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Unhooked Popped Front Loop

In continuation of out front loop fest, we thought it high time to introduce and familiarize the baby brother of the much respected S-bend, the Popped Unhooked Front Loop. Not only does this move dazzle, but also it is a foundation for a whole other world of kiting techniques that may or may not intrigue you. In addition to that, all this unhooked malarkey (if you’re tempted) is just as well practiced on those underpowered summer days, so give it a shot.

Popping, front looping and a basic unhooked Raley would be a small requirements, along with a modern safety system that lets you both spin and unhook without risking any third party members of the public or kite surfing community.

To help you learn all the important ingredients of an unhooked popped front, we’ll take another look at unhooking, a little glance at popping and way up the differences of popped front compared to a sent front loop.

DETACHMENT

The simplest way to make unhooking controllable is to understand how your kite is trim, thus your bar position will effect what’s going on.

For unhooking, it is vital that you use the strap to trim your bar’s sweet spot so that it rests just above the chicken loop. This way, the bar will feel light and the kite will drift forward, allowing you to be powered up yet in control. Every kite is unique, but it’s more time consuming getting it right. If you don’t trim the sweet spot down, your kite will most likely flare, pulling you off downwind, falling out of the sky in the calms and making kite surfing in general fairly unkind.

Pics 1 & 2. You can see that the surfer is sailing along hands centered with bar trimmed down, flattens the board off by abruptly standing up and almost carves, putting weight over the rear foot. This sudden change in direction towards the kite releases the tension off the lines.

Pic 3. With the tension gone, the surfer pulls the bar in and pushes it down to let the chicken loop slide out from the hook. Without looking down, as this would prevent the hips to move back and make unhooking difficult.

Pic 4. As the chicken loops drops out, the surfer must start to carve into pop before losing speed. Head positioned forward in direction as to where the surfer wishes to go, moves weight and hips right back over the rear foot and straightens the front leg, while dropping upwind off the board to get it back on an edge.

Pics 5 & 6. The surfer tries to maintain shoulders, back and front leg straight when carving hard against the pull of the kite. The goal is to explode up off the rear leg once it gets unstable, must also try and maintain equal pressure on both hands, as it is easy to pull on the back hand and hurl the kite up.

HANDS OF TIME

It is essential that you provide a good pop, as this will give you enough time to complete your spin. Your body position in the last stage of the carve will either offer you the chance to explode up or let you be dragged low over the edge which you do not want. In the picture to left, you can see that just before take-off, the surfer positioned the buttocks low to the water, shoulders have not been pulled forward the hips, front leg is extended to keep the edge and push the weight back over the tail of the board, rear leg is flexed in preparation to explode and is looking forward, which will prevent carving too far into the wind.

A PLACE IN THE SUN

To support this, don’t park your kite at a 45 degree angle, that’s for some time in the future. You need to catch a comfortable height where you are comfortable  edging like this, without the kite providing too much lift, but which will also give you a tad of extra bounce off the water. 11 or 1 o’clock would be a decent place to begin.

THE DIFFERENCE IS WHY

Your pop is going to spring you up off the water, and thus your front rotation needs to compliment this. In a standard front loop when the kite is utilized for height, you’re more than likely to throw your head and shoulders down and around to start rotating. This works because the kite gives you an up force.

When popping, if you throw your head down towards your front shoulder, you’ll be neutralizing all the good work you’ve done getting up off the water by forcing your body weight down, and that would be counterproductive. Instead, you need to lift your chin and turn to look up and over the back shoulder as your rear leg extends, see picture on your left hand.

To some, this does not seem to be essentially wise, as you are straightening your back and turning it towards possible impact, whereas the original front loop was a safe roll as if you were crumpling up to break a fall. The second difference is your body can stay extended in a popped front loop, whereas in the jumped version, you are trying make yourself a bit compressed.

ALL IN THE HEAD

Your head is the key to completing this rotation. Half way around you are in prone position, because the kite will be pulling you forward, you will not be able to force your hips, legs and board around in front of you, while your legs are hanging behind and upwind of you.

To finish your spin, you’ll need to look over your shoulder at where you wish to go and then push your hands around to follow. By doing this, your upper body will be facing downwind and the rest will have to follow.

STEERING WHEEL

There is a tendency to pull on the back hand as you carve against the kite. This is more than normal, but it should be avoided. However, if you do find your kite drifting up, give it up a pull on your front hand and a push on the other hand as you come around your rotation. If this still doesn’t help, try pulling on your front hand as you take off.

ALL IN SEQUENCE

  1. Park the kite in 11 o’clock. Carve hard upwind for maximum pop. Put your weight low and towards the back on the board. Extend your front leg. Ride against the power of the kite whilst looking forward.
  2. As soon as you feel your shoulders being pulled forward over your hips explode off the water by rapidly extending your back leg.
  3. Your aim is to spring up and turn your head towards your right arm to initiate the rotation.
  4. As the kite pulls you forward continue the rotation and keep looking rounds towards your back elbow.
  5. You are now half way through this trick. You´re facing upwind and are fully powered so you better complete your rotation.
  6. Try to get a glimpse on where you´re going by spotting a potential landing.
  7. As your head comes around force your bar and hands around too.
  8. With your head and shoulders facing forward, the rest of your body follows and you can start dropping down your legs down under you.
  9. Land the tail first on preferable flat water, slightly off the wind. Soften the knees to absorb the landing and keep looking forward, not down in the water.
  10. Catch an eye on the kite to make sure that it´s not diving into the water, correct if necessary. Then keep heading towards the kite on a flat board.
  11. Time to take a hand off and hook back in.

BEST TIPS

Don’t take too much speed into this technique at first, as it’ll feel like you’re in a rush, yet alone rotate and land.

As you develop, you should try and start with the kite a tad lower and keep it still.

As you progress with more power, focus on popping up into the Raley first and then start your rotation.

