Hello Moshe
Thank you for sharing with the rest of us, I did like it when you did it in the past, and was looking forward to the interesting conversations that followed
Personally, I don't think you are doing anything wrong by having much aviation purpose built equipment
It appears you fell into a bit of numerous, continues, unrelated failures , and you got out from all of them unhurt with good common sense
Helmet varios are being used around the world with minimum problems
Drinking water bags are also common with minimal problems
The foot rest and speed system get tangeld from time to time to all of us
The plus 5 and minus 5 thermals are a given in our sport and the only way to not be nervous is to keep flying in them, I think all of us has been scared at one point or another ,and building tolerance takes time and flying
In general I think you are an excellent pilot with limited mountain time, great top of the line equipment, good knowledge base, and willingness to learn from yours and others mestakes, and as they say in the USA, shit happens and this time it happend to you
Moshe Grad
Your friend