What You’ll Learn in this Wave Kite Series

This 5 part series of professionally produced wave riding tutorial videos will help you quickly master the art of Kitesurfing waves. The great news is that as an intermediate freeride kitesurfer, you’re only ten days of practice away from becoming a legit wave kitesurfer!

Over the next few weeks you will learn:

1. How to Start Wave Kitesurfing: Timing your Turns
2. Your first turns with timing and usage of the entire wind window
3. Riding your first waves backside
4. Top-turns and bottom-turns, performed both frontside and backside
5. How to gybe

How to Start Wave Kitesurfing: Timing your Turns

Watch the video tutorial above to learn how to perform carving transitions with the right timing, and then get out and practice, practice, practice… If you are reading this article in an email or RSS feed, watch the video here.

Getting Started

If you can ride upwind and toe-side, then you are ready to learn to ride waves with a kite.

If you don’t live near a kite spot with waves, you can start preparing to learn wave kitesurfing on flat or choppy water using your twin-tip board. This will allow you to get used to the fundamental moves before you take a trip to a good wave riding location.

Carving Transitions

Carving transitions are turns where you keep the same foot in front during your entire transition. Smoothly turning from and to toe-side and heel-side in both directions is essential for riding a wave board or directional board. This means you have four different turns to practice.

Timing the turn of your kite and board is crucial for a successful transition. Before pointing your board downwind, steer the kite sharply through the power zone in the opposite direction. Then shortly afterwards, follow your kite around by steering your board’s nose downwind and then into the opposite direction. If you get pulled over your board, steer your board downwind harder or faster. If you sink into the water you most likely moved the kite to 12 o’clock and didn’t steer the kite quickly enough through the power zone.

Important:  first turn the kite, and then turn the board. One strong pull on the bar with your back hand should do the trick. Watch the video above to learn the correct technique.

Don’t forget, if you want to wave kite in various conditions such as with the wind from the left and from the right, you need to be able to do your turns on your weak side as well. So practice both ways from the start.

Get on a Wave Board

After you’ve mastered all four turns while powered on your twin-tip board, start practicing the exercises on a directional wave board.

Switching to a wave board might take some getting used to, and you need to adjust your riding technique slightly. Make greater use of the fins to help you to ride upwind instead of riding the board on the edge like you would when riding a twin-tip board.

You’ll find that your wave board has less drag in the water. It will also speed up quicker so you should find it easier to move the kite through the power zone. Try this while carving downwind in a smooth slalom line and enjoy getting into the flow of things.

Important: Keep in mind that your wave board has large fins which are fragile, so avoid riding in shallow water where they might get caught in the sand and break off.

For now, don’t worry about switching your feet (gybing). You will learn to gyb later, as it’s a bit more difficult to learn than just riding the waves. In the meantime, if you do want to change your feet, simply slow down and drop yourself in the water, turn your board around manually and head back in the other direction.

Downwinders for Kitesurfing Waves

While cruising in slalom lines you will be heading downwind and losing a lot of ground. Kiting back upwind will take time, effort and energy. The same applies when you’re riding down the line on a wave. For this reason, most wave riders like to do downwind trips from one point to another. All you need to do is organise transport at the end of your downwinder to get you and your gear back to your starting point.

The advantage of doing a downwinder instead of kiting in one spot is that it will maximize your net practicing time on the water. It will help you reach your learning goal at this stage faster, which is steering the kite in a controlled manor through the power zone while turning the board in the other direction. It’s also just the most enjoyable way to wave kitesurf!

Lesson Summary

• Practice the four different types of carving transitions: from heel-side to toeside, from toeside to heel-side (goofy and regular stance)
• Timing: First turn the kite, then steer the board to follow the kite
• Steer the kite through the power zone while turning the board downwind
• Practice alternating between all 4 types of carving transitions in a slalom line downwind

If you enjoyed this tutorial, then keep an eye out for our next lesson in this wave riding series: “Your first turns with timing and usage of the entire wind window” by subscribing to our updates. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to post them in the comments below.

This wave kitesurfing video tutorial was brought to you by KITEKAHUNAS Kitesurfing School and KITEKAHUNAS Wave Camps.

KITEKAHUNAS is an advanced Kitesurfing School in Cape Town, South Africa. In addition to their regular kiteboarding lessons, they also offer Wave Camps designed for wave kitesurfing beginners and experts. The camps include 2 weeks of pure wave riding pleasure, guidance, accommodation and transport from downwinders – all in all, an unforgettable experience.

Wave Kitesurfing Video Tutorial: Timing Your Turns (Lesson 1) was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Back Roll (Backloop)

The back roll, or backloop as it is also known, is another relatively easy trick to master. As with the jump, you want to have enough power and be riding upwind. Start to build up some decent speed and keep edging with your kite at 1 o’clock if you are riding right foot forward (11 o’clock if you have your left foot forward). Move your hands to the centre of the bar so that you don’t turn the kite while rotating. Stand up off your edge for a meter or two, then edge hard upwind to start the backward rotation and release the edge, throwing the nose of your board upwind and turning your head to look over your front shoulder (in this example your right shoulder).