If your kite is starting to misbehave and is hurling up away, try moving your back hand to the center of the bar with the chicken loop line running between your first two fingers.

A NICE VIDEO OF THIS TRICK


March 10, 2012 | Categories: Intermediate | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Toe Side Pop Out to Wrapped

Popping from a toe side and landing in a wrapped is a great start to wrapped if you haven’t tried it before, and if you can already manage a shifty or more to wrapped, then this should be a doodle and a surefire way of adding extra style points to any move you land in toe side.

For those of you who have never tried a wrapped, it is releasing the front hand and rotating away from the bar so that you can reach around behind you and land on heel side with your arm in a self-induced arm lock. If you can go blind one way, imagine going the other way but still releasing with the same hand and turning the exact same way.

LOW AND NEAR

In pic A, you can see that the surfer is almost carving downwind away from his toe side edge. This is very sudden change of direction that does two things. First, it allows you to keep your speed for a moment even without pulling the kite, which means your board will still be planning; therefore you will be able to pop without it sticking. Second, by suddenly turning towards your kite, the lines will slacken and the bar will be light in your hands so you can keep it low and close.

In pic B – Just as the surfer is about to pop, you can see that the bar is in close. With the slack in the lines the surfer can bend his arms and make sure the bar will close to him all the way around his 180 degree spin. You can also see that the kite is relatively low, say around the 45 degree mark. With the kite here it is less likely to pull the bar up and away from you. Also, ( as you’ll be releasing with your front hands) if the kite does move, it will go up, so starting with a lower tad is a good option. If you are popping off flat water, you will need to let go with your front hand as you heave up.

SPEED

As we have already mentioned, you can throw this pop whenever you come fast in your toes from another move. However, when you are trying this for the first time as a pop from toe side, your approach is pretty important because you will need speed. The simplest way to maintain speed is to unhook whilst riding heel side as you will have a better unhooked riding position. Then, you can slide the back of the board straight downwind and you are ready to pop from a very off the wind toe side. However, once you get the hang of it, you could unhook from toe side or just before you pop.

TIMING IN SEQUENCE

1 – Having approached with good speed and his kite positioned at about 10:30, the surfer has unhooked and the spun around to a very downwind toe side chasing the kite. Getting ready to pop the surfer has rocked his weight back over his trailing foot and flexed his back knee. The surfer got his bar in close to his body and is ready to spring.

2 – The surfer stamps down hard on his back foot and extends his body upwards. At the same time the surfer releases his front hand enabling him to stand over the board for a balanced spin.

3 – AS the board rises, the surfer lifts his legs and starts his rotation by turning his head and shoulders down and away from the kite.

4 – The surfer twists his wrist and turns his palm up behind his back, which helps him turn his shoulders further still. At the same time the surfer pushes his left foot through to get the board in front of him.

5 – On landing, the surfer makes sure that the bar is twisted all the way around and ready to be grabbed.

6 – The surfer reaches with this free left hand and grabs the bar.

7 – then releases his right hand.

8-9 – The surfer continues to turn his head and looks up towards the bar and gets both hands back on the bar.

10 – Sail away, hook back in and then try it from a railey to toe side.

KEYSTONES

  1. Speed
  2. Sudden chase kite
  3. Pop hard off back foot
  4. Turn head all the way
  5. Twist wrist and shoulders

 


March 10, 2012 | Categories: Intermediate | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Shifty 2 Wrapped

This is a cracking move, which look phenomenal, feels amazing and is actually easy to nail consistently once you have got it. So what is Wrapped? If you haven’t contemplated what landing wrapped is, try visualizing that you are about to land toeside but you continue rotating and turn the board for you to be able to rotate another 180 degree to land heelside whilst releasing your front hand. The effect is that you’ll land with your back hand twisted up in half behind you.

Pic A – We can see how the surfer used his back foot and the back board. The front foot is lower than his back foot and his back foot is further upwind than his front foot. In fact, the shifty has been lifted at the end of the board whilst his extended front leg has pretty much left the nose of the board.

 

 

 

 

 

Pic B – As soon as the surfer stops holding his shifty position, the gravity takes over. His back foot and the weight of the back board drop down and accelerate as they go, creating some high and useful momentum. Once again the static front, which isn’t falling, acts as a pivot point so the back leg starts to swing around for toeside landing.

Pic C– This picture shows the result of a tasty amount of rotation which should be an easy task for you to get around the wrapped.

The only thing left to do then is to release your front hand, twist your wrist around and turn your head. Do not let go as you aim to land in a wrapped position.

Pic D – Shows that the kite drifted up and the surfer does this move with his hand centered on the bar with the chicken loop line in between his first two fingers.

SHOWTIME SEQUENCE

1. As per usual, the surfer has come off the wind to unhook and set himself up for take-off. The surfer pushes the board out in front by extending his front leg which gets his weight over the back foot. The more off the wind the surfer goes the less carve to far up into the wind and get a raley take-off.

2. The surfer gets back onto his edge by dropping his weight to upwind and carves the board against the pull of the kite.

3. With his weight over his back foot, the surfer allows him to be pulled up and explodes off his back foot. Immediately leans his head over his back arm and keeps his front leg extended. Because the kite isn’t too high, his arms do not get pulled up over his head.

4, As the board leaves the water, the surfer keeps his front leg locked and starts to swing his back leg upwind.

5. With the board pivoting around his front leg, the surfer keeps his weight forward, holding the nose of the board down and lifts his back foot up towards his backside.

6-7. Once the surfer feels that landing is near, on the way down the surfer release his shifty and let the board swing down. At the same time pulling the bar towards his back knew as savagely hard as possible and kicks his back knee towards the bar. This gets the rotation to wrapped underway.

THE LANDING AND THE PASS

1. Having pulled the bar toward his knee and kicked his knee towards the bar, the surfer is spinning fairly and rapidly. The surfer twists his wrist as the turn is on for the preparation of the bar, which also allows him to turn his shoulders further. His head is turning to look where he is going and his right knee is still driving around.

