Kitesurfing Beginner Technique
Air Gybe
The Air Gybe done well is the King of smooth: just freezing mid flight, maybe throwing in a cheeky grab, whilst hanging in the wind then casually changing direction before powering off back out to sea. Once fully mastered even the biggest air can be a mere method of turning, and any obstacle a plant. If you have conquered the…
Back Loop
The backloop has often been the defining moment in many a riders kitesurfing history. The first genuine “trick” to really wow the masses and motivate ones belief to keep learning, keep tacking time off work and keep spending money. However it does not have to be the starting point. If you can already jump and have the front loop sorted,…
Back Loop Transition
There comes a time in every kiters life when suddenly all the hours of battling the elements really starts to pay dividends. Once you have mastered the many basic fundamentals you will have a solid foundation on which to build many blocks. The backloop transition is without a shadow of doubt the first funky add on to the beloved foundation…
Beach Start
Being able to jump on your board and ride off into the sunset without dipping your derriere into the chilly April drink is a veritable pleasure. In it’s simplest form, and attempted in the right conditions, the beach start in Video 1 is well within every up winders grasp. As with so many elements of kiting, most of the skills…
Body Dragging Upwind
Being able to get back to your board or back to the beach is just as important as being able to ride. Without the confidence which this skill gives you, you’ll be sentenced to a life wearing a board leash, doomed to never pushing yourself to learn anything new or fancy, and a hobby involving much more swimming and faffing…
Deep Water Board Carry
We thought we’d include how to carry a board for a couple of reasons: firstly no end of kiters comment to us about how hard it is to carry a board now that so many people don’t use handles. Secondly it’s a bloody good way of keeping karma on your side, a bit like not eating Shark Empanadas, and we…
Front Loop
Guaranteed to spice up ones armoury, the front loop is the base move for so many kiting tricks, that it be often regarded with awe and fear. Perhaps because it looks so smooth, and some how un-dangly, it seems to scare prospective freshers away, who then seem intent on focusing all their efforts on the back loop. Well fear ye…
Heel to Toe Carve
Carving from your heels to you toes with grace whilst throwing up a wall of spray feels divine and looks pretty darn good too. Most of us stumbled from our toes back around to our heels, but somehow this turn causes a few more problems with timing and keeping the power. Once mastered it opens the door to gauging turns…
Jumping
Jumping Most of us would find it hard to deny the fact that it was jumping that originally flew the flag of appeal and suckered us into this amazing sport. No matter how much we improve, no matter how many crazy powered this or that’s we can pull, there is still nothing quite like airtime. From that first moment of…
Kit Set Up
A few pages later in this issue we will be covering the all-important wonder of stance. It’s all good and well discussing which hernia inducing, twister-mimicking positions you should be moulding yourselves into. But it could all prove so unachievable or at the very best extremely difficult, if you are wrestling with a kite and board determined to resist your…
Pop Back From Toeside
Last issue we looked at the rather swanky way of popping to toeside. So it’s probably only fair to give you the equally impressive method of styling back from toeside to heelside. It’s all good and well hammering into a carve, or timidly sliding the board back from toeside, but if you’re intending to carry on in the same direction…
Pop to Toeside
Some time ago back in the annals of history, or issue 2 to be precise, we looked at how to slide the board from heelside to toeside. Probably one of the first tasty moves any of us learnt. Now it’s time to take the Lucky Luke step even further and actually pop to toeside, which could also be your first…
Popped Backloop
Some time ago in issue 6 we introduced you to the back loop. Those of you who followed it will remember that we advised you to learn the jumped version. Hopefully now you have that in the bag, the actual rotation should come fairly naturally. So let’s move on to the popped variation, which simplistically should just entail a bit…
Popping
The ability to get some pop is unquestionably one of the most useful, polyvalent skills known to a kitesurfer. We discussed it to a degree in the air gybe, but it leads to many other glorious moves and is the secret to any tomfoolery when the kite is not sent to get us off the water as for a jump.…
Popping off a Wave / Chop
Popping off a wave, wavelet or steep bit of chop as in Video 1, in many locations, is an inevitable and often unavoidable consequence of meeting one of the oceans naturally formed stunt ramps, as you speed out from the beach. When you know what you’re doing these obstacles become joyous kickers, but when you don’t know how to handle…
Slide Turn
There are many life-changing moments in kiting, from the first planing runs, through coming in with a dry kite, to the virginal moment of silent airtime. Once we’re up and running, being able to change direction without dipping our bums into the ocean means that we’ve reached a milestone. Here is a stylish and practical move for all seasons. Whether…
Stance
Stance, body position, posture: the way in which we hold ourselves on the board is the ultimate foundation, principle numero uno, THE fundamental of everything that we try and achieve in kitesurfing. From the outset of getting up on the board, rocking upwind, resisting for take-off, popping, getting out through the lumpy stuff and anything else which requires you to…
Strapless Beach Start
Continuing on from last issue’s strapless fest you’re probably more than ready for this. The beach start is a useful tool as it means that not only can you delay the inevitable dunking, but you can also get off the beach quickly, which is a godsend when the waves are pumping. Water starting is all good and well but if…
Strapless Heel to Toe Carve
