Remember that quick release your instructor showed you how to use during your first lessons? You might have even had to use it once or twice for real. Well what if you need to release it, but you can't reach it?

Suicide systems allow kiteboarders to unhook and drop the bar, without activating their safety system. The kite crashes, you pull yourself back up the leash, hook back in and continue riding. No big deal. But when you're on the beach, and your chicken loop gets unhooked from your harness by accident, it's a nasty feeling.

First, your heart skips a beat. That docile kite above you is now pulling HARD from your shoulders, you can't let go, because the kite will crash on land/into the carpark/spectators etc, but you can't pull the bar back down to hook in with two hands, because it's too windy! The only option is to let go with one hand and grab the chicken loop, depowering the kite and allowing you to hook back in. BUT. That split second between letting go, and grabbing the chicken loop - your kite is going to start turning into a loop. And if you miss the chicken-loop. Things like the video below happen.

A few things can be learned from watching this kitemare unfold.

1: Don't ride with a suicide leash on the beach. 2: Double check your chickenloop before giving the thumbs up on a launch. 3: Brief yourself to hit the QR, AND the Leash release in an emergency.

Watch and learn from this kiteboarding accident caught on camera below.

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