KGB
The KGB is the next step on from a back to blind with an air pass. Much like the excitement of a Blind Judge 3, the add on is the final 180 of rotation so that you land heel side, therefore completing the move. It’ll have you laughing on the inside for weeks once you claim it, as that final float around to your heels is one mighty achievement. We will of course advise that you should already be stomping back to blind with air passes, as then it is more a matter of tweaking and polishing rather than learning something from scratch. If you did nail the Blind Judge Three it will help a lot, as you’ll already have built up some muscle memory to get the passing and kicking movement for the heel side landing.
- Approach and Carve Pic A.
In order to get the height, pop and slow enough rotation your entry into the KGB must be bang on. First off make sure you come in well off the wind, so bear away a lot before unhooking. Why? This will let you carve hard enough to get your rotation into the back loop without turning too far into wind, and therefore you’ll actually “do” more of the back loop in the air, and thus it will feel slower, giving you more chance to pass and turn. Secondly make sure you lean back towards the tail of the board as you bear away. You can see in the pit that the rider’s hips are leaning back over his back foot, and his shoulders are leaning back towards the tail of the board. This will help him invert, which in turn will make the pass both easier and closer so that he can pass later and therefore get all the way around to his heels. Finally don’t be afraid to have your kite a tad higher for learning this, as it’ll be more pleasant and confidence boosting knowing that there’s enough room to complete the manoeuvre.
- The Take Off Pic B.
Once you’ve got off the water with a right royal stamp against the back foot your aim is to get the board swinging up whilst you turn slowly through your rotation until you just about complete a back loop – but with the board up high and the bar in close. Here the rider has kept his hands in close to his waist from the off by locking his elbows in, and thus hopefully the bar will stay nice and close too and he won’t need superhuman strength to pass the bar. The rider’s head, although just about leading the rotation, is not looking over his front shoulder, but rather forward, perpendicular to his shoulders. This prevents him from spinning too quickly, thus helping him to turn the other way when needed and pass. Finally as his shoulders are still leaning back from the take off and his board rises the rider and brings his knees up and close, so that the board moves with him and doesn’t pull him down later in the move.
- The Inversion Pic C.
Getting the board up is what gives you time to pass the bar late and get your front foot through.
The timing and amount you turn can vary, but the more you complete the back rotation the better your KGB will look, much the same as a back to blind. The rider is coming around his back loop, not quite a full 360, but almost in relation to the angle he went off the wind to start, which gives him the most chance of landing comfortably downwind and not on an edge. Your aim is to get to this point with your board high and the bar still tucked in close to your hips. The further you come around the more your hips will come up towards the bar and save you having to pull your weight up to the bar, and this way you can rotate the opposite way for the pass without getting pulled backwards. Like many passes you will think you’ve left it too late, but this is your cue to go.
- Turn The Other Cheek Pk D.
Time to pull the trigger! Once you’ve completed the back loop you need to go for the pass before your board and legs drop and therefore pull you down and away from the bar. With two hands still holding the bar, The rider keeps his knees in and up whilst he turns his head to initiate the pass. The head should lead the entire move from here; if it does you can turn and claim the KGB. As you turn your head look up, not down at the water. The fact that the board and his feet have completed the back loop mean that the board is in front of him and therefore he won’t get pulled backwards away from the board but rather drop forwards towards it. This is not a bad time to give the kite a quick tweak down if you find that it keeps rising.
However if you keep your elbows in your kite will naturally dip once you release your back hand, as all your weight will transfer to the front. The MAIN DIFFERENCE here to a back to blind with air pass, is that your focus is not on passing the bar but rather on spinning your head, body and board so that you can see where you’ll land. If you just concentrate on the pass you’ll drop down without turning the full 360 to heel side.
- Forward Pass Pic E.
Looking forward to where you want to go will make you lead the rotation, so stretch your chin out in front of you and keep your eyes up. Normally you would turn your head down, and therefore pass but then drop down. In a KGB you must keep the head looking above the water, searching for where you’ll land. Here you can see the result – The rider is still turning as his head and body are leading the way. As the rider turns he rotates onto the bar and can therefore pass, but the priority is the rotation and therefore the pass from one hand to the other is late. Finally if you look at Christian’s front leg you can see that it is still bent. Keeping your landing foot close will guarantee that it comes with you and doesn’t get left behind. Once you get this far, prepare to scream and celebrate, as the KGB will be yours.
Top Tips
- The foundation for this move is a decent slow and inverted back loop, so repeat as many of these as you can, getting the board high and finishing your rotation at the apex.
- This will get you prepared and visually ready for the final 360. If your feet are dropping as you come around your back loop, you need more inversion, so more leaning back, more locked elbows and more knees up.
- We won’t be adding any common problems for this move, as it is a matter of concentrating on the relevant skills and putting them together – an inverted slow back loop, and a pass rotation lead by you head held high.
Keystones
- Massively off the wind
- Lean back towards the tail
- Hands in, knees up
- Full rotation to inverted position.
- Lead the pass with your head held high and front knee in.
