Kitesurfing Beginner Technique

Kitesurfing Technique - Air Gybe
Kitesurfing Technique - Air Gybe
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Air Gybe Tweak
Kitesurfing Technique - Air Gybe Tweak
Air Gybe Tweak

Here's a nice little add-on to give your jump transition a point of difference. Nothing too shouty, rather some subtle substance that will feel fresh and look on point! Adding some flare onto your air gybe should be within reach of anybody who is happy getting off the water and changing direction with a modicum of control. The game plan…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Back Loop
Kitesurfing Technique - Back Loop
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,…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Back Loop Transition
Kitesurfing Technique - Back Loop Transition
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Back Roll Transition One Foot
Kitesurfing Technique - Back Roll Transition One Foot
Back Roll Transition One Foot

You know how we love our transitions, and we know that you love them too! So, we've got another one for you to add to your list of funky ways to change direction. This one is a variation on the very foundation of great transitions, the Back Roll Transition, or if you've been in the game as long as we…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Beach Start
Kitesurfing Technique - Beach Start
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Body Dragging Upwind
Kitesurfing Technique - Body Dragging Upwind
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Deep Water Board Carry
Kitesurfing Technique - Deep Water Board Carry
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Fix Your Toeside
Kitesurfing Technique - Fix Your Toeside
Fix Your Toeside

Toeside is wonderful. It's an enjoyable skill and an absolutely fundamental part of kitesurfing. It opens the door to a myriad of tricks and other playful worlds such as carving, wave riding, surfboards, and even foils. Being able to use, enjoy and ultimately harness the benefits of both sides of your trusty steed can only make your time on the…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Front Loop
Kitesurfing Technique - Front Loop
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Heel to Toe Carve
Kitesurfing Technique - Heel to Toe Carve
Heel to Toe Carve

In the last issue, we guided you through the process of improving your toe to heel carve on a twin tip. It seems only right that we should now shine some light on turning back the other way, from heel to toeside. This carve is often considered a tad more tricky than its counterpart, based on the fact that you…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Heel to Toe Carve with Spray
Kitesurfing Technique - Heel to Toe Carve with Spray
Heel to Toe Carve with Spray

Everyone loves a decent toe to heel carve, pushing against the back foot, throwing up a wall of spray like Andy Mapple on the slalom course. Funnily enough, we don’t often witness people wanting to light it up heel to toe. Odd when you compare it to other sports where toe edge carving is the dream, a searing frontside bottom…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Heelside Hand Drag
Kitesurfing Technique - Heelside Hand Drag
Heelside Hand Drag

We thought we'd start this edition with a bit of simplistic, or so it would seem style. Elegantly stroking the water, followed by a plume of spray, was one of the original kiting money shots, and one that is still oft revered and pulled out the bag by many a guest on our clinics. However, as has been the experience…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Hooked Pop from Toeside to Heelside
Kitesurfing Technique - Hooked Pop from Toeside to Heelside
Hooked Pop from Toeside to Heelside

Instructions To continue our quest of all things toeside, it’s time to throw the pop from toeside into the mix. Now that you’re getting more comfortable, having dialled in your toeside and added the pop to toeside, it’s surely time to have a tasty way to get back to heelside. Not only that, once you master this, you’ll have popping…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Hooked Popped Front Roll
Kitesurfing Technique - Hooked Popped Front Roll
Hooked Popped Front Roll

The popped front roll. A move which is well within your reach if you can rotate forwards under a kite, yet a move which can appear so utterly incomprehensible and/or terrifying. Seemingly defying physics, trying to pop up whilst throwing yourself down into a front rotation. The mind boggles, and the body hesitates. Well, fear not; we're going to have…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Jumping
Kitesurfing Technique - Jumping
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Kit Set Up
Kitesurfing Technique - Kit Set Up
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Pop Back From Toeside
Kitesurfing Technique - Pop Back From Toeside
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Pop to Toeside
Kitesurfing Technique - Pop to Toeside
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Popping
Kitesurfing Technique - Popping
Popping

As Kellogg’s so rightly said, “once you pop you just can’t stop”. Popping is an absolutely fundamental skill in kiting, and as far as fundamentals go, it’s potentially one of the most bamboozling. That’s not to say that popping is super difficult, but there’s a lot going on and when you come to learn it, you’ll be bombarded with all…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Popping off a Wave / Chop
Kitesurfing Technique - Popping off a Wave / Chop
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Slide Turn
Kitesurfing Technique - Slide Turn
Slide Turn

