I'm sure some have also encountered this, would be nice to know what I'm doing wrong.

Basically I started doing backrolls today, I get the pop and rotation fine but the moment I land the kite is either already busy looping which promptly sends me down hard, or the kite is pointing down and heading towards the ocean at a massive pace, I watch the tutorials and the guys seem to just have the kite in one place when looping, but this seems to consistently happen.

any ideas from more experienced guys?

I've been using small waves to sort of "pop off" so no going from flat, I guess I'm just pulling like mad on the bar in the air still as it's all new now and it's madness once you spin :D

Yep, we all got spanked when learning new tricks

I know there is a lot going on during rotations, but a couple of habits to try and get into early to help avoid injuries:

1: Always make sure u have plenty of room around u and stay away from other water users
2: If ur kites looping and u don't want it to let go of the bar, yes ur gonna hit the water, but nowhere near as hard as when the kites fully powered up
3: If it's all going pear shaped, try and kick the board away from u upwind, before u land
4: Never try new tricks in shallow water

Also, try and picture in ur mind the way u want each movement to happen, then execute it the way u planned.
With any rotation, turn ur head and ur body will follow, spot ur landing.

Thanks for the help boys, hoping the wind picks up today so I can go try!

Ed517 said..

Oooooooooooh yissssssss, got it dialed today what a feeling, was screaming like a little girl out of joy when I landed the first one, went pretty well from there and I manage to stick the landing most of the time now, was a lot more focused today on what is actually happening as I did the move, result being going with one hand in the middle of the bar and adding no pressure whilst rolling, feels so friggen sweet man.

Well Done!

on the 3rd photo a bit more re direction will stop that stall in photo4 letting you ride away smoother, oh bin the leash and the boardies over the wettie

A zephyr would be interesting in 7 mtr weather, off the water at the mo, ribs and buoys don't mix too good

Hi Ed..How do you find the board leash...I really like the idea of one however have become a victim of negative forum reviews..

Cheers Billy.

fingerbone said..

Hi Ed..How do you find the board leash...I really like the idea of one however have become a victim of negative forum reviews..

Cheers Billy.

I don't know about u guy's but I don't want to miss out on any chance to kite due to an injury, especially from an unnecessary board leash.

Make no mistake, THEY ARE DANGEROUS! Yes, even the retractable ones!

Every new kiter is taught to body drag for a reason (I hope it is still taught). When I first started, for at least the first ten sessions, I would leave my board on the beach and just body drag for half an hour before getting on it. I have NEVER lost a board and have always been able to get back to my board within 3 tacks. If ur board is 50 or 100m behind u, just do longer tacks, and don't sit there trying to see where it is just start tacking as soon as u can cos while ur sitting there, it's getting further away......and if u pass it and it ends up downwind of u, that's a bonus cos now it's fun to get to

Ed, ur talking about a directional, r u gonna put a leash on that??

I hope not, even more dangerous IMO

There are only 2 reasons people have board leashes, either they can't body drag or they are worried about sharks.....

And if ur worried about sharks, u shouldn't be in the water

"we have very strong currents here that run upwind"....c'mon, r u telling us that u go out in these conditions every time u kite????

You should be going out in wind against tide, otherwise it's very hard to get back to where u started.

there's the problem - when the board dives and your still getting pulled by the kite, one time it will be flung back at you. prob when you crash and the kite loops and everything is loaded up to the max. ask people who have had ripped open faces.