2. Having turned, the surfer’s main aim is to land on a flattish board and hold on to the bar. To do this, the surfer rotated around and got his hips centered between his feet. This will give him a stable platform to land on and give him the balance to pass the bar. You can also see that his palm has turned all the way up. This means that the bar is ready and waiting for the other hand, and it also stops the shoulder from getting pulled.

3. With the bar twisted and waiting in place, the surfer reaches up with his other hand and grabs the bar from underneath with his free hand and palm up. The surfer also starts to stand tall.

4. Now that the surfer is upright, the surfer quickly releases the bar and cunningly gets out of the wrapped arm lock.

5-6. The surfer turns his head and looks where to go, reaches forward to get two hands back on the bar and hook back in.

KEYSTONES

1. Front leg straight

2. Back leg up and round

3. Big effort from hands to knee and knee to hands

4. Twist your wrist and shoulders

5. Land with weight slightly on toes

A video of this trick:


March 10, 2012 | Categories: Advanced | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

Unhooked Downloop

The unhooked downloop is a satisfying piece that unluckily does not get enough airtime these days. When it is at home this move is performed with a pop at the same time the kite loops in a forward direction, which unavoidably will pull you forward into a raley position. As the pull from the kite comes from your front, it is not that too aggressive, and it is another unhooked move that can be easily performed when you surf at an agitated water. Finally, this trick is the originator for a downloop S-Bend.

ALL IN THE TIMING

In pure timing terms you need to be popping early. You should be able to pop from the speed that you take into the move. This way you do not need to let the kite loop move to give power to perform the pop. The result of this is that you will be going up as the kite starts to go around, simply meant that you will get more land and height as the kite finishes its loop move. The longer you wait the lower the kite you’ll fly. This will also end up with the kite starting another rotation before you land.

UNHOOKING A HIGH KITE

Your first concern is the position of your kite. Ideally you will have your kite pretty much at 12 o’clock to start this move. It is good, but you need to unhook too. This means that your approach needs to work for you. With your kite high, the problems of slowing down and not being able to unhook are lurking in the wings. On your approach you will need to drift the kite up at the same time edging hard and then at the last minute bear away loads to slacken the lines off and then go to unhook. Your body position here for unhooking is crucial, so make sure that you push your hips up and shoulders back, otherwise the chicken loop will not slip out easily.

REDIRECTION

Next you need to get your hands sorted. You need to release your back hand and reach forward to grab the bar just underneath your front hand in a fish pole grip during the redirection phase. There is no relevance to whether you are right or left handed. The important thing only is that your front hand steadily stays up against the center line and the released back hand grabs in close to it as possible. If you have just lathered up with some factor 50, this could prove a tad tricky. The slick movement to one side of the bar will get the kite turning sharpish into a downloop.

THE POP

You should be well aware by now of the need for a decent edge to pop-off. If you enter with the correct body position, it will be easy enough to get onto your edge quickly. Your shoulders should be in a back position and your hips forward. Even more importantly is that you need to extend your front leg, so your hips are over your back foot and aim upwind while your hips and shoulders twist. This will allow you to drop your bum low to the water and get into a solid craving position in a quick time. Notice how the surfer has already started to drop into carving after the back hand is released. By doing this, the surfer will have a perfect phase to pop off from the edge before the kite gets too far into its downloop. The surfer will explode up off his back leg by suddenly straightening it, kicking it down onto the heel of his back foot to pop perfectly.

ENTERTAINING AIR

Once you pop up into the air your objective is to follow the pull of the kite. By doing this you will keep your balance and will give you an enough inclination for the landing. The simplest way to go with the kite’s pulling force is to watch it. You can see that the surfer is being pulled through the air by his downlooping kite. Head is in line with the bar, which is pointing at the kite. In a powered downloop, your feet might flick up slightly behind you.  As long as you look at the kite, it will not twist you. Also by looking up at the kite, the surfer’s head is lifted. This will make it easier for his feet and board to drop underneath. If you feel the need to take off a hand off for balance, then it must be your back hand.

 

TOUCH DOWN

As we mentioned keeping your head up, allow your body to fall into a normal vertical position. If you can keep your arms, or front arm bent, the pull will bring your leading hip forward and set you up for a pleasant downwind landing. The surfer is upright over his board. This gives him the option of going either way depending on where the kite is going.

When you first land a downloop, follow the kite downwind and watch it loop again. As you see it turn through the center of its rotation and is starting to come up, grab the back of the bar with the hand you swapped over. If you do not get the right timing, just grab the chicken loop and let go of the bar. At least the kite will flutter up and you can sort yourself out.

SEQUENCE FOR THE POP PREPARATION

Pic 1 – The surfer approaches with the kite around 11 o’clock and starts to drift the kite up with a sudden pull-away to allow the body to be pulled up over the board, flattening it and pushing the front foot towards the kite and leaning with the back foot with weight over.

Pic 2 – The surfer forces his hips forward and up at the same time pulling down with both hands.

Pic 3 – As the surfer pushes the bar away and the chicken loop out, the surfer starts to drop his bum and shoulders away from the kite and looks where to go and not at the kite.

Pic 4 – The surfer swaps hands and starts to get back on the edge by driving his feet away.

Pic 5 & 6 – The surfer twists his hips and shoulders to face more upwind, forcing the board to carve hard onto its edge. The kite is starting to steer down and will pull soon

Pic 7 – The surfer pops up hard off his edge extending his back leg.

SEQUENCE AFTER THE POP

Pic 1 – As the surfer pops up the kite, pulling forward is the main goal with offering no resistance at all.

Pic 2 & 3 – The surfer looks towards the kite to keep the balance all the way.

