Double Back Roll Kite Loop
Hey guys! This week lets rock with double back roll kite loop and find all the possible way to complete this trick.
This one harks back a bit, watching some of the early adopters pulling the trigger on one of these back in the day was a sight to behold, large kite, no depower, heavy mutant strapped to their feet, and serious landings! Fortunately things have moved on and tricks like this are open to anyone and everyone, so certainly worth a bash and a lot of fun – possibly feels better than it looks.
As a prerequisite we would advise that you have a decent back loop, so that you can control your rotation and you know where your kite is, and some experience with looping the kite as you’ll be happier if it turns. Other than that as long as you’re not maxed it’s game on as this move is more about commitment and timing than finesse and technique
The Approach
Pic A. This is a sent back loop, so you’ll need to come in with good speed on a solid edge and your kite no higher than 1 or 11 o’clock. With a good edge you can confidently send the kite hard enough to get sufficient height, happy in the knowledge that it won’t drift too far behind you because the lift will come early. For this same reason you must keep the bar in on the sweet spot when you send the kite. If you let it out the kite will drift further back before taking you up, and the result will be a low and slow kite loop – not ideal.
You can see in image that the rider has speed and is low on as much edge as possible, driving through his back foot to resist the extra pull from his send. This will give plenty of up and keep tension on the lines during the back rotations – important for the moment you pull the bar to loop the kite. As for a normal back loop you should aim to take off with a bit of upward stamp off the back leg as this will also keep the kite above you.
The Rotation
Pic B. Although this is a double back loop, you don’t want to be throwing a super fast spinning rotation. For those of you who can already pull of a single back loop kite loop, it’s a similar theory. In the single version you only perform half a back loop and the kite does the rest.
Here for the double if we can get one and a half the kite will do the rest. Otherwise you run the risk of over rotating when the kite pulls, which won’t be the most comfortable of landings. Your aim is to rotate at a speed that will get you around 360° by the time you get to the apex of your jump, the higher you go the slower you need to spin. So give the take off a bit more than you would for your normal back loop. Even though you don’t want to overdo it, you do need to get yourself into a position from which you can rotate and maintain balance. Here the rider is already half way around his first rotation. He’s tucked up small, knees up, board close, so that he doesn’t stall or slow down. However his head is still looking through his arms, he’s not thrown it into the rotation. And he has the bar leveled and pulled into the sweet spot, to keep the kite from drifting back and also keep tension on the lines, so that the kite is primed.
Do It
Pic C. Assuming that your kite hasn’t drifted too far back you should still feel it supporting/floating you as you come around your first rotation. This is the moment to pull the trigger and loop the kite. If however you feel that the kite is way behind you and that you are already starting to fall, it’s best not to pull. The rider’s momentum is taking him into another rotation. He still has the bar in and is tucked up, so all he has to do is pull in hard on the back of the bar and push away with his front hand. As fun as it is to get as much power out of the • loop, when learning you want it to get around fast so be positive with your bar movement. You can see that the rider has his back hand slightly down the bar, whilst his front hand is near the centerline. This means he can pull easily on the back, and keep the bar on the sweet spot with the front.
Turbo
Pic D. Once you pull be ready for the kite’s power to pull you around. Here the rider has now turned his head to look over his front shoulder. This will help him “go with” the kite as it loops, meaning that he’ll turn slowly as the kite pulls him around. Once you’ve got here you are fully committed, so keep pulling and don’t let the kite pull the bar out and away from you.
Around to Land
Pic E. As the kite goes through its loop and starts to climb, keep the bar in and the kite turning. As long as you keep looking, keep the bar in and keep the kite moving you’ll come around. Once you can see your landing as the rider can here you know you’ve made it. Only thing left is to land downwind and then get back on your edge quickly to get tension on the lines and get the kite back under control.
Depending on your height and the speed of the loop, you may need to dive the kite hard to prevent it from overflying behind you!
Top Tips
Before bashing on with this, definitely bang out a few back loops to work out how hard you should send the kite and how fast you should rotate, then you can amp up the rotation a little bit and add the loop.
This move is all about timing. As long as you don’t let the kite drift too far back on takeoff, and pull for the kite loop as you start your second rotation it will work. We’d recommend not trying this too powered up to start with, work your way up in steps, both height and power, as you don’t want to be coming in on your side or back!
Common Problems
- Kite drifting too far back during first rotation. Chances are that you let the bar out as the kite started to lift, and/or you didn’t send the kite hard enough.
- If you want to tone it down it is better to give a hard but short yank on the bar than to slowly drift the kite.