Unhooked Front To Blind Ole
There are a few takes on the front to blind, powered, unhooked, hooked, sent kite, you name it and it’s probably likely. We’re adding the unhooked Ole to the list as it serves a couple of purposes. Firstly it does allow you to go for and learn the blind with a slightly higher kite. Secondly on a big lefty kite in light winds, you will often need to have the kite a bit higher and with the resultant upward pull on the bar “Oleing” out is a health conscious option – oh yes and it does have a different look and feel to a standard bar pass ending. Before you attempt this we’d suggest you can pop front roll, and preferably relay to blind, but if you’ve got the hooked version down then this is a mere step away. Following are a few points worth more than a moment’s consideration.
- Take off, pause and rotate Pic A.
As with all things unhooked and popped we’ll assume that you’ll have the bar trimmed correctly, hands centered and approach with good speed before bearing off with your weight back to unhook, dropping low and edging hard into your pop, stamping hard to get the height without a cheeky kite send. If you use your kite you’ll lose forward momentum and the landing will be difficult to pull off.
For extra lift when learning you can have your kite positioned higher, just above 11 or 1 o’clock – but don’t move it up. Here the rider has her kite parked at 11 o’clock and has just popped hard to get up off the water. What’s clear to see is that the rider has not yet started her front rotation; she is still looking forward to where she’s going. You too must separate the movement, even if only by a fraction of a second, but you need to pop before throwing your head and shoulders down and around. As a result you’ll get the height, if not you’ll be diving yourself down into the water and onto your back.
- Front Hand Pic B.
Whilst rotating around, especially if you have the kite high, it will be very tempting to lean on the back hand, and also very natural to have pulled on it whilst edging to pop. Therefore as you spin around it is very good form to keep applying a bit of pressure onto your front hand as this will both stop the kite from floating up above you, and it will keep the kite moving forwards, which will make the landing easier as you’ll have momentum. The rider is only just into her rotation but she is already “leaning” on her front hand. This means that when she finishes her rotation she’ll be able to pull herself towards the bar to throw the blind – if you end up hanging under the bar you can only spin to blind, which won’t offer you any consistency.
- Look Pic C.
We’ve said this before but whether it be a hooked front to blind or an S-bend pass the principal is always the same, another very brief pause between finishing your rotation and throwing the blind. This prevents you from over rotating and you have much more chance of keeping the kite in the air, rather than releasing one arm and starting the mother of all down loops.
Here the rider has rotated the full 360° and is focused again on where she’ll land. This momentarily slows her down, almost pauses the rotation, enabling her to set up for the blind. If not she would be spinning under her kite. From here she can now pull on the bar hard with both hands and throw the blind. With her head, hands and bar leading the rider can throw the blind and swing her legs through to turn far enough for the landing.
- Landing Pic D.
Landing blind for an Ole or pass needs to be flat on the board, downwind, not on an edge across the wind. This way you’ll be moving toward the kite and therefore there won’t be any tension on the lines.
Sc bearing away into the move is important, as this leads to a more downwind landing, and pulling hard before committing to the blind will also help. In the photo the rider’s board is off downwind so her momentum will keep her moving towards the kite. Now what differentiates an Ole from a surface pass here are the position of the rider’s body and her bar. The rider is standing upright over the board with her head high, not bent over double, and she is holding her bar high above her on an outstretched arm. This position is the perfect set up to an Ole.
- The Ole Pic E.
Firstly let’s remember what an Ole is. You will be moving the hand that is holding the bar, across, upwind of your head and shoulders to the other side of your body, from where you’ll be able to continue riding, but now toe side rather than blind.
That’s all it is, you’re not trying to turn the board or slide it around to bedside. It’s an upper body movement to get the bar across to the direction of travel and no pass is required. You can see in the photo that because she is travelling towards the kite the rider can push the bar upwind of her and then simply move her hand across in front of her face – now the bar is the same side of her body as the kite and the natural order of things are restored.
- The Finale Pic F.
You have a few options to finish things off, and regardless of what you do it’s a good idea to get both hands back on the bar so that you get control of the kite. Continuing on toe side shows good control, and will certainly confuse a few onlookers. That said if you land with a lot of power and speed the chances are that you will carve onto your heels, so keep going and ride out in the other direction. Here the rider has pushed the bar across, finished her Ole and is reaching for her bar. She has a lot of weight on her heels and as a result will steer her kite across the window once she has her back hand on the bar and follow it by continuing to carve on her heels.
Top Tips
- Apart from making sure that your popped front rolls are working off pat, the secret is to land blind and yes you’ve guessed it, pause foss split second before attempting the Ole.
- If you rush the Ole you’ll fall backwards or if you really rush the Ole you’ll start to rotate into it before you’ve even landed. So first land, balance and then push the bar.
Common Problems
- Assuming that you can get to blind the main issue will be falling backwards. This is normally a result of leaning back to push the bar across your face, rather than keeping your weight balanced and physically pushing the bar up wind and past.
- If you land on your toes across the wind the lines will tighten and you won’t be able to push the bar without it pushing you back, or you leaning back.