Pic 4 – As the kite starts to rise again, it stops pulling and the surfer starts to drop down. Keeping the bar pulled in with bent elbows, this turns the surfer naturally to follow the kite.

Pic 5 – With the head of the surfer up, the feet and the board drops under and releases the back hand for some added balance.

Pic 6 – The surfer lands over the board, waits for the kite to rise, and then gets the other hand back on the bar.

KEY MARKS

  1. Kite at 12 o’clock
  2. Unhook with shoulders back and hips forward
  3. Change hands
  4. Carve and pop early
  5. Follow kite once in air

The video of this trick:


March 10, 2012 | Categories: Advanced | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Kite Loop to Wrapped

The Kite Loop to Wrapped is a desirable technique in its own right which demonstrates superior control and landing satisfaction. Though it is also a vital step to kite loop 3, surely, there are benefits in learning the wrapped version first.

Firstly, you have more time to focus on the kite loop as the timing for the spin is a last minute thing. Rather than looking forward for the moment to spin, better to wait for it.  Secondly, you don’t need much height so you can get away with less power which makes a more pleasant learning experience. Thirdly, as an outcome of both of the above, to succeed is all about technique and has nothing to do with aggressive force. Once you’ve got it, you can move onto the full 3 version a whole lot easier.

If you are coming into this as a relatively new recruit to wrapped, it is recommended to practice on your shifty to wrapped first as this is the primary building block of a quick spin to wrapped.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TRICK

 THE TAKE OFF

Whether you’ll be going for a kite loop with or without wrapped or a pass, what your kite does will affect your chances of success, and what your kite does is remarkably influenced by your approach and take off as you’ll be learning this technique with a fish pole grip, you have no way of controlling the speed at which your kite loops with your hands instead the rest of your body.

Chances are, when you first attempted an unhooked kite loop, you changed your hands and the kite looped before you had time to think, dragging you off downwind vigorously and most likely splash you into the water. The simple reason for this is that you need to pop to get off the water and let the kite do the rest when you’re up. If you just edge hard, you put more tension on the lines and the kite moves fast.

In Pic  A, the surfer basically just eased off downwind with the kite at 12:00, unhooked and reached under and back with front hand to grab the back of the bar and popped up off the back leg right away. You can see how the surfer’s whole body from feet to shoulders is aimed upwards and not back against the pull of the kite. Because the kite is not breaking the surfer up off the water, maintaining the arms bent is easy and therefore keep the bar close.

Because the surfer is no longer resisting against the kite, it will turn slower. And because the surfer has popped up, the kite will hurl up providing more height effortlessly. The longer you carve on the water, the more vigorous the break from the kite, the further back the kite loop and the lower he resultant jump.

This will only be possible if you unhook with your front leg pushed out in front of you, your hips dropped right back over the rear foot and your shoulders back. From this state, you can swiftly carve and pop.

THE SHIFTY

We use the term shifty freely as we don’t want to get into any discussions about style. Let’s agree that in this case what we mean is the extension of the rear leg behind us. As with the shifty to wrapped by kicking your rear leg behind while in the air, you then can bring the knee up and through which will assist you to spin faster and further. For sure there are many surfers, who spin without extending their leg first, but we’re in the market of making this easier for all involved, and this absolutely helps.

The other benefit to this position is that it allows you to use the “flick” of the kite. This being the point at which the kite tries to knock you off balance, usually by swinging your legs forward as the kite turns back. With the back leg extended, you can then pull the knee up towards you to regain your stability and hyphen up your rotation speed.

In Pic B, you can see that the surfer kicked his rear leg and foot up behind as the kite pulls. As with the shifty to wrapped, the surfer didn’t let those arms extend, instead keeps the bar close. Looking at the image, you can see that there is almost a straight line running from his hands through his back knee to his rear foot. If you were watching the kite, it would just be turning through the bottom of its arc and is beginning to rise.

THE ROTATION

More lower body work out here. It is all about getting your hips, legs and board to turn. Your upper body will follow your head but if you don’t get the lower half moving, it’s good as nothing.

 

In Pic C, the surfer is dropping and feels that there is much less pull in the bar. This is the signal to start spinning and this is the advantage of learning to wrapped. In this image, there are two important things.

Firstly, if you look at the surfer’s right foot, you can see how it is lifted off the footpad. This indicates just how vigorously the surfer has pulled his knee, foot and the rear of the board forward towards his hands. Because of the shifty, the surfer was able to do this.

Secondly, look at the position of the left hand. It is almost wrapped around. This is because the surfer has not pulled the bar into his back hip, but rather has pulled the bar past the hip and down as if pulling a paddle along the side of the raft. So the hands have been drawn down towards where the rear foot was and the knee had been brought forward to get the board under the bar and the bar under the shoulders.

Once you get the board under, you can then rotate with your head to get your upper body around on a vertical axis. If you rotated before the knee came through, the board would be left behind, and you would rotate off axis and be dragged off balance.

FINAL STEPS TO REMEMBER

Before you go for any wrapped landings, give yourself more allowance by knocking out a handful of unhooked kite loops first. Aim about taking off early, extending the rear leg and feeling the tension disappears as you drop. This way, you’ll get a sense for when you need to spin and also provides you the right amount of power and height. If you feel like you are overdoing it, it may not be the right day to try.

Consider trimming your kite too. You want your kite to be looping circular, not to be turning around its wing tips. On the majority of kites, if you don’t trim them down enough to unhook, they will flare/reverse/halt. This will result in a tight wing tip axis and won’t give you the feeling that you need or much of a chance of succeeding. Defined and controlled is better than wild and unpredictable as you can build on it.

SEQUENCE SUMMARY

1. Have a good look around to make sure you have enough space. The surfer moves his kite up to 12 o’clock, pushing the board off the wind with a straight front leg unhooks with his shoulders still back.

2 & 3. After unhooking, you need to reach under and back with front hand to fish pole the bar, drops weight back and upwind.

