Captive system
From KiteWiki
A captive system is a harness system where the user is permanantly attached to the kite via a safety system that contains a quick release of some sort.
A popular system for buggying uses a Wichard quick release connected to a pully or snatch block like the Holt Allen HA1375 as below:
The Wichard is connected to a spreader bar or climbing harness and is fitted with a toggle or ball to aid release in an emergency. The strop on the four line handles passes through the snatch block or pully.
When the release is activated, the pulley is released and the kite is disconnected from the user or rider.
With the Wichard QR release, you will notice that the release spring is hinged on one side and free to move on the other. Having a cord that simply passes through the gate will only release easily if the cord is being pulled at the point furthest away from the hinged end. If you slide the cord over to the end where the hinge is, you will have to pull about 10 times as hard to release the gate.
To get around this there are two solutions:
- Put a second piece of cord through the hinged side, and just tie the ends together. This prevents your release cord from getting to the wrong end of the gate, because the second bit is in the way.
- Take your release cord and make a tight loop around the opening end of the gate as per the picture below, combining both ends together into a single stopper. You can stitch the two parts of the cord together or use heat shrink tube to shorten the loop to the minimum length:
Because the loop is so short, it is impossible for the cord to fall to the wrong end of the gate, and also has the advantage that you only have to pull with one hand.
--Badger 22:32, 25 November 2008 (UTC)
