Back To Wrapped

This trick is a fairly funky move in in its own right, although you do not get to see them as much. Most riders skip it in preference of going straight into the back move, and once they land, then they are unlikely to go back to the wrapped version. However, if you’re not one of the better riders in the country, this is a very useful stepping stone which will satisfy and build a consistency for more progressive moves.

The beauty of the back to wrapped is that the momentum of a slightly over rotated back loop can carry you around to wrapped. Without stating the obvious, you will need a controlled unhooked back loop to toe side at the very least. If you are already popping to blind, then this will help. Even though blind is very different, having a natural bar pass will make life easier.

POP LATE

In many pass tricks, the difficulty is in slowing your rotation down. In this one you need to speed it up. The simplest way to do this is to carve your way up into wind before popping off your back leg. This late take-off will spin you faster and will send you into a second rotation, at least to toe side, without you having a moment’s thought. The only disadvantage is that you won’t have much time to prepare for the rest.

ELBOWS IN

When you carve into the wind it is more likely that your arms will be pulled out by the power in the kite. As soon as you leave the water, you need to get your elbows tucked into your side. If you can get them in, your hips will roll onto your hands, which keeps the bar in close and enables you to keep your balance and pass.

TWIST AGAIN

You need to rock your back knee in order for you to stay with the move. As you rotate with elbows pulled in, you will need to lift both knees. This will not only speedup your rotation but will also place your back knee high enough so you can kick it through. This knee force will accelerate your second rotation and will take you past the landing toe side. Remember to twist your wrist once you release the bar with your front hand as you will be able to turn your shoulders further. Once you get the hang of things, you can even pull your hands in and steer the kite down as you push through. This will bring everything together at your hips and helps keep the kite lower for landing, preventing it from pulling you out of position and off balance.

TOUCH DOWN

It is all good when you are through with all that leads, but it means nothing if you are not ready for the touchdown. To stick this you will need to get around to downwind preferably a bit further. To increase your chances you should try and land tail first, as the back of the board will then pivot you around a touch further. To make this possible, get your weight on the ball of your feet, not your heels, otherwise you will keep slamming. Finally, keep looking around so your body will turn to face your intended direction of travel and make the pass behind you considerably easier.

GIVE IT A GO

pic 1 – The surfer has checked for space, turned off the wind and unhooked, hands on the center of the bar with his weight over his back foot.

pic 2 – The surfer carves hard into the wind, dropping his weight low and resisting the power by driving against both heels, making sure to take the weight of the kite on both hands evenly to stop any unwanted kite movement.

pic 3 – The surfer has carved further into the wind than a normal pop would do. His head is turned to look right upwind over his shoulder. Also, as the board turns up into the wind and under the surfer, there is a little resistance from the edge so pulling his elbows back in has been started already.

pic 4 – When the surfer feels that there is less pressure on the bar and on her legs, the surfer quickly pops. This means that the explosion off her back leg will accelerate his spin. You can see that the surfer extends his back leg as it pushes him around as opposed to up into a huge pop. The timing here is very important, If you leave it too long you won’t even get enough height to complete a back loop.

pic 5 – Because the turning off so far on the water, the surfer is already three quarters around his back loop as soon as the rotation is in process. His aim is to keep his elbows in and bring his knees up making him smaller because this will help keep momentum going for the rotation to wrapped, and by lifting his knees, the weight of the board will not pull him down away from the bar too soon.

pic 6 – Coming around the back loop, the surfer’s trailing knee is up near the bar and his hands. As he continues to rotate, his hips will follow his knees and roll towards his hands. Once you have tried it enough to give your brain some time, this would be a good moment to jerk our hands in and even steer the kite down as you do so. At this point, the surfer must keep looking over his shoulder and around into the next rotation. If he were to focus on where to land, it will slow his spin and prevent him from getting around.

pic 7 – A split second before this shot, the surfer  have really pushed his back leg and knee just as his hips rolled towards his hands. So he have done it with both hands on the bar to keep the kite from going up and allowing him to get hands and hips as close as possible. As the knee comes through, the surfer lets go with her front hand and keeps looking over his shoulder.

pic 8 – As the surfer turns, the wrist is twisted and the thumb pointed towards the small of his back. This enables him to turn further. He lands back foot first with weight on the ball of his feet. The board will pivot further around here without the surfer catching his heel side edge.

KEYSTONES

1. Carve hard and long, lead with head.
2. Elbows in.
3. Knees up.
4. Both hands to hips before releasing.
5. Twist your wrist.

Here are some videos of this trick:

Aaron Hadlow shows how to make a back 2 wrapped

Konstantin Tuludis also knows how to make this trick

As well as Ariel Corniel