In this case the kite did not have any left in it and is was sinking. He actually tied it around his waist so he would not loose it. If your kite has any air in it absolulty stay with it. Once it is sinking out it's time to swim. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you are off shore and in this situation you can pull off the rubber tube and inflate the struts with your mouth and pinch them off and create floatation for your self with the good struts.
Kent I read an article written by the kite designer at Ozone and he insists that keeping the struts independent from the leading edge has performance benefits by not letting the air pressure transfer from the struts on the side of the kite under turning pressure to the main bladder. Which is why he refused to put a single point inflation system on their high end kite the Edge. I don't know if it's for real, but I can't think of a down side to pinching them off, other than the 30 seconds of time it takes.
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