That's actually an excellent point Jim (and Tom). If you plan on using the outside line o-shit handle(s) for safety while riding, you HAVE to undo the velcro from the base of the leader lines so that the velcro does not wrap around the leader line. You should do thins before hitting the water, not when the sh.it hits the fan.
When wrapped around the leader line, the velcro is so strong, it will disallow the O-shit handle from functioning, no matter how hard you pull it. If you pull hard on it while the kite is in the sky, it might loop the kite.

I didn't read the manual (who does?) on the first day I got the BEST bar at EK to demo it. I loved the bar but thought to myself "this velcro is a death trap". I called Billy at Best (think he is gone now) and voiced concern. He said "read the manual", and sure enough in the manual (which is online), it says that (somewhere).
The thing is, it's an online manual and WHO reads that? As I remember it, the sentence wasn't in red or easy to find either (at least back then).

As much as I love the Best bar, the velcro (the amount of it) is total overkill for doing its job of aiding in the wrap up of lines when done kiting.
But, I wonder how many riders know that the O-shit won't work "out of the box" until the velcro is removed from around the line and re-attached not enveloping the line?
Even if you know it, it's just one more thing to maybe forget.
It's an oversight on the safety system, imo.

I also agree with Tom about crashing the kite first. If the kite is in the water, it can't loft you. If you are trying to find you QR with the kite in the sky..... you are looking for and at, your QR and ignoring the kite momentarily. This allows two things to possibly occur-

1) More time to get lofted (kite is in the sky, maybe right above your head)
2) Gives the kite the opportunity to loop. You might actually pull on one side of the bar, especially when grabbing for that O-shit handle that IS velcroed down

In addition, you will probably cover less ground when the kite is in the water.
When its in the sky it usually pulls you further (toward land).
Putting the kite in the water effectively removes on (big) variable (possible lofts, kiteloops) from the equation and might even buy you more time.

Good points Tom and Jim.

I wonder how many people with the Best bars think the O-shit handles work out of the box?