4. Hard carve upwind and ready to pop…

5. ..and explodes up off the rear leg before the kite starts to pull. When you pop, you need to keep your arms bent and the bar in close.

6. As the kite loops back and down, it’ll pull you towards it. Kick the rear leg out behind and hold on tight. To help with balance, you can look over the bar towards the kite.

7. As the kite starts to rise, it stops pulling and you’ll start to drop as well. This is the perfect time to spin just as you feel the power. Pull arms in and down past the back hips hard and pull the rear leg in even harder.

8. Keep pulling on the bar, try to pull it past the hip and release only the front hand as your lower body and knee will come through.

9. With the lower body turning, start to turn your head and shoulders so that you can continue to spin far enough to land with the board pointing downwind.

USUAL PROBLEMS

  • If you find that the kite drags you hard downwind and not skyward. For sure you are edging too long before popping up. Don’t wait for the kite to pull, just change your hands and pop.
  • If you still couldn’t get enough height. Make sure that you start with the kite positioned as near to 12 o’clock as you could. You should hurl the kite up before you unhook.
  • If you bounce off the back of the board when you land. You are not getting your feet forward enough as you rotate. Always bring your knees all the way through and up.
  • If you can’t reach for the bar. Make sure you pull the bar down towards you and keep your arms bent all through the loop. Finally, you’ll need to pass out the wrapped nice and quick; otherwise the kite will just continue to loop around.

KEY MARKS

  1. Kite at 12 0’ clock
  2. Pop up early
  3. Keep arms bent
  4. Kick rear leg back
  5. Bring hands and back knee together when you feel the power coming.

You should do like this:


March 8, 2012 | Categories: Advanced | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

Front Loop from Toe side

Front Loop from Toe side

The front loop from toe side is an extra bit of fun for anyone who wants themselves as proficient toe combo specialists. It is a very attainable move and can lead into a surplus of combos and tricks, both hooked and unhooked, so this is a must have for any promising crowd pleasers around you. As you start from your toes, you’ll find that the kite does a lot of work for you when it comes to spinning. As long as you get the take-off and you keep controlling the kite’s atmosphere, it will be a well aligned move.

Pic A – The surfer is edging against the kite. Not wanting to draw too much attention to it, but this is another classic kite face trick. If you thought edging upwind requires some effort, now you will edge upwind and try to keep your weight low against the lift of the kite, you will need to use all your steel on it.
For starters, trim your bar down towards you. With the bar nearer your body, you will be able to edge well with both hands on the bar, thus being able to send the kite and keep the control on it. Even though the surfer’s bar is angled back to send the kite, the front arm is still bent slightly, so the kite doesn’t pull the surfer around. You can see how the surfer has his neck twisted and face really looking over his shoulder and down. This allows the surfer to commit against the kite and keep the body weight low and forward, whilst still keeping both hands on the bar. This way the surfer is able to hold the edge for that a little bit longer. Just like with a heel side jump move. If the surfer has a cheeky peek at the kite, it will come off the edge.

 

Pic B – Demonstrated the take-off perfectly. The surfer has popped up off the water after the feeling of the rising kite has been felt. Even though you use the kite for this trick, you need to “go early” because you’ll not be able to resist the same way that you do on your heels. Even though the surfer is extending up, keep the head down and twisted around plus continue to commit the weight upwind against the pull of the kite. It is tempting to drift the kite up slowly, but if you are fairly aggressive, you have more chance of holding your edge until the right time. This is your only chance to give yourself enough height to complete the move.
Also, as the surfer starts to take-off, the bar levels have been off already. This is due to popping up early. As the surfer essentially loses the edge as the pop goes, the kite will fly further back as the surfer pendulum underneath it. Once again this is only possible because the surfer has the bar trimmed in near.

Pic C – The final part of the surfer’s take-off is the initiation of his forward rotation. Just as with a heel side front loop, much of the momentum comes from the back leg kicking off the water, and as the surfer popped off, his back leg will help in that phase. If you look at the surfer’s head, it is no longer looking upwind over his shoulder. By turning his head to look forward and downwind, his body will automatically start to uncoil, and this is a further help by the kite pulling in the harness hook.
From here onwards it is all about keeping the bar in and keeping the kite forward while getting your body tucked up and small, so that you can look over your back shoulder and complete the rotation.

Sequences
1-2. With his kite at 1 o’clock and riding with good speed on his toe, the surfer edges hard and sends his kite back for a jump whilst trying to look upwind.
3. As the kite starts to lift up, the surfer explodes up off his back leg whilst committing his weight upwind and of the board.
4. As the surfer kicks off, turns his head and looks downwind under the bar. At this point the surfer is already redirecting the kite forward with his front hand.
5. This impulse coupled with the pulling of the kite, the harness throws the surfer into a front rotation. You can see how the surfer is pulling hard on his front hand.
6. This looks familiar. The surfer is now facing upwind and it looks exactly like a normal front loop. The surfer has the bar pulled in to keep the tension on the lines, the surfer is looking over his back (left) shoulder to continue rotating combing with his knees pulled up to increase the speed of the rotation.
7-8. The surfer keeps looking over his shoulder in an effort to see the water and where to land.
9. As the surfer completes his rotation. The surfer dives the kite hard with his front hand and focuses on his landing.
10. The diving kite pulls the surfer off downwind and stops his rotation. Now the surfer can drop his feet and is ready for the landing stage.
11. The surfer lands tail first with his board pointing downwind for a clean landing. From here the surfer can gather his thoughts before carving back onto his edge and not spinning his bar.