- If you’re over rotating and starting a third back roll you are either pulling for the loop to late, or spinning yourself into the first rotation with too much energy. The quick his is to make sure you pull on your back hand as soon as you start the second rotation as the kite will pull you out of it foss down wind landing.
Keystones
- Approach as for a jump
- Good send with bar held in
- Make yourself small
- Pull hard as soon as you start 2nd rotation
- Keep pulling and turn head as power comes on
Double Back Rool Transition
Adding together some extra rotation is a sure shot fire way of stepping up a move that you already have mastered, and the double back roll transition is definitely up there as one to learn, so here it is. Although some warning words are here, if you’ve been practicing the double back roll kite loop from last issue, you may require to rewire your brain and press default as these are two clearly different moves wherein you definitely don’t wish to be confusing. A very good base before starting this is a solid and controlled, BLT, or back roll transition if you’re from across the pond. From this point below is what you will be doing.
The Approach Pic A.
Vital 2 things to remember for any transition are; you have to kill some forward momentum and then you still need to send the kite for lift. You certainly require a good edge for both of these elements. From a good edge you can edge harder upwind to slow down, and with a good edge you can send the kite rapidly and sharply from either 11 or 1 to 12 o’clock because you maintain tension in the lines. If you think about this you won’t drift the kite up slowly whilst standing up on the board and your chances of success will be greatly increased. Please note and also see in Pic A that the rider has come in with good speed on a decent edge, kite at 11 o’clock, weight back and tension in his lines.
From this point the rider has sent the kite up whilst edging harder to both resist the pull, and also to slow down. Even though his back leg is bent it is not soft – it is pushing and therefore resisting.
The Rotation Pic B.
A certain element of trial and error with good amount of practice is what required for this part, depending on your standard BLT. In case if you are a recognized exponent of slow, casual-looking back roll transitions then speeding up the rotation to accommodate an extra 360° shouldn’t hold much of a problem. If however you’re guilty of the occasional foray into spinney quick low BLTs, then you’ll need to focus more on your approach and the take-off, in search of more height and float, which added to your spin speed should see you nicely round the full double.
We feel it extremely important to mention here that that you do want to help yourself into the second rotation, but you don’t want to force it as later in the move you can use your head, body and kite to help you finish. The rider I Pic B. has dropped his weight way back over the tail of the board. With his weight so far back the board will turn/carve much further into the wind as it is almost pivoting on its tail. This will efficiently speed up the rider’s rotation as he will carve further into wind before take-off than for his standard BLT.
The important tool here is timing, you must drop back as the kite starts to lift, a fraction before you take off. This way you’ll still edge and therefore be rewarded with some air and float. If you drop back too early you’ll be pulled back and the kite will fly further back in the window, offering you less time in the air to make it round the two times.
Take Off Pic C.
Here comes the key moment, though your approach will dictate how this goes. If you have edged and resisted and literally stabbed the kite back hard but face short time you will be able to pop up off your back leg as you pull the bar in whilst the kite is somewhere close to 12 o’clock.
The rider has pulled the bar right in after popping. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly by pulling in hard with 2 hands the rider successfully stops the kite moving and keeps it centered above bias around 12 o’clock. Secondly he gets a cheeky bit of extra lift from the kite. However be cautioned if your sweet spot is trimmed miles away from you, your kite will flare/stall and you will not get the float or control that you’re expecting. As he takes off he keeps his head looking forward between his arms, which will stop him over cooking the rotation. Finally the rider in this image lifts his knees, making himself small, balanced and easier to rotate.
Half Way House Pic D.
By the time you reach to the peak of your transition, your aim is to complete your first rotation, so one on the way up and then one on the way down. That means unless you’re getting great height there won’t be much time to separate the move into two halves.
You are ready and primed to go into number two as you complete the first 360°, it’s the most important thing here. Check images number D. that the rider has lifted his feet above him and has his knees pulled in close. This a little inverted position will make it much simpler to finish the move, as with your feet high and knees in, your whole body, legs and board will follow your head and shoulders as you turn into the second rotation. It is absolutely possible to finish the move with the board down low, however you are far more likely to finish with your head and shoulders, but find that the board has been left somewhat behind – which will hinder your smooth landing. In picture you can see that the rider has started to pull, gently at first, on his left hand (old back hand, new front hand – whichever way you prefer to think). This gentle movement of bar and kite will encourage you to lean back into the second rotation
Turn and land pic- E
Your second rotation will come from a combination of your head and the kite. With your feet up look around and you’ll continue to turn and the rest will follow. You can see that the rider is attentive on where he will land, and as soon as he feels that he is rotating, he dives the kite down hard. The pull from the kite twists him around and powers him up for a down wind landing.
