and checked under canopy toward the sun for pinholes and there were none that i saw, maybe uv damage...

Sorted the lines to equal lengths as they were stretched, still backstalls like crazy especially in lighter wind. I know they are designed in germany arent they made in shri lanka?

maybe the triple-ripstop & extra strength Dacron makes the kite heavier, ie a bomb proof kite makes it a bomb? maybe the bridles were stretched. dunno.

maybe the triple-ripstop & extra strength Dacron makes the kite heavier, ie a bomb proof kite makes it a bomb? maybe the bridles were stretched. dunno.

Wrong again I'm afraid. I was wondering if there was a weight difference myself between the XR3's and XR4's but no. Same exact weight for each size.

9m XR3 or XR4 kite : 3.2 kg
7m XR3 or XR4 kite: 2.8 kg

Yes the new Dacron is heavier but it's also much stiffer, so they were able to make thinner diameter leading edge and struts and this is how the overall weight stayed the same. Other brands have tried to make kites with thin struts and thin leading edges before but with regular Dacron...the result : LE and struts just bend in half under load. I wouldn't be surprised these new materials become the market standard for other brands in a few years time.

Their LW kites all have double ripstop instead of triple to help reduce weight.

Hi Peeps,

ALL kites bars have parts that wear. Most kite bars depower lines wear out. Some parts are designed to wear and be easily replaced. Like most things like oil, filters, fanbelts, brake pads in a car, these are replaceable or "consumable" items and need to be checked at regular intervals.

All aircraft that fly have regular pre-flight checks, even if they only fly for one hour, they must go through another pre-flight inspection before they take off again. This is aside from major scheduled inspections.

Your kite is a form of aircraft capable of lifting you into the air. You should also preflight check your gear EVERY time you fly it. If you see parts wearing out, it is smart to replace it before it gets to the point of failure. Just because it was ok last time, does not mean it is OK this time, a line or canopy may have snagged and abraded, been cut or have been damaged by getting caught in the car boot lid or whatever.

ALL riders should pre-flight check their gear EVERY time you rig up to fly. Complaining about a worn out part breaking because you have not bothered to inspect or replace a known wear part seems a bit weak.

Please take responsibility for your own safety and check your gear regularly and don't be a tight arse, replace the parts that are worn well before they are likely to break.

Safe flying to all.

DM