Hi Guys, Anyone ever seen a line break like this before? The 2013 factory-new kite and bar/lines had only been used 3 times prior. The line failed in flight during a jump. As seen in the pics the line failed from inside the pigtail sheath, there was nil previous evidence of the impending failure. Looking at the depth of the failure, it looks to have failed where all the stitching for the pigtail originates. The still-intact line in the pics is the opposite side and pictured for reference.

If seen before, any info on the age, make and model and what you were doing at the time would be appreciated.

Cheers.

Yeah man, that's broken
Take it back to your store/supplier , get it replaced
And move on
Stuff breaks, what are you expecting from all your photos and measuring?

(don't mean to sound harsh- I'm sure that lead to a messy kitemare, but did you have a bad experience from your supplier? In which case maybe you should contact them direct and sort this out. Or consumer affairs?)

At least your valves haven't peeled off ...
Not yet anyways

Ive broken 20+ lines before and never seen this, would normally break near the sleeve or at the first stitch. Sure gave me chills seeing this as our lives depend on a malfunction of this type not happening.

I would be one of the only people who puts new lines on every year because of the risk involved with free falling from a big air, but this is something I had not expected to happen. I to would like to know if this happens often.

I wonder what brand it was? I could pre stretch my lines to test for weak spot or go get an extra line of stitch put on to double check, either way Im glad your not hurt, thanks aus.

Yeah who's the manufacturer ? I am about to buy some new gear and would properly stay clear from these guys. Crazy to have it break after 3 sessions.

Looks like ozone lines to me.

Dang!

I too don't want my lines to fail and I run 2 bars. one general use bar that i use for every thing and one extreme conditions only bar. I certainly don't want my extreme conditions lines failing!

I would like to know what caused this and what the early warning signs are.

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Plummet said...
Looks like ozone lines to me.

Dang!

I too don't want my lines to fail and I run 2 bars. one general use bar that i use for every thing and one extreme conditions only bar. I certainly don't want my extreme conditions lines failing!

It does. But Ozone lines have a small tag with line # and line length printed on it.

North line i reckon

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Rob S said...

Plummet said...
Looks like ozone lines to me.

Dang!

I too don't want my lines to fail and I run 2 bars. one general use bar that i use for every thing and one extreme conditions only bar. I certainly don't want my extreme conditions lines failing!

It does. But Ozone lines have a small tag with line # and line length printed on it.

I rip these tags off

A damaged sewing needle can cut the material being sewn. But I can't see anything obvious in the picture.
The dense stitching at start and end looks a bit overdone compared to other makers. See pic.



OK. It does look exactly like my Ozone lines. That's why I want to be able to identify a fault before I crash out of the sky and before I go on my kite holiday OS

My Ozone lines.
Note:

Wider Zig Zag over both sleeves
Less dense start and end stitching

PS It probably would not be helpful to cut the stitching to remove the tag

Yes, we've seen it and you can search this forum for the word "incident" written by me.

I recon it was overstitched.

As Rob S suggested:

Overstitching on the lines with an old or damaged machine needle will certainly weaken the line.

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Rob S said...


My Ozone lines.
Note:

Wider Zig Zag over both sleeves
Less dense start and end stitching

PS It probably would not be helpful to cut the stitching to remove the tag

na, you just rip the tag off with your fingers and stitching stays intact, uninterupted, very easy to do (Im a minimalist though). The same way you used to to rip off the size tag on old boardies.. its essentially the same tag

www.jennycraig.com.au/

Sorry, someone had to say it......

In all honesty, stuff happens, something just wasn't right....it happens...non of us want it to happen. Generally this type of failure would be classed as infant failure...straight out of the box, manufacture went wrong, it fails...happens all the time across all manufacture, not just kites. A good kite store knows this and should help. If it was 3 month after use, different story...probably still a manufacture fault, however so many outside influences...
No different to kite stitching, bladders, boards, harnesses etc etc....unfortunately you were the unlucky one...at the end of the day, we do this sport at our own risk, thought passes through my mind when miles offshore...could this be the day for a very long swim....
Good luck with the outcome, hope the next set of lines doesn't cause grief..

Wow. Are you people blind? Forget the damn broken line. Am I the only one who noticed how bad the white balance is on his camera?

Seriously bro, you need to get yourself a grey card. You add it to the photo and then you can correct the white balance so the photo comes out with the proper colouring. You could also use a white balance correcting tool in Lightroom or Aperture.

How can you expect a manufacturer to take you seriously when you send brown photos. I'd send it back out of principle.

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munro said...
Ive broken 20+ lines before and never seen this.

what 20+ lines??

what are you using.

Ive been kiting for 12 years and never broken one.

This is a risky sport and things break sometimes, even when they are not supposed to. I don't think it's a sign of endemic failure of one brands lines, or this thread would be titled something along the lines of 'Another insert brand line snapped under the sheath'...

The more time you play with callipers and a camera with bad white balance, the less time you are out kiting...?

Glad you are ok, it would not have been a nice experience!