One thing which really important is Timing here in this trick , but if you pull too early the kite will end up low with little power and as such you’ll be forced into a late kite loop once you have landed to keep you dry. If you time the dive well, you’ll get the perfect dry landing without needing to loop the kite.
Top Tips
- Start with some single BLTs, focused on the edge, send, upward take off and keeping the kite above you at 12 o’clock throughout the move.
- Once you’re comfortable, confident and consistent bring your feet up and go for the second rotation whilst keeping the kite at 12.
- Once this is in the bag you can dive hard to add the perfect 10 landing! If you’re struggling with the slow rotation, concentrate on the up rather than the spin and approach with less speed and more edge, whilst sending more aggressively – but just for a short moment.
Common Problems
- The most common problem here is implementation the move but landing with the kite so for at the edge of the window that there is no way to get any power to get moving.
- There are two probable reasons for this. Firstly you’re drifting the kite up rather than sending, so you feel the lift late and the kite has already travelled too far behind you.
- Secondly as you take off your leaning back onto your back hand, so you don’t stop or even redirect the kite to 12. Concentrate on performing the move with the kite at 12 o’clock and then add the kite dive on at the end.
- The other famous problem is not having enough height to land cleanly, so you are completing the double but always landing on an edge across the wind with your burn in the water.
- This can generally be linked with concentrating too much on the rotation and not launching yourself up into the move. Make an effort to pop up into the rotation, and not just carve around into the wind.
Some Keystones
- Good solid edge with legs resisting
- Send kite positively with confidence
- Pop up into the back roll and center bar
- Keep Kite at 12 o’clock and lift legs
- Turn head at apex and dive kite to complete number two
Toe Side Double Front Loop Downloop Transition
Your box of tricks should be always full with surplus of moves; however you have to ensure that you keep up with the transitions too. Having more ways to change direction is never a bad thing so here is another one which will have you flying out gracefully with plenty of beans. When you start doing this we will definitely recommend a controlled front loop from toe side and solid down loop. Let’s have a quick idea at a few pointers that will hopefully make the learning a tad simpler.
The Approach Pic 1.
A huge height is not required for this, however some forward momentum and plenty of float is obligatory,
so you’ll need to approach this more as a double front roll with speed and the kite parked at either 1 or 11 o’clock. You’ll be taking off from your toes and therefore trim is important, hence get your sweet spot down towards you. This way you will provide a decent committed edge and still have room to send the kite without stalling it. Your toe side stance needs to be solid in this position. In the image the rider has all of his body upwind of the board; both knees are bent and driving forward with all his weight firmly on both sets of toes, creating a decent rooster tail behind him. Once he gets sweet spot close in, he can get his shoulders and head committed upwind and the kite is not pulling him up onto the board.
Getting Airborne Pic 2.
Take-off is very important in order to get enough height and time from your toes. 
Get it wrong and you’ll fly down wind and pendulum under your kite! In order to initiate your front rotation you need to get your weight back so that you can kick off your back leg and in order to go up you need to send the kite with a good push and pull from both hands. The rider has sent the kite with a decent bar action, and also keeping it on the sweet spot. If he pulled it in any further the kite will pull him up onto the board and he’ll lose his edge. The order of play here is to send the kite with both knees bent and then drop your weight back ready to kick off. You will lose speed and the ability to edge hard if you drop back too early.
Roll With It Pic 3.
Starting the front roll and keeping the edge for as long as possible will help an awful lot. When the kite lifts you’ll be stamping hard
off your back foot, and extending up into your rotation with as much energy as you can muster. In image you can see why it is so vital to obtain the right weight onto the back foot. The rider in image is stamping hard against the edge to initiate the double roll whilst extending up. This keeps the tail of the board in contact with the water for as long as possible giving him added whip and height. The rider throws his head and shoulders down to add inertia and already centers the bar with both hands to stop the kite flying too far back
Moving Forward Pic 4.
Over here in this picture you can check that the rider only past the 360 degree mark. He has finished his first rotation whilst still on the way up and now starts his second. Having kept the kite close to 12 o’clock he has both float from the kite and he can feel where the kite is. You must commit to the second rotation so as soon as you come around the first continue to turn your head and go with the energy you created on take-off.
If the kite is above you or even a little in front of you, you are in right place to well place to start the down loop. We propose two reasons to initiate it now. Initially the pull from the kite will help pull you around the rest of the way. 