Keystones
- Pop then rotate
- Look and pause
- Pull with both hands then throw
- Land downwind and flat – pause
- Then push the bar upwind and across
Kite Loop Handle Pass
The KL3 is a genuine pleasure to tame. Having a bit of pull from the kite and chucking a pass in to boot should get you cheering yourself on even without witnesses. Best bet before trying this would be to get your shifty 3 down, as that way you’ll be used to the rotation and muscle memory should prevail when you pull the trigger. For the more cautious amongst you, the progression step before this is the kite loop to wrapped, which we covered in Issue 21. It goes without saying, we hope, that at the very least you can comfortably and confidently stomp your unhooked fish polled kite loops!?
Approach and Pop
Perhaps a slight recap is necessary as your parting with water moment should be bang on to give you maximum hope of adding a pass and landing. Firstly you’ll need some height and therefore some up pull from the kite, not just some mad demonic downwind tug. Starting with your kite high, near as damn it to 12 o’clock will make all the difference. Trimming your bar down is also essential as not only will this make unhooking with your kite high possible, but it will also encourage your kite to loop, rather than spin on its axis. In Pic A. The rider has already set his kite at 12, flattened the board off to unhook with his hips up.
Lift Off
As you get launched into the air you must be ready for the put as the kite starts to turn. Having popped up hard you will be extended, but in order to take the power and still be able to rotate you must brace and balance yourself.
Pic B. As the rider explodes up off his back foot he puts all his effort into 2 things. Firstly he keeps his elbows in as tight as possible, so that his arms won’t extend too much as the kite pulls, which in turn will keep his body closer to the bar and ready for the pass. Secondly he pulls his knees up, making himself small, so that his legs and board don’t get left behind, and therefore have a chance of coming through and under the bar when he rotates into the pass. In short the rider is trying not to let his body extend into a Raley position. Flick and Kick those of you familiar with the shifty 3 will be aware of the spin that your back leg can create as it comes towards the bar for the pass. The KL3 is no different in that you’ll spin more quickly if you can “involve” the back leg. In fact here it is almost easier as rather than having to kick it out behind you, the whip from the kite will tend to flick your back leg out, so just concentrate on keeping the front leg in and your back leg will be poised and ready to strike.
Pic C. At this point the rider is watching the kite as it goes through the bottom of its loop and starts its journey back up. Keeping his elbows and front knee in the whip of the kite pulls him towards it, which conveniently flicks his back leg out, ready for the pass.
0 – 60!
As well as physical effort the timing of the pass will make or break this move. Although feeling is generally preferred, watching the kite during its loop is no bad thing as you need t “go” before the kite climbs back up in the window, as this will be the moment of least pull and the bar will be light and not pulling away from you. Pic D. As the turbo drops off, the rider pulls the bar down and back towards his trailing hip hard with both hands, so that his upper body comes up towards the bar.
Simultaneously he pulls and swings his back leg up towards the bar, which not only helps him lift the board but also generates the momentum for the pass. You can see how close his body is to the bar now.
The Pass
No rock& science here, as all the usual rules apply. Assuming that you went early enough the kite will not be pulling the bar away from you, so the key is committing. Therefore as your back knee comes through you must release your front hand and turn your head and shoulders so that you don’t block the rotation. Also you must hold onto the bar with you back hand until you can reach it with your free hand behind you. By holding onto the bar you can rotate around it, making the pass more achievable.
Pic E. You can see that the rider has twisted the bar behind him, which allows his shoulder and therefore body to rotate further around, almost rolling around the bar. This makes the pass simpler as by rolling onto the bar, it places the bar easily within reach of the searching free hand. Hence the progression from wrapped, as realistically you are first wrapped in the air, before passing.
Claim it
Once you’ve passed the bar preparation for landing is key. You need the board underneath you and your head looking forward and held high, whilst keeping your arm in as close as possible so that you complete the rotation sufficiently to land with the board heading down wind. Pic F. The rider has dropped his under carriage so that he’ll land on the board. Chances are that this will not be the softest of landings, so he’s lifted his head so that he can stand up and take it, whilst his elbow holding the bar is bent so that his body will follow the kite downwind and complete the rotation.
Top Tips
- As is so often the way the fundamentals are key, so hammering out a few unhooked kite loops first will acclimatize you to the wind and more importantly the kites arc.
- Watch the kite and feel for the flick as the kite whips.
- This way you’ll be able to anticipate the dead point, where you’ll have the slack to pass. If you it for it you’ll miss the moment.
- It will make good sense to learn this with less power and build up from there. If you can nail a pass on a low fly by just before landing it counts and the consequences of it not working are just a splash.
- We won’t be adding any common problems for this move, as it is a matter of concentrating on the relevant skills and putting them together – a comfortable kite loop with an explosive rotation.
Keystones
- Pop early
- Elbows in, Knees up
- Pull bar and swing back leg immediately after whip
- Hold on with back hand to roll around bar
- Get upright for landing and hold in front arm
Blind Judge 3
We’re expecting that you can already stomp the blind judge, and therefore we’ll tweak what you have to move you towards the full monty. In tech terms, considering that you should land a blind judge pretty much down wind, you’re only going to have to turn just over another 90° to claim this one, but that’s a bit like saying you only have to pass the bar in the air to convert the blind landing into a judge, only. It may not sound like much but it’s worth the effort, as it will quite literally feel stunning to land back on your heels – boom! We’ll walk you through the bits that we think make the difference and get you all the way around.