Keystones
1. Trim your kite to get the bar close
2. Edge hard by turning your head upwind
3. Send the kite (do not drift it.)
4. Pop early and turn your head the opposite way
5. Redirect with meaning

And the video:


March 7, 2012 | Categories: Intermediate | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Popped Front Loop

It’s always good when you have the chance to learn something that looks exquisite; the hooked in Popped Front Loop is such a cherub. Even when it is too windy to show off all the technical tricks in your armory, this adds up with a cheeky Indy Grab that will keep most of the pop fanatics happy. It is a great way to get your head around an unhooked popped front and it is a welcome alternative to a sent jump front. It will work on the flat off a wave and because you can control the power in the kite, even the chop won’t stop you.
The essence of any pop trick is that all your upward force comes from you alone, with no help from the kite. However the position of your kite will affect how much height you get. The nearer it is to 12 o’ clock the more lift you will have. So it stands to a reason that if you are learning this move, you should have the kite around 11 o’clock. This way the kite will be just low enough that you can edge against, but it will also be high enough to give you some bonus lift and assist with getting your board back under you.

IMPORTANT STAGES
The Approach

As you won’t be using the kite for the lift, you will need some quickness and speed so you can pop hard. Assuming that you popped, you will already know that generating your speed can be increased by heading slightly off the wind with the power of your kite. Just try and change your direction smoothly by steering the board in front rather than standing up on it.
Pic A – Shows that the surfer is in a perfect pre-pop position. The kite is on 11 o’clock direction and has steered the surfer’s board off the wind by the feet’s extension. To maintain a good stance, you need to push your front leg out and move your hips back behind your back foot. Your shoulders should be still behind your hips and the board is still in between you and the kite. Keep your hands on the center of the bar to prevent any unwanted kite movement. Here you can acquire speed that will give you an attempt to carve back onto your edge.

The Carve
This isn’t the moment to consider on as in reality it only lasts a split second. However your body position here is the important thing because it defines the amount of pop that you will get. Visualizing it first and foremost can be of benefit.
Pic B – Best Place to start is the surfer’s kite face. To get a decent pop and enough rotation, you need a bit of an effort and aggression to go up. Next see how close the surfer has his derriere to the sea. This is only possible because of the position taken into the pop. With the surfer’s weight back and upwind, it is easy enough to get back on the edge by turning suddenly on upwind. Using your shoulders to twist your body around your hips for the board turn can give you a quick flexibility for the move. See that the back leg of the surfer is flexed and ready to extend, and the front leg extension keeps the surfer’s board on edge. As soon as you get into the position, you must be ready to pop up or else you will lose speed. Final point here is not to pull on the back hand.

The Take Off
As you know from a front loop, the take-off is everything as it initiates the rotation. It also needs to give you pop so the trick is to fire yourself into the rotation without flattening the board off.
Pic C – shows that the surfer explodes for the take-off. You can see how the back leg extends against the resistance of the edge of the board, thus pushing the body up. However unlike a sent front loop, it doesn’t throw across the board towards the sea on the other side, as this would flatten the board. Instead the surfer throws his head towards the nose of the board allowing a bend sideways at the waist. This stage is enough to start the rotation. Faith is the key.

 

 

 

 
Pic D – Clearly demonstrates the commitment to the pop. As the surfer goes up, bar-in is the one you should keep in mind because if you do so, rotation can be easy in middle lines. See the surfer’s front hand as his steering connection slows down the kite to make sure it doesn’t drift up. The surfer is now in a textbook position to throw the rotation. With your back leg extended and front leg bent combined with your weight down, your next step is to forward now to speed up your rotation and turn your head to look back over your trailing shoulder and bend your back leg.

Pointers to Consider
It is highly recommended practicing kiting across the wind with a speed before bearing away and then turning up again to concentrate on your body position. Once you have done this a few times, just add the pop off the back leg and you will find that popping hard with your front shoulder is actually easy. If you lose balance, most likely you are not bearing away enough before carving hard. The more downwind you start the less far you have to rotate.

The Trick in Sequence
1-2. Notice the surfer keeps the bar in close, keeps the kite steered forward and throws his head and shoulders down towards the nose of the board. Now that the board is clearly off the water, the surfer needs to rotate faster.
3. The surfer quickly turns the head to look back over his rear shoulder.
4-5.  As long as the surfer keeps the bar the kite steered forward while he keeps looking over the shoulder, the rotating will continue to go.
6. Once the surfer can see the water, the concentration will be on where to land.
7-8. As the surfer’s leg comes around, the extension of the legs should be ready for landing. Aiming to land the tail first, pointing downwind on a flat board and not on the edge the surfer carries a fair amount of speed. As long as the tail lands first, the board can pivot further around and downwind.
9. The surfer lands, absorbs the impact and keeps head up looking where to go with balance in hand. The surfer has the bar in and the kite steered forward always.

Key Marks
1. Speed, off the wind
2. Weight back over tail off board
3. Carve hard, pop up and forward
4. Steer the kite down
5. Flick! Good job!

Here´s what it will look like!


March 5, 2012 | Categories: Beginner | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

Hooked in Front to Blind

Hooked in Front to Blind

Once again the combination of moves from a blind looks truly amazing. Apparently, several hooked-in moves are outshined by their unhooked counterpart, which is great shame as they still showcase a lot of techniques and can still look so neat. It is indeed a medley of Hooked in a flare.
By Popping High, you should patiently wait to travel forward before performing the “Throw” and “Blind” at the decisive moment. We will begin with the front to blind as for many reasons; it will be the simplest step for surfers to get your head around because it has definite flow in the move. You will need a fine popped front look and solid blind to get this one nailed.
To build up to this technique, it is advised that you practice a bunch of high pops to blind. This will surely help your blind timing and your patience. The focus behind this is that when you do pop to blind, they consciously keep you at a low posture so that the landing will be well positioned. This will not be the case following a front loop. By popping high, you will have to stay still to travel forward before you “throw” and blind at the decisive moment just before your board reaches the water surface. Also it will show you to break your blind rotation from your pop which implies that you can add up into your popped front roll.

