Hi Elli,
The distance from the end of the chicken loop to the underside of the bar is about 8 and 3/4 inches. So, when hooked in and with the bar sheeted all the way down the measurement is going to be roughly the same.
Safety options
1) Leash off the end of the trim line. To safety the kite, you push the Eject cuff up with either hand.
Recommended, as it does not matter where the stopper is set.
2) Leash off of the D-ring on the chicken loop. If you are using the stopper this is NOT full depower, but a " suicide " set up best reserved for advanced riders practicing handle passes etc with lots of space.....how much pull the kite has is dependent on where the stopper is set. If you don't ride with a stopper and have it all the way up, this set up WILL give maximum depower.
3) No leash. Can be used if you ride hooked in 100% of the time and push the stopper all the way up and never use it this. The donkey dick MUST be used. Simply let go of the bar to safety the kite. I'm not a fan of this even for beginners because if you accidentally let go of the bar the kite will come out of the sky (as it is supposed to), you can't spin the bar against the stopper, and if you forget you have no leash and Eject, the kite is gone...
4) Leash off the grab-tab near the front line swivel. I don't like this set up because it is old school and you have a long leash dangling down that does not permit spinning the bar. This grab tab is really there to give you an option if everything has gone horribly wrong and you are self-rescuing. Pulling in this tab and taking a bunch of wraps on the bar with this line alone before winding the rest will give the most depower, but I personally have never found it necessary.
With regards to the cleat, I really like the set up because I have short arms and could never reach the depower strap on the above the bar set ups. I used to have to modify my bars or more or less set the trim and forget about it.
I find the cleat easy to use, but you do need to know how to use one. To release it you give a sharp " snap ", pulling both
down and out at the same time. There is a 2:1 set up for the trim line (the pulley is just below the front line swivel) so you are not working against the full load of the kite.
Tips: If you are really lit-up stop edging and shoot a bit downwind as you release the cleat. It's a lot easier since the load is off the lines. Also, rig the cleat so it is on same side as your dominant hand.
Windhorny/Loscocco - my guess is that SS uses the thick stuff because the sheeting action has a nice " feel " to it when the bar is brand new. It's nice and snug in the store and there is no " slop " to it. Unfortunately, once the line wears even a little it's too tight and that's when the problems arise. In 2001-2003 I repped Slingshot in BC and this was a problem that drove me nuts way back then.