The Approach
Yes once again if you don’t start this right you’ll be emptying your bladder into the wind, whilst banging your head on the proverbial brick wall. First things first, where you start is where you’ll finish, so if you want to land heel side pointing downwind you better bear away so that you’re pointing very downwind before takeoff to help your chances. If not even if you rotate all the way you’ll land on an edge and butt check at best.
Finally and looking at Pic A. you’ll need to get your body and weight into the right position to control the speed and pop. This should be nothing new but you can see that the rider has his hips back over the back of the board, his front leg extended, his shoulders behind his hips and his elbows is This is only possible if you bear away in this position so don’t carve off the wind and bend your front knee!
The Carve
You need to be super aggressive here to get maximum pop, so fight for it if this was a close up you’d see the rider’s rather pained kite face, there’s some effort involved.
Pic B. From the good approach position the rider was able to quickly carve back onto his edge by turning the board back up wind. To resist sufficiently the rider does not allow his back leg to bend more than it was before he carved – you can only use the bend that you have to pop. At the same time the rider’s front leg remains fairly straight which keeps his hips back and low. The final battle is to keep his front elbow in to stop the kite rising as he carves against it
Pop and Flick
This is definitely one of the most influential moments in learning this move, the flick which follows your pop.
Pic C. By resisting hard, carving hard and popping hard but late, the rider’s board flicks around behind him, turning his waist and shoulders upwind, so that the board is more vertical than horizontal behind him.
To prevent him from rotating the rider keeps looking forward and keeps his arms in, but he doesn’t resist this movement as it is the coiling of the spring! In this position the rider’s legs are straight, he doesn’t let his knees bend and feet lift. If you’re used to letting your knees bend your feet up behind you, you need to work on this straight flick. From here you can use gravity to gain maximum speed to spin effectively. If the feet go up you only have your knees travelling a short distance, as opposed to the weight of the board coming from far behind and one side to the other.
Pull and Turn
The flick is only transient, because no sooner is your board behind you than you need to get a move on and throw the 3.
Pic D. As soon as the rider can, he pulls hard on the bar to get his head and shoulders above it and swings the board forward. With the board and his body coming from that turned upwind position, it starts to turn the rider as soon as he moves. Worth noting as well that as the rider pulls on the bar with both hands he is already twisting it around ready for the pass. In comparison to a blind judge the rider does throw himself into the rotation, committing to a full rotation from the off. Think of it as a full flat rotation as opposed to a blind judge with a heel side landing. The basic difference here is that if your board is horizontal it swings forward and down as you pull. From the flicked position, as soon as you pull you automatically start to turn and therefore build up momentum for a full 360°.
The Pass
Hopefully the extra pop and direction of spin created from your flick will allow you to keep two hands pulling on the bar for longer whilst still allowing you to turn. This should then allow you to pass the bar nearer to you, whilst you remain more upright with the board underneath you. If you’re comfortably landing blind judges, then concentrate on passing the bar later, allowing your body to turn further before reaching for the bar. Pic E. You can see in the picture that the rider’s hips are over the board, so he is rotating with the board. The rider achieves this by keeping his head more upright, so don’t tuck your chin into your chest. You can also see that at the moment of passing the rider’s head is turning to look forward, keeping the rotation alive. Finally the rider’s trailing leg is bent.
You must keep this leg, your front landing leg bent so that it doesn’t drop down away from you, preventing you from completing the full 3.
Getting it round Pic F.
The final hurdle. You can see that as the rider releases his front hand he keeps his back arm bent and the bar close. This will keep him moving towards the kite and prevents him from dropping down. The rider’s head is still turning to look for the landing, bringing his shoulders with if now whilst holding the bar in close the rider lifts his front knee through with the rotation and twists the bar around in front of him, so that the bar will lead him as he comes around, bingo.
Top Tips
- They’ve all been mentioned, but start well off the wind, go for the flick and pull early. Really spin into the rotation, committing for the full 360 and pass the bar late so that you turn further, leading with your head held high.
- Once you pass the bar keep your knees and board up, and the bar in close, so that you can roll your front shoulder towards the bar waiting in front of you…. To get yourself in the mood and your head around it, try to get the full 3 without passing the bar, so let go when you should pass but aim to get your body and board around.
- Don’t however practice this method too much as you don’t want muscle memory to remember the letting go.
- You will need time and height to land this, so as well as going early you can sneak the kite up a fraction as you pop, but don’t wait to see if it’s enough, as then you’ll be its late.
Keystones
- Flick from take off.
- Immediately pull and turn.
- Head and knees up.
- Pass later in your rotation.