Carving a surfboard successfully, throwing up a wall of water and exiting with speed feels absolutely divine. It is the basic building block for all things wave riding. And once you are confident changing from edge to edge, or rather rail to rail and throwing the kite about, you’ll soon be ready to challenge waves that once seemed intimidating. All…
Strapless Riding
We’re going to keep this one relatively brief, as it is not rocket science, or rather it doesn’t have to be, apologies Mr Bernoulli. However pretty much everyone who stands on a surfboard for the first time, having been riding twin tips makes the same basic mistakes. To understand how a board works and how this effects the way you…
Strapless Toe to Heel Carve
Continuing on from last issue’s heel to toe carve, we can now add the other half to complete the basic requirements of wave riding. Once you can link these two turns together you are wave riding, however mythically it may appear to onlookers, and all you need to add is a genuine curl of water chasing you and before you…
Strapless Water Start
Last month during a series of clinics in Egypt, many of our guests often commented on how impressive it looked to be riding around on a surfboard without straps, and of course how much fun it looked even on flat water. On top of this the general consensus was that it must be very difficult. Au contraire mes amis! In…
Surfboard Foot Change
Whether you are riding strapless or strapped, the necessity to change your feet will eventually come knocking. Back in the dark ages when three strap directionals were in mode, it was not unusual to see kiters dropping into the water, turning their planks around and then sailing back whence they came. However those with a slight thirst for progress took…
Switch to Toeside
Whether you are already attempting to ride toe side or are now contemplating the possibility, hopefully there should be a few helpful hints in the next page or two. As mentioned in the last issue, switching to toe side is a fairly natural step forward from the slide turn. If you are now sliding around like Torvill and Dean you…
Toe to Heel Carve
We recently took you through carving onto your toes, so now we’ll add the second piece of the puzzle and carve you back round onto your heel as in Video 1. To many riders this will feel like a more natural way to turn, as once you’re around you have the safety net and confidence of a reliable heel side…
Toe to Heel Spray Carve
There is something deeply satisfying in kicking up buckets of spray regardless of sports. Whether it be fanning deep powder on a mountain, annihilating the lip of a wave, chucking dirt on a bike or walling a slalom ski around a buoy, the inner kid in all of us can’t resist it and the ensuing look back to check, regardless…
Toeside Surfboard Water Start
You may be interested in riding a surfboard because your mitts can no longer grip the bar for out and out freestyle, or perhaps you just dream of carving beautiful faces on your new Christmas present. Either way riding a surfboard, whether a kite specific strap design or and old short board is well within everybody’s reach. If you’ve spent…
Under Turns
Once you have giggled yourself senseless riding across the grand bleu, you know that the once unsure world of kitesurfing is in fact your true calling. With that knowledge comes the endless quest for hacking upwind, mastering your “bad side” and a bevy of pointless, yet none the less handsome moves. In your pursuit of these dreams you may often…
Unhooking
Having watched with great amusement the bursting veins of many friends as they wrestled to hold their “classics” and “surfboards” down, we patiently waited, deep within our subconscious, for the advent of the 4-line kite, and the luxury of a chicken loop. As kit developed, the odd maverick such as Lou Waiman showed the up and coming talents what would…
Walking With a Kite
This one is for anyone who has just had their first lessons, or had their lessons last year and may need a reminder on the best and safest method for walking around whilst attached to a flying kite. So whether you’re heading down to the coast or tripping off abroad being confident and safe on terra firma should see happily…
Featured
Toeside Front Loop To Blind with Ole
Hopefully there is a better name out there for this trick, but for the moment we’ll stick to the descriptive version. Essentially this is a pop trick, but a subtle drifting up of the kite is more than acceptable to ease you into it. For those of you confident with your toe side edge this is a great trick and…
Hoochie Glide - Hooked
This is a fun addition to anyone’s popping arsenal. It used to be a very wakestyle move back in the day as it definitely comes from those masochists who ride behind boats. The beauty with kiting’s very own Hoochie Glide is that you can learn it with support from the kite, so there’s no need to book the osteopath for…
Surfboard Tack
There are a couple of ways to tack a surfboard, so here’s one which hopefully is the least complicated and which should take less time to learn. Tacking any sort of directional board is a useful skill, as turning around quickly without loosing any ground downwind certainly saves time and effort, especially when all you are trying to do is…
Melon Grab to Toeside
Adding grabs to any move guarantees extra spice and will undoubtedly make it feel even better. There are also times when a quick fix is needed, when you don’t want to be slamming yourself and the mind just isn’t in game on mode, so refreshing something that you can already do is a relatively simple and gratifying experience. So bring…
Roast Beef Front Loop
In our constant quest to spice moves up as best we can, which is quite fitting as we sit and write this from Sri Lanka, it’s high time to mix the best of British with the ever-pleasing sent front loop, or roll if you prefer. And yes that’ll be our quintessential Sunday dinner, the Roast Beef grab. In case you’re…
Board Swap Back Loop
There are subtle ways to impress and more swanky ways to enjoy yourself. This, however, is a smooth hybrid in true Heliarde style. Someone loses their board, why not try it out! What better way to switch craft, than mid-flight during a sent back rotation. Who wouldn’t? Skills needed. Realistically a grabbed Back Loop Transition would be ideal as at…