Aspects of the Trick
Pic A.
At start, you have to bear away, heading off the wind for any pop technique. Park your kite at 11 o’clock and push your front foot away from you to facilitate the kite to fall back in the window for a bit and to allow your body a decent position to pop. With front leg stretched, hips over rear foot, shoulders back and upwind and head straight forward plus hands at the center of the bar, get ready to execute a clean trick.

Pic B
Popping into the front loop properly will make landing effortless. Carve harder upwind and keep the bar in to put tension on the lines, resulting the kite to pull you through the move, and as you launch, you purposely pull your front hand a little to stall the kite going up. It is important that the kite drags you through the move. Any kitesurfer is aware of that position to have something to pull against when about to throw to blind. If you hang under a high kite with loose back lines you may be able to land blind but will not ride away blind, indeed makes a lot of difference.

Pic C
Lead the spin with your head.  As your head turns around, you can estimate where you are about to land. If you think it is much of a height, pull your front hand to fix this. Also, consider that the timing of when to throw the blind depends on your elevation. Maintaining your knees up watching where you are going can actually submit in a virtual slow-mo until you decide to throw the blind.

Pic D
Focus on this segment because this is the only most important part of performing a front blind. A front to blind is not one and a half front loops, it should break the spin from your front loop around to blind. There are two parts of movements: – you appear around the front and concentrate on where you’ll land, then turn your lower body around to blind as you keep on doing it with your high loop blind.

 

 

 

Pic E
Granted that you have already performed a blind, now pull your right leg behind you and shift your left leg beneath which will result to landing new tail first. This will allow the board to turn all the way for a smooth landing and likewise preventing you in burying the new nose in. After a blind, you should release your rear hand for two reasons. First, it helps you turn the full total to blind. Secondly, it releases the tension in the rear lines. The kite does not drag you so you should gain stability before reaching for the bar again. You could be pulled out of the blind if you landed with both hands on the bar.

 

 

Pic F
When you have smoothly landed and assessed your weight onto your new rear foot, reach for the bar with your rear hand. This way, you maintain your speed and can prepare you for a move from blind.

 

 

 

Best Tips
Discovering anything to blind is a whole lot easier if the water surface is flat, as your board maintains its speed and you can manageably run on an edge.
For the first attempt, try not to get too much elevation, if you have the kite positioned at 11 or 1 o’clock, you can pop hard but with less speed which will provide you enough time and move more accurately.

Sequence in Summary
1. With your kite parked at 11 o’clock, pop up hard with your front hand connected to hold the kite from going up.
2. As you start to spin, secure the bar in and maintains the front hand connected to hold the kite from going up.
3. To make the rotation nice and smooth, raise up your knees.
4. While the bar is still pulled in, look over your back shoulder so that you can locate your possible landing spot as early as possible and can continue the rotation.
5. Considering that you still have time to have a bit of elevation, bar in and keep the knees up.
6. Coming down, you can performs the throw to blind and shifts the board through and underneath by pulling your front knee forward.
7. As your front leg comes through, whip your back leg around and still pull the bar in with arms bent to keep you well secure to the bar.
8. As you touch down let go off your rear hand to stabilize yourself towards a landing. With the bar pulling away, the kite will automatically drag you over.
9. As the board hits and you feel like moving wobbly, reach back up to the bar to control the kite.


Drawbacks of the Trick
We’ve tackled it earlier but attempting to spin to blind just won’t work. You need to get the front loop organized and then whip yourself around. If you feel that you are over doing the spin, try slowing front loop down and then expedite your throw to blind. Doing the opposite is no good.
If you are landing with just minimum speed, chances are, you came into the move too slowly and with the kite way high. Try to hit the gas a bit more and don’t let the kite hurl up more. Focus on maintaining the bar in, this way, you will gain more control of the kite and will get dragged with it providing you the perfect drive upon landing.
If you fall backwards upon landing, you are releasing your hand too early which allows the kite to hurl away from you and also allows your legs and board to drop. Maintaining both hands secured helps keep the knees up and thus providing you stability.

In reality the trick looks like this:


February 26, 2012 | Categories: Intermediate | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

Hooked in Back to Blind

Hooked in Back to Blind

Just like the hooked in front to blind, a nice solid pop to blind is expected of.  It is recommended that you keep doing the pop even higher, wait longer before throwing the blind so you can really divide this movement from whatever still you want to execute.
The other thing you should concentrate is your trusty back loop. It will be worth your while doing slow controlled popped back loops to an uncontrolled blind. An over rotating spin will be much harder though.  This signifies that your focus should be on your take-off, putting more power into popping as opposed to throwing your head around by spinning quickly.
Pic A – The surfer has just taken off, and the first thing to note is the position of the head. You should be looking at your arms and not over your shoulders. If you are ready to try this kind of move, you should be positive enough to perform a back loop around without even having to look for the landing. By looking straight ahead you will spin much slower than usual and it will be easier to stop the spin, plus you can turn other ways.

Pic B – Here, the surfer has almost finished the back loop and the board is almost 360 degrees around from the take-off downwind path. The aim here is to stop the rotation in preparation for the throw to blind. Also by pulling on the bar, you can keep powering the kite to drift downwind, which in turn will make landing a whole lot easier. You can see here that the surfer is still looking at its arms and is now ready to throw a blind.

Pic C – You can see here that the surfer keeps the bar in tight using the front hand. This stops the kite and leaves the bar behind to continue the pulling tension in the lines. To turn around, you need to let go your back hand and throw it around your back to have the rotation movement. Also, turn your head quickly to look back while pushing your front foot downwind and keep your rear foot tucked up underneath. This way the nose of the board will touch down first and goes for a clean reception. If you keep the front foot up, you will land flat on the board leading to a sudden stop and you’ll go down into the water.

Pic D – Touching down. You can see that the surfer landed old nose first, which allows the board to pivot more downwind. Just keep your drive and look back with your weight over the old front foot. Even if you want to continue riding blind, you need to patch things up first before thinking of grabbing the bar for some movements.