- Keep bar in close and lift
Toe side front Roll To blind with Ole
We hope you are grooming well with the aid of our articles and learning every trick carefully. With ever learning day, you are going to be perfectionist in this sport. We always emphasize on doing every trick with right way and right balance, so that your every step of learning should be placed on right path. The trick which we are going to learn today has a better name, but for the moment we’ll stick to the descriptive version. Fundamentally this is a pop trick, but a subtle drifting up of the kite is more than tolerable to get you easiness to learn this trick. For those of you confident with your toe side edge this is a great trick and an inspiring step on from the toe side pop to blind which is a good prerequisite as you need both a decent pop from your toes and the blind that very same side. If this will be doing it first time, let us advise again that it will be easier to pop from your strong toe side to a new and unvisited blind rather than try and pop from your weaker toe side. Popping well from your pinkies is the key here.
The Approach
We need two things in order to pop from your toes, first speed and then a good solid edge. With the board fizzing over the water it’ll be a doddle to get it up and you’ll have momentum when you get it around. Looking at Pic A. you can see that the rider pre pop. First off the rider has his bar trimmed in close so that he can get an aggressive edge and hold the power with two hands without being pulled up onto the board. This way he can turn his head and shoulders away from the kite and stand up onto his toes, hips forward, driving the board between him and the kite. The rider has shifted his weight back on the board ready to pop, as this will help him add tension to the lines by edging harder. However if you need more speed you must keep the front knee bent and the board trimmed flat before shifting your weight back.
The Pop
The assumption behind popping is much the same as from heel side – once you have enough speed, carve 
up hard and stamp off the back foot. Though bearing away and then carving up from toe side is no simple task, so for the same sort of effect shifting your weight back will dig the tail in and turn the board upwind on its rocker. The trick is to be quick, shift your weight back and stamp – wait and you’ll lose your speed and nothing will happen. In Pic B. the rider has leant his weight back and simultaneously drifts the kite up slightly from 11 o’clock to give him a bit more lift whilst stamping down hard by explosively straightening his back leg. As he pops up he turns his head and shoulders down and around, initiating the front roll.
The Rotation
The rotation will be very quick as with every front roll from toe side. This is handy, as you’ll need to spin quickly to allow for the extra twist to blind. Aim to keep two hands on the bar until you are coming around the first 360°, as this will keep you more upright and lead to a smoother landing. Looking at Pic C. as Christian reaches this point you can see that he is leading with the head. This is important; as he will know when to initiate the blind once he spots his landing. The rider here also has his knees bent and board up to help encourage a quick rotation and he keeps the bar in for that little bit of extra float. As he focuses on where he’ll land he releases his back hand, turning his head and shoulders down and around under the bar so that he can get his body around to blind whilst the board is leading. This way the board will be beneath him and ready for touchdown.
Throwing Blind
We can see in Pic D. that the rider has “thrown” the blind with the result of turning his head and shoulders down. As he drops his feet and board are leading the way. Whilst turning, he tweaks the kite down by pulling gently on his front hand. This will guarantee a bit more speed and forward momentum for the Ole, and is necessary if you sneak the kite up for takeoff.
Landing
As with all things Ole or pass you’ll need to land blind on a flat board heading at least a tiny bit downwind towards the kite. This way you’ll have no tension on the lines and so the Ole should be a walk in the park. Pic E. the rider lands upright over his flat board, having thrown the blind enough to land slightly off the wind. Try to keep your head up, as this will prevent you from breaking too much at the waist, which can in turn force weight onto your toes and put tension on the lines! If anything you want to be leaning on your heels. Landing this way the lines will be slack and therefore the bar will be close to you, not twisted around leading the way and pulling you over.
Ole
Landing upright on a flat board heading towards your kite sets you up perfectly for the grand finale, the Ole. Pic F. Standing over his board the rider can now push the bar upwind and around in front of him, so that the blind miraculously transforms back into toe side. Once the bar is across get both hands back on it, sheet in and ride off with a hefty grin on your face.
Common Problems
- If you’re not getting enough pop from toe side try sailing more across the wind before dropping your weight back and popping.
- If the kite is falling out of the sky as you land make sure that you are both popping hard into the front roll and that you give the bar a tweak forward to keep the kite from drifting too far up.
- If you slide under the kite on landing try throwing your blind more aggressively by turning your head and throwing your free hand around.
- If you’re getting pulled over & catching your heel side edge, you’re not landing enough downwind.
- If you can’t Ole and the kite pulls you over you’re edging on your toes whilst blind, so make sure your weight is on both your feet, biased towards your heels.
Keystones
- Speed on your toe side edge
- Change weight to back of board and quick pop into fast rotation
- Release back hand after 360’to throw blind
- Tweak kite forward
- Land flat and downwind
One Foot Front Loop Transition
Our book of kite surfing is full of tricks and with every chapter we disclose something useful and new for you. This move is a bit of a classic from the archives. Please have a deep view on below sequence and picture steps, which will make it easier for you to do successfully.
- The Take Off.
Ideally your goal with a pop transition is to land it with a diving kite without the need to add a late kite loop, as the later is really just a way of saving a mistimed attempt. This means that you need to pop up off the water earlier than you think and pretty hard, as this is what’ll give you your height. You need to keep tension on the lines to support you and stop the kite drifting back too far, and you’ll need to keep the kite sat fairly still above you whilst you pendulum out and swing back to land.