And then secondly the earlier we pull, the less aggressive, relatively speaking, we need to be on the bar. Your sits is for the kite to pull you out of the transition with speed and if the kite down loops too rapidly or from too far behind it will drop you down with no momentum.
You can see in the images that the rider has his knees up tight, bar in close and his head is turned to rotate, all this will rooks hits turn faster. Looking at the bar you can see that he is already initiating the down loop.
Clean Landing Pic 5.
The moment of truth and another insight into the reason you must down loop early, gradually and continually. Looking at the rider in image you can see that he is landing right foot forward downwind on the tail of his board, all set to carve out of the “turn” and back onto his edge.
Realistically he isn’t finishing 2 full rotations; it is more like one and three quarters. So not only does the down loop give you speed but it pulls you out of the rotation. If you initiate the down loop later you will effectively over rotate and land on your heel side edge, stopping all momentum and you in the process. In final stage the rider keeps pulling the kite through the down loop until it is back up at 1 o’clock in the right position to ride away.
Top Tips
- To start with aim to get the rotations and a finish down loop, as this will be better than under cooking it with the kite, so when you do pull on the front hand, pull hard. This will however often result in you stopping when you land.
- Once you’ve practiced that a bit and having read the previous pointers you can see that the aim of this move is not to perform a double rotation and a down loop in the air, but rather get your rotation and use the down loop to pull you out with speed.
- Essentially you will be finishing the down loop as you land, not before. To get your head around this try some air gybe down loops If you go early and hard the kite turns, goes back up to 12 o’clock and you sink.
- Your sits is to progressively turn the kite more gently so that it will go through the bottom of the down loop before you land but as it rises it will pull you through the landing and give you a good speedy landing.
Common Problems
- If you find that you cannot edge enough when sending the kite, and therefore get pulled too much downwind whilst in the air – trim. Even if you have gorilla-length arms you need that sweet spot and the bar in close.
- If you find that you land with no power, as discussed above, you need to get the kite just in front of 12 just after take-off and then down loop the kite more slowly.
- If you’re landing on your hip and can’t get the board underneath you, this is a sign that the kite is down looping too low, so make sure you haven’t redirected the kite too much after take-off, and be a bit more aggressive when you pull on the front hand to down loop it.
Keystones
- Fast toe side with both knees driving forward.
- Rock weight back and send hard
- Kick up off back leg, head and shoulders down
- Redirect kite above you and stay small
- Start down loop progressively once you go into your 2nd rotation
Kite control is important in this trick and you have to initiate the down loop in the right moment. If you´re start down looping to early you might end up crashing hard like this guy
The correct way to do it is like this
Double Front Loop Down Loop Transition
One of the advanced level tricks in Kite surfing is the double front loop transition. This is tried by mostly experts or advanced intermediate surfers. The technique here is mostly based on how you balance your forward momentum on the board and then move to height and bring yourself down on the downward wind and this is where you try out the perfect rotation of yourself. So to approach this trick there are couple of steps you need to follow.
First thing you need to do is basically place yourself on the board. This is done with the right leg placed straight on the board with the left leg behind in such a way so that it is used for pushing the board. As the wind speed increases the kite will start to lift you up and this is the point you need to start rotating yourself. Make sure you do not bend the back legs from the board as this basically slows down the entire rotation obstructing the perfect transition. The main idea here is to take you up on the first rotation and slide down in front for a smooth landing but you will notice that by the time you finish the first rotation and shift your head on the other side you are again ready to go for the second time. The next step is here when you and the kite are lifted up and you need to stay at 12 o’clock to the kite all this time by controlling the kite bar with front hand pulling it in forward direction. Every time you jump up the kite should be at 12 o’clock position and this is done when you rotate the body but your feet should be on the board. The impressive part of this is when you are lifted in the air and try to come down it descends slowly and gives you a feel of the kite and its forward movement.
A point to remember here is the kite should be always above you during this time otherwise the downward loop will pull the kite in front and you will be away from it. Always remember that the downloop will be slow and steady so that during this movement it will land you and also has the force to pull you forward. In fact you do not need to make the whole 720° as the downloop which helps in the smooth transitioning to landing also takes care of the turnings. But this is different from kite to kite and it matters on the sizes. For instance if you are using a kite which is slightly larger than the common ones available then make sure the front hand which is over the bar to move in the forward direction to control the high speeds which is controllable with two hands in case the kite is smaller. As you move forward with the wind, you will soon realize that how the kite quickly understands where to downloop and the downwind along with it also assists you in landing your kite.