Lately I have been haveing a crack at boosting big time - flying a 10 m Bandit 3 in around 20 knots yesterday and in the surf so had some awesome ramps.

I've been kiteing for a bit over 3 years and am currently riding a 5'8" Kipuna .

Some of the jumps were - um very big !! ie seems that at the top of the jump I was looking srtaight at the bridle of the kite nearest me - lots of altitude for me and some hang time !!

My question is - apart from looping the kite ( Ok I'm 51 so not a young buck!) what is the best plan to make every landing a survivable one ??

Yesterday I landed hard on my left ribs and dont want to do that again - jumped left hand forward and got big height off the wave lip - and hit the apex of the jump and generlly I pull on the front hand to redirect to kite forward and land down wind.. still didnt work out to plan me thinks !!

So I guess I'm trying to find out what I should have done differently in the air to land the jump ? Once you go big there is alot of time to think about the kite -but my mind is always well WTF - now what next!!!!!

I'd love to hear how you guys that jump high fly the kite to make the landings - well just happen!!

Cheers Lambie

You dont necessarily need to loop, but you do need to turn the kite down hard before you land.
Most beginners land jumps and zoom under the kite and it goes slack and crashes.
They correct this by trying to land on an edge, or by not landing pointing directly downwind.

Instead, land pointing in the same direction you are travelling but by turning the kite down just before you land it will drift with you and you wont underrun it.

Moving from this to a downloop is simply pulling the kite a bit harder.

Jumping off wave ramps are awesome! but if you time the ramp wrong then if leads to interesting jumps.

Some more tips. More board speed. Go faster. you can stall mid air if you hit a lip to slow and that can lead to a the kite loosing power. more speed means more wind over the kite and more power for a soft landing.

One of my personaly favourites is to let the bar out. come down fast. (letting the bar out speeds the kite up giving more aparent wind). then bar in and hard redirect hard just before landing. when timed well it gives you at nice bit of lift just before landing and a super soft landing.

Yep, loop it! Gives that little uplift, better then swooping kite as that only speeds you up, in fact giving you a harder landing

Every now & then ill do a big Jump, not loop it, stuff up my landing and think to myself why didn't I just loop it!

Plus one on the moving of the kite if you dont want to downloop just yet.

Say heading out to sea, send to your left, pull in, near the summit, move to the left again slightly, then right as you descend, followed by what plummett and the others were saying about a redirect...every kite has its own timing.

Me I'm a bit of a pussy when it comes to insane height, and follow the above..only on meduim days do I downloop just in case i get it wrong. I need to work on that!

The kite I use lands so soft anyhow with a huge horizontal float near the surface of the water just by redirecting. But say the VX i Used to use, it demanded a down loop or else...so depends on the kite you are using.

Another thing to consider, when you jump, keep your shoulders intially pointing in the direction of travel, rather than follow the kite up on its ascent...reduces the over rotation potential of the body in flight, where you can lose your orientation.

like this...




Christ did I just embed this video? Howd that happen?

Thanks for tips guys, Plummet I ususally hold the bar in so i guess I should try your suggestion of sheeting out in the decent then I sheet back in just before touch down. Eppo - I couldnt get my head around your response re sending the kite left then realised the west coast difference LOL - over here on the east coast when heading out to sea we send the kite back to the right ( the sun setting over the ocean is also just weird!!) HaydenD - yeah Sandy point's a nice spot and your vid is great but your girlfriend chopped off the kite in all of the jumps so kite movement is kind of obscured.
I do downloop carve transitions now so the question is how much faster is the landing speed when looping the kite in a big jump (thats the bit that scares me!!) again thanks for the comments so far - BTW no one over this way (Gippsland that is) is looping kites so I havent got anyone to follow!!

The kite technique for control and float on really big jumps varies a bit depending on the wind strength and kite size, you can either use "flat loops" (where the plane of the loop is closer to horizontal than vertical), or just use the "wiggle" as others have mentioned, to keep the kite lines tensioned and the kite roughly over your head.

For bigger kites (12m-10m) you probably want to use the wiggle. Check this video of Mark Shinn on a 12m crossbow in 20-25knots to get an idea of the technique:



Like everything in kiting, the trick is the timing, you want to end your float wiggle with the kite a little aft of your position, so that you can redirect forward for your landing at the right time. Shinn nails it in that video.

When on smaller kites (9m-7m) in strong winds 25-35 knots the kite will whip through the loop fast enough to make it a viable option for generating lift at the apex of the jump. The classic demo of this was Jesse Richmond in San Francisco a few years back looping a switchblade 7 times in a row for a hang time over 30 seconds. Note these are flat loops or helicopter loops with the kite staying as flat as possible, not mega-loops like you see Lenten and others doing.

The snow kite videos often give a great example of this, as the crew are getting massive hangtime as they boost off the side of the hill, using the kiteloops to get the float. Have a look at Chasta here in Tahiti on one of the earliest Ozone kites, he throws a downloop at the end of nearly every big jump, especially near 2.10 and 3.30.



Hope that helps!

^^^^ Great footage John!!!
What sort of camera mount are you using?
Been using my camera on a helmet mount but found it is too shaky....

JohnB75 said...


A lot colder here in Scotland than what you pussies get out there

Nice footage.
Call me a pussy, but i love kiting in just board shorts, clean, clear, and warm water.

Oi - Scotland - nice but that looks too effing cold !!!! again as with most vids that show people jumping you really cant see what happens with the kite - but its one of the better ones!! As for the vid of the "he throws a downloop at the end of nearly every big jump, especially near 2.10 and 3.30." - yes that is some good guidance - I just need to pull the pin it seems!!

I think I might start a new thread about the value of impact vests - ie do they work to stop bruised or broken ribs - or are they just to protect the ego! LOL