Pic A.
For his take off the rider has checked his speed by edging hard upwind, as if he comes in too fast he will swing too much.
He has moved the kite up to twelve with his back hand centered on the bar and keeps the bar in to get the lift as early as possible before the kite gets to 12. As soon as the kite starts to pull the rider stamps down hard off his back foot and pops up and forward into his rotation, whilst already reaching forward for the grab (got to get the foot out early). Final point to note is that the rider does not yet turn his head for the rotation, as he doesn’t want to spin quickly as this will make the one-foot harder.
- Foot Oct
Taking your foot out quickly and effortlessly will help no end, so it may be worth loosening your strap slightly. It will also help if you’re accustomed to this action, so at least run through it numerous times on land, but better still have the one footed jump in the opposite direction nailed, as the movement is exactly the same as a tail grab one foot that way. Here it’s a nose grab, but realistically you should grab the heel side edge of the board somewhere between the strap and the fin. Hold the board up with your toes pointing skywards, and pull your foot out and down to avoid the foot sticking.
Pic B.
The rider is looking at his grab and the foot strap, which makes both taking the foot out and getting it back in quicker, and this is the main reason for not throwing your head around over your back shoulder on takeoff. If you feel confident try and push your foot down towards the water to straighten your leg for extra style points.
- The Rotation Pic C.
You can see in the photo that even though the rider is
focused on the strap he is still rotating, although slowly, from throwing his shoulder down towards the nose of the board on takeoff. As soon as he feels his back turning towards the water it’s time to get the foot back is Even though the kite gives some hang, as a pop trick you won’t have much time in the air, so as soon as you turn past 90 degrees you’ll need to speed things up if you intend to land facing the right way with two feet in the straps. In this image the rider holds the board away at arms length, which gives hiss enough room to lift his leg and get his foot above the board, whilst looking at the strap and keeping the bar in for support.
- Foot In Pic D.
There is no point in attempting to
land until your foot is in, and as you can see here even though the rider is swinging out under the kite as a result of keeping the bar in his concentration is focused on getting the foot is It will be tempting to look around as you feel the kite pulling gently from behind you, but don’t be put off, get the foot jammed in and then you’ll be ready.
- Landing Gear Down Pic E.
As soon as his foot is in the rider releases
his grab and turns his head and shoulders to look around towards downwind. At the same time he pulls on his hand to dive the kite, and as the power comes on it will pull his the rest of the way around his rotation and hopefully he’ll drop down into a perfect tail first landing.
As long as you he gets your head around and dive the kite the rest will be surprisingly automated. If the kite has drifted too far back in the window you will need to loop it as you land to stop you sinking!
Top Tips
- For your first attempts a bigger kite will make life considerably easier as it won’t move so quickly and it’ll give you a lot more float and therefore time to rotate slowly whilst you slide your foot quickly out and in.
- It will make a lot of sense to master the nose grab front loop transition first as then it is ‘just’ a matter of adding and timing the foot as opposed to learning a whole bunch of new skills at the same time
- We covered the grab variation in issue 31. Do make sure you give yourself plenty of space and some deep water, as at first it’s likely that you’ll let the kite drift too far, in which case you’ll get ceremoniously dropped into the water, which won’t hurt unless it’s only a few centimeters deep.
Common Problems
- The real issue on these pop transitions is kite positioning, and coming out with the kite high enough that you can dive it for power The opposite from perfect is the kite swinging back as you pendulum forward, resulting in you dropping in and the kite fluttering down at the edge of the window behind you.
- To counter this you must keep the bar in whilst you drift the kite up. Start with the kite no higher than 1 or 11, give it to jab up and pop immediately. You can let the bar out slightly at the apex but there is already enough to think about
Keystones
– Kite not too high
– Pop Early
– 1 Foot immediately
– Foot In then turn head
– Dive and look down wind
Raley To Toe Side
This sport of kite boarding moves with different styles and ticks. The benefits of this sport can be measured by its refreshment and popularity worldwide. Today we all like a Raley, and funnily enough most of us learn on our preferred side, favorite foot forward, leading to a solid heel side touchdown. It looks like an embarrassment to overlook the other side and deny yourself the kudos of flicking your board both ways. Therefore the Raley to toe side, and just to prove it is a genuine move it even has its own name, the Krypt. With no trouble you can gladly learn these both hooked or unhooked. In this article, we will be going through the unhooked variant, but be assured that apart from the actual physical act of unhooking the rest remains pretty much the same for both, from approach to landing.
The Approach A.
As in every trick your approach will always determine how well things will turn out. Please have a look in the picture that the rider has her kite just below 1 o’clock, she has turned the board off the wind onto a very broad reach, whilst keeping her weight both upwind of the board and back towards the tail of the board. You can also see that her front leg is extended and both her elbows are tucked into her sides. Not only is this the perfect position from which to unhook, it is also the perfect set up for a Raley.