 

 

 

 

 

Sequences in Summary
1. The surfer has the kite just below 11 o’clock and has come in with enough speed to give momentum for the landing by taking off with the wind before carving up.
2. The surfer pops up off the water before turning far into the wind while keeping the head looking straight towards the arms.
3. As the surfer explodes up into a slow back loop, the surfer looks upwind and trusts the take-off to give enough rotation for the back loop.
4. As the rotation goes, the surfer pulls down with both hands towards the chest and brings the knees up and thus brings the board up towards the bar.
5. The surfer is nearly completing the back loop, pulling the hand and knees together.
6. With the board now coming forward and towards the kite, the surfer releases back hand and prepares to turn blind.
7. The surfer keeps back foot tucked up and turns head and shoulders powerfully against the back loop while keeping the bar pulled in and near.
8. The surfer lands on the old nose of the board, so it can turn to land flat and not on an edge. The surfer has all weight, knees, hips, shoulders and head committed over the old front foot.


Usual Problems
The only problem here is that every landing can be stopped if you do not have the drive going on. This technique needs sufficient speed when you take-off. Also, check your kite’s height so it doesn’t hurl up during the back loop because you will need it through the technique. Try giving a little tweak on your front hand just before releasing the back hand.
Important Keys
1.    Speed off the wind
2.    Pop early
3.    Look through your arms
4.    Tuck hard
5.    Keep rear leg up

And here is what it should look like in reality:


February 25, 2012 | Categories: Intermediate | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

Front Loop to Toe side

Front Loop to Toe side

We are starting this subject matter with the front loop to toe side as in fact a simple step to achieve. It isn’t something you see very often and this could help you stand out now that those pesky unhookers can’t keep hold of their bars. Doing a front loop can be measured for a high or a low loop, and once it is in the bag, you can accomplish variety of combos.

As you might have guessed, the foundation is front loop with the usage of kite, so if you are not satisfied with these, combine them first before moving on. However, many surfers find landing on one side is a difficult task. Well, this move could be the answer to your front loop prayers.

Proving a point
Pic A. The surfer performs a front loop to toe side riding from left to right. This means that the surfer will be kicking off the left leg for take-off but will be landing on the right leg. You can see that the surfer is in the after take-off moment, it is precisely the same movement of kite and body as for a standard front loop. Having approached with good speed provides a good edge for sending the kite back. As usual, the surfer takes-off and initiates the front loop by throwing the head and shoulder down and around kicking the back foot.

 

 

 

 

Pic B. Here it shows that the surfer is about half way through her front rotation. To land toe side you will need to land on the right foot. To accomplish this, you must push the left foot out in front of you. The simplest way to get this move is to keep the original back leg straight as you rotate. You need to bend your front leg to rotate forward and go with the flow. You can see here that the surfer’s left leg is straight and hanging down for landing purposes. All these said moves need a rotation all the way around with the head.

 

 

 

 

Pic C. The surfer rotates further in order to get into a perfect landing position. But before you land, you need to do a couple of task. Firstly, you need the help of the kite for a pull down to land successfully, so you must keep the bar in and the kite moving forward above by diving with front hand. If you let the bar out, the kite will get left behind and you will drop under it. You also need to prepare for a toe side landing.

 

 

 

 

 

Pic D. As the kite comes over the surfer, the pressure will give a downward force against the water so the board will drop beneath and will be ready for a landing. The trick here is for the surfer to get a bit of weight forwards onto the front of the board to prevent sinking the tail and completely stop.

 

 

 

 

 

Pic E. Just after touching down, you can see the surfer’s kite is pulling because of the hard dive, which is essential in landing. This means that the surfer landed on relatively flat board thus, maintaining the speed. Now the surfer is able to carve the board onto a true toe side path by dropping weight to windward.

 

 

 

 

Sequences in Summary
1. The surfer approaches with speed on a solid edge with the kite around 1 o’clock. The surfer sends the kite back with an aggressive pull on back hand and edges harder by turning upwind.
2. As the kite lifts, the surfer performs the front rotation, kicking off the back heel and throwing the head and shoulders down around while keeping the bar in.
3. The surfer concentrates on redirecting the kite by pulling gently on front hand while going up.
4. The surfer focuses to prevent rear leg to get up.
5. The surfer keeps looking over the back shoulder in order to keep turning.
6.  Half way around, the surfer places the kite above, so pulling it on front is the best way. Rear leg straight and front leg bent.

7. As the surfer estimates the landing position, he aims to start diving the kite to help the pulling force for the move and also for a downwind momentum.
8. The surfer is ready for the toe side, so pulling the right leg up is appropriate.
9. As the surfer goes down, the surfer must keep the tension on the lines so that the kite could gain a pulling effect and the surfer can keep the bar in.
10. The surfer drops feet underneath by extending legs and concentrating on keeping the left foot out in front.
11. The surfer aims to land tail first by straightening right leg underneath.
12. As the board touches down, the surfer’s forward momentum from the dive will keep the bar in, so pulling it forward is the clear way.


Best Tips
Bring your front foot all the way the landing event. Landing toeside paves way to complete a front loop. Your shoulders need to turn so that facing forward will not be hard, so go for the full rotation even though it may not look like one.

Common Problems
1. Getting your body to toe side needs a lot of effort at first because you are trying to twist your back shoulder past the bar and the chicken loop. The solution is to keep pulling right up to the bar and let the kite do the work.
2. Performing the toe side can be very delicate at first attempt, so focus on pulling the diving kite at the landing position and control your shoulder back for the rotation. Once you have your mind and body in a perfect state, this should be easy.

Key Points
1. Send the kite
2. Throw the rotation
3. Keep back leg straight
4. Pull front leg under your buttock
5. Dive the kite hard

Here´s what it should look like in real time!


February 21, 2012 | Categories: Intermediate | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

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