Got into kiting a few years back and bought the 2012 12m cabrinha vector. Ended up moving for work and never used it. Just got back into it now and been for 5 or 6 sessions on it.
Was self landing the other day in gusty winds and ended up pulling the quick release to depower it as it was a sketchy landing area. What I noticed is that with the 2 lines still powered up the kite still had a lot of power to it. I should note the leading edge was in the ground if that matters.
It doesn't make me feel like I'd be safe if I was out on the water and had to quick release while being blown offshore or anything similar. The kite was still so powered up, it wouldn't fly but it would continue dragging me and I don't feel like I could wrap the bar up and get to the kite.
Am I doing something wrong here or is this just what i should expect with a 2 line quick release on this gear.
Back then some kites flagged out to two lines when the safety release was deployed. This was not a very good safety system (as you noticed) and it is never used anymore. Unfortunately there is no easy way to convert your kite to the current industry standard single front line flagging system.
I have some older cabs including a vector and yes when flagged it can spontaneously repower. The older switchblade s don't seem to be as unreliable at flagging. Fix may be to get new bar and and single flag lines but cabrinha does not recommend on their website however users posting on kiteforum say it works. For what its worth, I have found if I vigorously push the quick release loop away fast and as far as I can, bar rides up the lines more and it's more likely to flag and depower. Still iffy tho.
From what you said about the leading edge still being on the ground when you released the first-level IDS release, I gather the kite did not roll-over onto its back, so sitting nose-down on the ground it was catching a lot of wind and pulling hard on the two front lines.
If you have some room downwind of the kite, sometimes moving 4 - 5 ft closer to the kite fairly quickly will result in the kite tipping over onto its back. Once there, the pull from the kite should be much less. However, it may not stay there, hence Young's comment about spontaneous re-power, and the general move across the kite industry to single front line flagging when releasing to leash.
Easiest solution would be to replace the bar with one that has single-front-line flagging. May also be possible to modify the IDS bar to single front line flagging, but only if you are mechanically-inclined, good with line - splicing and rigging, and have time to test it in light wind conditions before serious use. Like Chris said, unfortunately Cab don't offer a single-front-line flagging upgrade kit, so no easy way.
I'm typically learning on my own and kiting where there is nobody around so something tells me I should buck up and figure out a way to make this safer for me. If I was to buy another Cabrinha kite, say a 2017 9m + bar/lines, would I be able to use the same bar with my 2012 vector and effectively turn it into a single line flag out due to the new bar/lines or am I out to lunch on this one.
I finally bought a 2016 cab bar/ single line flag this winter for same reason but sad to say have not been out yet, this year. Cabrinha website has a chart on mixing gear from different years and they recommend to not mix new (2016 or newer) bar with older kite, however, check Kiteforum.com and several posts say that it works fine, so I shall test that out when I get back on the water. My 2015 Switchblade has always flagged and stayed de-powered as intended, however I have an older Convert that, after flagging has, often enough, popped back up on one wing, ready to go. Talk about easy re-launch, yipes.