Now over here Kite height is very significant, too high and you’ll fly, but too low and you may not have the confidence to pop, so a happy medium is required, at a height just about where your kite is happily flying forward without creating lift, as a reference point this will be just below 1 or 11. Suddenly bearing off the wind allows you to lose tension from the lines and unhook, 
and it lets the kite drop back a touch so that it will pull you downwind, easier landing, once you pop. Weight upwind positions the board between you and the kite so you can pop without the kite pulling your shoulders prematurely over the board. Then weight back over the tail so that you can rapidly and professionally carve the board upwind to pop, the extended front leg helps this. Elbows are tucked in to stop the kite from pulling your arms out straight and you over the board. Now you are all set for the Raley part.
The Carve Pic B.
Your action carving up against the kite needs to be accurate and quick; or else the kite will win the tug of war. With your weight back over the tail of the board you only need to turn your shoulders and the board will carve spec the shape that some lovely board designer put there for such a purpose.
Please see picture B wherein the rider has turned her shoulders and the board carves upwind, putting tension on the lines and thus generating some resistance. This resistance is your platform to pop off. Though to make sure that you are in control you need to keep your position. The easier way to do this is not to let the kite drift up, which it will want to do as you pull against it.
The rider keeps both hands in, arms bent, but her focal point is on keeping the front hand close, as it’s natural to pull on the back one as she turns away from the kite. Also as the rider carves she resists the pull from the kite with her back leg, which combined with her arms allows her to keep her weight upwind, on that edge, turning the board towards the wind.
The Pop Pic C.
Raley is simply an extreme pop. If you’ve somehow managed to oppose on the aforementioned platform you will be in a position to, and have something from which to pop. 
As the board turns underneath you it’s the right time to stamp. The rider feels the board turning under her, and more significantly feels herself being pulled forwards by the kite. This is her cue to pop. She pops hard against the board with her back foot by stamping down and extending her back leg as explosively as possible. Her front leg has remained extended throughout. The amount of pop you get will depend on a few variables -speed, power, timing, aggression, but your aim is to extend, really focus on straightening your legs, uncoiling the spring which is you.
The Flick Pic D.
There are two possibilities in a Raley, to end up with the board horizontal and behind you, 
or flicked around vertically behind you. The second talked option will make all number of tricks more attainable and the Krypt is no exception. This flicking action is simply a continuation of the carve upwind and by extending and letting the board go you should end up here.
In this position you are airborne you also require to take stock of what is going on lest adjustments need be made. The rider has let her board flick around by carving hard to get the board into the wind and extending fully as she took off. She now wants to make ensure that she is in control, and here that means that the kite is doing what it should. If you’re well versed in Raleys, you know that once you have it nailed the kite doesn’t move, but if this side is new chances are the kite will have gone up. If it has, steer it down, the rider’s bar here is angled forward to keep the kite from rising. You’ll need to utilize both hands. The rider will also be spotting her landing, that is to say she’ll be working out where she’ll most likely land so that she can prepare for it.
Landing Gear Down Pic E.
Gravity always wins and your legs will naturally fall underneath you, 
which is the beauty with a Raley. That said if you start with your kite at 45° or below Newton may not be able to save you. You can see in the picture the advantage of the flick, the rider left foot is forward as her front foot was flicked around behind her. If you have a strong toe side preference, chances are that you’ll automatically keep this position, but just to make sure, try to bring your knees up towards you as the board falls. As your knees come up you can pull your toe side leading knee under the bar, much as you would for a gentle pop to toe side. Here in picture the rider pulls her left knee through underneath her.
The Result Pic F.
By pulling her left knee through and under the bar, the rider will now happily and happily 
land tail first for a toe side landing and a Krypt claimer. By keeping the bar in close she lands over the board and is not pulled forwards by the kite. Once you have landed, either bear away towards the kite and hook back in, or casually pop back to heel side and ponder what you’ll do next.
Top Tips
- The very first tip is to start off gently, you don’t need to be hounding along at Mach 10 with the intention of a full blown Raley.
- A decent extended pop will give you the feel, so concentrate on carving and extending your legs and body before landing.
- Also have a good look on images.
Common Problems
- If you find that you are landing very downwind and having to carve around onto your heels, the chances are that either your kite has drifted up, or your error have extended which means that the kite will pull you too far downwind. Keep your arms tucked in and don’t be afraid to dive the kite down to keep you going where you should be.
- If you are catching your toe side edge on landing you don’t have enough height, so either pop harder or try with your kite slightly higher in the window. These are the things to keep In mind.
Keystones
- Approach with weight upwind, back and front leg extended
- Carve hard upwind with arms in
- Explode against the edge with your back foot
- Extend and feel the flick
- Pull arms in and bring back knee through
Shifty 5
Everyday small progression in kiting is an important thing and also the most rewarding challenges. In freestyle the possibilities seem endless, moving from a blind landing with surface pass, to an air pass blind judge and then adding that extra bit tars blind judge three and then a five and then a seven – one can but dream or admire those that actually can.