To kick off proceedings, this issue, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the Slide Turn transition. Unquestionably the first transition on your radar and, unless you plan on crossing an ocean, a move that will top your frequency charts along with launching, landing and body dragging. The Slide Turn comes in many shapes and forms, long ones, sharp ones,…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Stance
Kitesurfing Technique - Stance
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Strapless Beach Start
Kitesurfing Technique - Strapless Beach Start
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Strapless Heel to Toe Carve
Kitesurfing Technique - Strapless Heel to Toe Carve
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Strapless Riding
Kitesurfing Technique - Strapless Riding
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Strapless Toe to Heel Carve
Kitesurfing Technique - Strapless Toe to Heel Carve
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Strapless Water Start
Kitesurfing Technique - Strapless Water Start
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Surfboard Dismount
Kitesurfing Technique - Surfboard Dismount
Surfboard Dismount

Surfboard Dismount The surfboard dismount is one of those moves that works, it really is as stylish and practical as a well-tailored, colourful hat. Fun and functional, nonchalantly plucking your board from the air obviously has its aesthetics, but it also trumps fumbling around in the shallows as the backwash bulldozes your board and fins against your shins or the…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Surfboard Foot Change
Kitesurfing Technique - Surfboard Foot Change
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Switch to Toeside
Kitesurfing Technique - Switch to Toeside
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - The No Slide Turn
Kitesurfing Technique - The No Slide Turn
The No Slide Turn

We could have called this article something along the lines of transition like a pro, or turn around without losing any ground, but neither of those quite capture the character of this transition quite as well as the name we've plumped for. Having had a detailed look at the slide turn in our first CK'ssentials and having been plagued by…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Toe Side Hand Drag
Kitesurfing Technique - Toe Side Hand Drag
Toe Side Hand Drag

A while back we took you through the heelside holiday shot. Seeing as things are warming up and liberty in the sense of ocean dips is returning for many, it must surely be time to enjoy the simple (ish) things. Casually gliding atop the wet stuff on your toes, caressing the water as you take the opportunity to smell the…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Toe to Heel Carve
Kitesurfing Technique - Toe to Heel Carve
Toe to Heel Carve

The Toe to Heel Carve has the potential to become one of your absolute favourite moves. Ignored by many as a practical solution to changing direction, this bad boy unquestionably opens the doors to a world of plumage, throwing down buckets, photo opportunities and soaking your kite buddies. However, before we oversell the future, you need to set the fundamentals…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Toe to Heel Spray Carve
Kitesurfing Technique - Toe to Heel Spray Carve
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…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Toeside Surfboard Water Start
Kitesurfing Technique - Toeside Surfboard Water Start
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…

Beginner

Featured

Kitesurfing Technique - Shifty to Blind
Kitesurfing Technique - Shifty to Blind
Shifty to Blind

This is a fun little gem, popular amongst the wake style fraternity, which can be done equally effectively hooked or unhooked. It’s a more unusual sight than the classic Raley to Blind and therefore should hopefully get you a few whoops from your peers. The best part of this move is that by preceding the blind with a shifty, you…

Kitesurfing Technique - Down Loop Air Gybe
Kitesurfing Technique - Down Loop Air Gybe
Down Loop Air Gybe

Transitions may not be the coolest thing in competitions, but for most of us they are a decent opportunity to actually do something at the end of a run, which yielded no rewards. Whether it be slashing around a carve, popping into a rotation or just getting some daylight under your fins changing direction is fun and shows your peers…

Kitesurfing Technique - The No Slide Turn
Kitesurfing Technique - The No Slide Turn
The No Slide Turn

We could have called this article something along the lines of transition like a pro, or turn around without losing any ground, but neither of those quite capture the character of this transition quite as well as the name we've plumped for. Having had a detailed look at the slide turn in our first CK'ssentials and having been plagued by…

Beginner
Kitesurfing Technique - Grabbed Back Loop Transition
Kitesurfing Technique - Grabbed Back Loop Transition
Grabbed Back Loop Transition

Adding a grab to any move will instantly add style, spicing it up to stand out just that little bit more. Trying to add a grab will also unfortunately reveal any weaknesses, those flaws in technique that we are aware of, which are hidden convincingly behind those subtle adjustments made on the fly, during a move. Therefore working on your…

Kitesurfing Technique - Dark Slide with a Back Roll
Kitesurfing Technique - Dark Slide with a Back Roll
Dark Slide with a Back Roll

If you’re mildly infatuated with dark sliding, spending endless sessions trying to eke out an extra few milliseconds suspended under your kite, indulging yourself in fantasies of sliding yet further, it could conceivably be time to take a step back, press reset and try something else using the skills that you’ve honed so well.Enter the dark slide back roll. It’s…

Kitesurfing Technique - One Foot Front Loop Transition
Kitesurfing Technique - One Foot Front Loop Transition
One Foot Front Loop Transition

This move is a bit of a classic from the archives. Reminiscent of huge four line kites, powered up with the bar wedged against the knot of the oh so effective trim strap, solid no flex mutant strapped onto your feet whilst aimlessly trying to snap your ankles, all the while hoping not to dump the kite lest you need…