one big missing item from all of this is that (in reading up on those have gone thru kitemares of epic proportions) ... many dont so much as let go of the bar much the less pull the QR or attempt to unhook. When shit hits they go tense and hold on for dear life.
I think its a pretty common instinct for those untrained in those types of situations to just hold tight and brace for impact. I know that when I got a minor loft a couple seasons ago I held on and got taken for a ride.. nothing to write up about other than when I came down I was in 3 inches of water and got a nice slam out of the deal before I was able to recover. happened too quick to react for my untrained self.. if i had been near a shoreline would i have reacted different?? dont know.. prob not..
I think that anyone can learn to unhook/QR or whatever if they were constantly involved in situations that they had to do it. Our problem is that we might only go thru something like this one time per year.. most of us one time per 5 years..
Stuntmen can throw themselves down flights of stairs without getting hurt because they do it all the time and learn the proper ways to fall .. hell.. that skater that fell those 40 or 50 feet at the xgames is alive today because he is so used to falling that his body reacted out of instinct to lessen the impact the best it could. at the last second he twisted his torso around just enough ..
For someone like me that has never had a real scare, I just hope and pray that I can find that QR fast enough or if that fails will have enough sense to do whatever I can to release the kite by whatever means necessary.
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