Anyway the point is to those non-freestylers it all can look a tad uncontrolled with a lot of splashing, but if it’s your thing then every extra 90° or so means s00000 much. Taking your Shifty 3 and moving it on to a 5 is a highly rewarding yet achievable challenge – so here’s how.
To make that extra turn to toe side you’ll need more time. There are a few options available to you here. You could put your kite higher, which will help but the higher it is the more strength and effort you’ll need to pass, which may slow down your rotation.
You could go for the pass much earlier and therefore have more apparent time at the end to get around that extra bit although if you don’t kick the back leg it could make the pass trickier. And you could pop as hard as you’ve ever popped, although if you pop too hard you might get extended and pulled out which could also make the pass a tad more difficult. Realistically a subtle combination of all three is needed, with an awareness of how each will affect you. The one exception to all of the above is if you happen to be one of those people who can spin so quickly that you’re not sure what all the fuss is about
Getting Up There Pic 1
From the above you can check that rider is not coming into this with his kite at 45°, but as so often it won’t be above 11 o’clock as you must be able to edge against it, and any higher it’ll be lifting you – 10.30 is perfect.He’s come in with good speed and the kite parked still, with all his weight back over the tail of the board. He’s carved up hard and low and at this point has popped aggressively by stamping against the board, allowing his legs and body to fully extend upwards in an effort to get as much height as he can with this kite angle. His effort is focused ontwo things simultaneously, pop for height AND
keep the bar as close aspossible. You don’t want your arms getting pulled out straight.
The Leg Kick – Shifty Pic 2
As you’ll no doubt know from your Shifty 3s, kicking the back leg out is to help with your rotation and if you happen to have a stylish shifty it’ll look better too. As soon as he is free of the water the rider kicks his back leg out, winding up some energy for his rotation and pass whilst keeping his elbows and hands in. This way he’ll be able to pull harder and swing his leg further.
Swing and Pull Pic 3
This is a crucial step as the closer you get yourself to the bar, the earlier you’ll be able to pass it and more importantly the less it will pull away from you once you have passed it. Remember that your airs is to go a little earlier so as soon as you have kicked your leg back, pull and go. You need to pull yourself up and over the bar whilst swinging your front leg under your elbows to get you rotating. This is a kite face moment as the effort should be extreme maybe even allow yourself a little grunt!
You can see that in comparison with the last picture where the rider head was level with the bar, he now has the bar coming in and down below his chest. And even though he has swung his back leg through and has started to rotate he still has both hands on the bar as he is still pulling himself up to it.
The Pass Pic 4
The passing action will be similar to your 3, that is to say you’ll be leading with your head and shoulders, turning yourself down and around, away from the bar, releasing your front hand, twisting the bar and then immediately hunting for the bar on the other side. If you popped hard enough and pulled hard enough you should get some slack here from the kite, which will help as the bar won’t get pulled out from you.
That said the main difference here to the 3 is if you look at the rider, you’ll see that his back leg is lifted with his knee coming up towards his chest. This is the precursor to getting the toe side landing, you really have to commit to this during the handle 
pass, otherwise your feet and the board will drop away from you and you’ll have no chance to go that little bit further.
Head, Hand and Knee Pic 5
And here is the result of bringing that knee up. With the knee up the rider can then bring it through towards his hand. The action is similar to that of a back roll to toe side, even though your adding the toe side on at the end you have to finish the roll with your back knee high so that you can push it through. It’s also important to keep the bar close, by that we mean don’t let your front arm fully extend as then you’ll used to Shifty 3s the chances are your muscle memory will encourage you to just drop out of the pass. Here you must keep your head turning so that it’s looking forward as this will allow you to turn your shoulders further so that your legs and upper body are moving together.
Just think how you learnt the side by taking the front hand off so that your shoulders could twist around. Here you can’t let that hand go so you’ll need to turn your head.
Get the Back Hand on Pic 6
This is almost THE top tip as well as being the final thought to ponder, 
as once you get your head around what is going on, aiming for this from the moment you think about passing will help you get the 5.
If you fry your damnedest to land with both hands on the bar it will make you turn your shoulders even if it doesn’t get on until you splash down, as is the case with our rider here in image.
Top Tips
- You’re going to need power, pop and height, but don’t confuse this with having your kite trimmed too far out, or should we say powered up in old
- If you do the kite will pull all through the move and it’ll be twice as hard.
- If you can think of only two elements of this move, they are to lift that back knee as you pass and fry to land with two hands on the bar.
- Have a gander at the full Sequence and Videos and try to see the early pre-empting of the toe side turn during the pass
Common Problems
- If you’re dropping down out of the pass as per normal for a 3, take time to visualize what you’re aiming for.
- Then give it another 30% on your next try and think about bringing that knee up and landing with two hands.
- If you’re getting around but then fall on your back once you land. This means the kite is pulling you too much once you’ve passed, so either trim a little more or pull harder into the pass.
- If you don’t have time, go earlier and try to get some more height with help from the kite.
Keystones
- Come in with power and speed and pop super hard
- Shifty as soon as you’re off the water
- Then immediately pull up to bar and swing back leg through
- Lift back knee up and through as you pass
- Land with 2 hands on the bar