Just had a major kitemare due to my harness releasing and I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else?
I was just over a 1km out on the outer reefs when my harness just uncliped itself, leaving me to swim in in a 4m swell, gusty as **** **** rainy wind, the whole time watching my kite get pumbled in the surf, then deathloop all the way to the only jetty and wrap itself around it= bad day!!
On a side note, how strong are Core kites,.. not the slightest sign of damage after 1/2hr loop smashing the jetty :)
What part of it released, harness or spreader bar?
Sounds like it would've been a solid swim in! 
Hey bud,
Yeah a long long swim, close to an hour. I have this awesome hook thing on the front foot of my board which is soo good for surfing but soo **** if you ever have to paddle.
The section that let go was the normal connection; metal u that hooks onto the speader bar, standard connection I think. At the time I was mid jibe and swisting to my right with all of the load pulling from far left of the harness. Its the one position that it can kind of self release. Its not a fault but I was just curious if this had happened to anyone else.
A bad day on the water is stilll way better than a good day at work though.
Sounds like the chicken loop and donkey dick kind of twisted and came free... I've had this happen on the earlier models when launching, one thing to prevent it is to put the donkey dick through that cutaway in the hook.
And what happened to your safety leash? Did you cut it away?
Na na the main clip that clicks the harness together came free so I lost everything, because my kite was still connected to to the harness when it piss off.
Strange feeling seeing your fully powered kite fly away with your harness leaving you with nothing. Went straight from kitesurfer to normal surfer in 2seconds
perhaps post a photo ?? I cant workout what released !! Like how do you lose the harness ???
Isn't that hook meant to have a safety clip that locks it into the spreader bar to stop it unhooking?
As with all harness you can feed a extra strap as a safety but I never thought you needed it until this morning. Mayes of mine run theirs like me, just the metal latch.
Never had a problem before,. Thats why I thought I would ask the question.
I think you should flip the hook over so it goes in from the inside of the spreader bar out.
My Dakine one did the same thing when that red clip was not on.
Put it this way its a lot harder to get the spreader bar to pull out, try it.
Select to expand quoteGazuki said..
Strange feeling seeing your fully powered kite fly away with your harness leaving you with nothing.
At least with a seat or board shorts harness, this cannot happen.
I have had my spreader bar unhook twice on me now, both times were due to me not clipping the red safety clip on (always in hurry to get on the water)...
Each time i have been able to let the kite flag, re secure the spreader then continue on....
Big fan of the nitrous shorts
Only issue with dynabars is they tend to wear quickly but easily repaired. Any other issues like yours maybe are usually harness compatibility with the bar. My harness doesnt clip in but use its straps to tie into dynobar.
Doesn't sound like a harness failure as such more like user error in that you removed the clip.
Select to expand quoteharry potter said...
Doesn't sound like a harness failure as such more like user error in that you removed the clip.
There was never a cllip??
A quick Google shows these harnesses all set up with the hook from inside out as suggested above.
User error, hardly a design failure.
I hate those clips get rid of them. More complications to deal with. Just put the harness on and off like a pair of shorts.
I was using the same setup with my Dakine harness and I didn't like it and didn't seem overly strong or trustworthy, it was also a bit of a pain to clip on and off.
So I went back to an old cab harness where the single large strap goes through the bar itself, much stronger and simpler
On another note I noticed the pin which is usually attached to the red ball (which apparently everyone must remove so I did) had become loose so the dynabar rope(s) would have easily let go had I not checked. It doesn't seem to be the best system but at least I can let go of everything if it all goes to sh...
Long live the dynabar.
Def the wrong way around, and I second that using the strap only works too.
Never heard the "remove the red ball pin thingy" rumor though? whats the reason for removing it?
Select to expand quoteBigBafana said..
Def the wrong way around, and I second that using the strap only works too.
Never heard the "remove the red ball pin thingy" rumor though? whats the reason for removing it?
Ask Terry. Maybe so you don't inadvertently pull it? The pin is quite loose.
Select to expand quoteAdoy said...
I think you should flip the hook over so it goes in from the inside of the spreader bar out.
My Dakine one did the same thing when that red clip was not on.
Put it this way its a lot harder to get the spreader bar to pull out, try it.
The reason that Dakine stopped supplying hooks mounted that way is that they're a risk for catching lines, so they went work the hook inside and the plastic red clip.
You can use the red clip on the Dynabar (I do) with Dakine hooks.
If you don't have Dakine hooks, I'd go to using the straps only. If you have double straps, they can ride up onto themselves as there's no splitter like with the hooks. So I'd feed one strap through and loop it around both holes, but just feed the other through once...
Select to expand quoteKamikuza said..
You can use the red clip on the Dynabar (I do) with Dakine hooks.
the Dakine hooks don't fit so well with the dynabar spreader bar as they are a bit too narrow, well at least mine were when I considered this option
I've had mine unhook a few of times with my old seat harness. It would just pull the spreader bar hard right .Very unnerving but I worked out that i could lower the kite and swivel my hips the opposite way to create enough slack to re-hook in. My dynabar didn't come with any red clips.
I'm now using Ion board short harness and it has never come undone. I think I also bent the hook a bit further so it was a pretty tight fit into receiving end.
Glad it ended ok, but at least you didn't have a harness to impede your mammoth swim back 
If you close the angle of the hook a few degrees it won't happen. Warm it up and put a block of wood over it and tap it with a hammer. 
Here we are to help.
The JAY hook buckle is designed to work with hook to be inserted from the back. You have to loosen the webbing but it''s a 10sec job.
If you think the hook facing outside is a safety issue then close it few mm as explained above (better if you use a vise, warmup isn't necessary) but will be more difficult to hook it to frame slot.
About the retain pin with red ball, if it gets loosen is because the 4mm bungee is too long, redo the knot or replace it if too old.
Regular maintenance is the key to avoid troubles
gaz
good onya for being open about this
lot of people would no doubt be grateful
we learn from our mistakes
good discussion and sharing going on here
