What was interesting about this situation relative to most kitemares is just how
much time Bill had. I would say 12 to 15 seconds. Most kitemares are 2 seconds or shorter in duration, then someone hits something and it's over.
So, given Bill's take on (no) time, I think the lesson here is that safety stuff should be very easily accessible and easy to trigger (quickly). Most of it is neither, unfortunately.
Distance definitely bought Bill a ton of time. As it turned out, it didn't matter much on the gear he had. A full two minutes wouldn't have mattered, I don't think.