Lift your knees towards your chest a little to help you stay balanced in the air and to make the rotation easier. Remember that your body will rotate around your head and shoulders so stay committed and keep looking over that shoulder until you come around and spot your landing. Spot your landing and straighten your legs for impact. Bend your knees slightly as you hit the water to absorb the impact and ride away. Your kite should have stayed pretty much in the same place throughout the move.

Back Roll Video Demonstration

Common Mistakes

• Once you’ve started the rotation backward you don’t throw your head around over your shoulder – this causes you to only turn half-way around and land backwards
  You must commit to the back roll and throw your head and shoulders around, and then your body will follow.
• You don’t pop off the water enough and turn too flat
  Try to pop a bit harder so you rotate with your body more vertical, not horizontal. You can also bring your kite back toward 12 to do a small jump as you go for the back roll – just remember to redirect your kite back down again so you don’t land with the kite behind you.
• You land with your kite going back toward or past 12 o’clock
  Keep your hands close to the centre of the bar, and when coming in to land, consciously pull a bit more on your front hand to bring kite down into the window again.

Back Roll | Image: kitesports.co.za

We love hearing from you, so if you have any questions, or back roll tips of your own, please share them in the comments below.

Written by

Calvin Da Silva (Kitesports)

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Kitesurfing Progression: Back Roll was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

This tutorial continues from the first and second in our series of kitesurfing tutorials, Riding Upwind and learning How to Jump. If you missed these lessons, and you are learning to kitesurf, you might want to read them as well.

Board Grab

Now that you’ve mastered your jumps, start to throw a bit more style into it by getting a grab in. The easiest grabs to start with are the Tail Grab or Indy Grab.

Tail Grab

Keep your hands closer to the centre of the bar so that you don’t turn the kite once you take your one hand off. As soon as you are in the air and you have your kite in position above your head, take your back hand off the bar, bend your knees and grab the tail of your board. To start with just grab the part of the board that feels most comfortable to you.

Board Grab Sequence | Rider: Sinisa

Hold the grab for as long as you can and preferably through the highest point of your jump. Once you start coming down put both hands back on the bar, spot your landing and once you are close to the water, redirect your kite in the direction you want to ride away in.

Indy Grab

With the Indy Grab, you grab the board on the toeside edge (the side of your board your toes point to) directly between your feet.

Indy Grab | Rider: Stevo

Indy Grab Instructional Video

Once you master the Tail Grab and Indy Grab, start thinking about grabbing the board in other areas of your board (see diagram below), or extending one of your legs once you’ve grabbed the board to tweak it out and add more style.

Board Grab Positions

These grabs can be combined with any other aerial trick, taking your kitesurfing progression to new heights.

As always, we love hearing from you, so feel free to ask questions in the comments below and we will happily help you.

Written by

Calvin Da Silva (Kitesports)

PS: If you enjoyed this article, help spread the word by clicking the “Like”, “Tweet”, “+1” buttons, or sharing it using the share icons below. Want to read more articles like this? Subscribe to iMK, and get our articles directly to your inbox or RSS reader.

Kitesurfing Progression: Board Grab was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

The swell was SW 3.4 m at 11 seconds and was pushing a solid 4-5ft mid-break that had power, was hollow and grinding. The wind was NE 12-14 knots, but with a counter current on the inside, we had the power we needed.

Toeside Wave Riding Advantages

Kite beach in Durban has a more onshore wind and lends itself to toeside wave riding. For those who are new to the wave riding side of kitesurfing, toeside wave riding is where you edge against the kite and once mastered allows the rider the benefit of having a brake (your board or hand) and an accelerator (the kite) as well as a balancing bar (the kite bar) – all these combine to make it a very effective way of riding barrels. On this particular day, the shore break was unforgiving and was not for the faint-hearted. If you crashed your kite, chances are you would not get it back into the air as the counter current was preventing it from re-launching. Scott Hunter had a bad day in the water and tore 2 of his kites in an hour. The boys were pushing the limit, but were paying the price. They had to commit to the barrel as there weren’t many doors being left open.

What this session emphasised was how each form of wave riding has its place and how if you use the kite in right way you can take full advantage of the conditions. There were a few kiters out there that were dominating the session, whereas for most it was a matter of survival. The difference was in the way that they used their equipment to put them in the right position. Wave riding is an art and each form of wave riding is very technical and different – here are a few tips and shots from the day that will help you with this style of riding.

Toeside Wave Riding Tips & Tricks

Craig Chrystal | Photography by Ryan Joffe

Craig Chrystal was one of the standouts – here he is seen loving the intensity! The best tip for toeside riding is to get your speed up. A lot of riders ride on their back foot too much but the trick is to get your weight forward to get your drive – notice how Craig is leaning forward here. Once you have the speed you can direct it and change the angle of the wind. The trick is being able to get the speed so that you don’t need to fly your kite too much. It is also about your kite position – too high and it pulls you off the wave and doesn’t give you drive – get the kite and the board to work together.

Getting Barreled with a Kite

Rob Chrystal Getting Barreled | Photography by Ryan Joffe

Rob Chrystal using his trailing arm to bleed the speed and find the green room. You can use your arm in the wall of the wave to stall or slow yourself down – as he does this he depowers the kite a little as well. Always be aware of your lines in the barrel and carry a hook knife just in case!

Cut Back Tips

Peter Bolton | Photography by Ryan Joffe

Peter Bolton shows off a very effective cut back. The trick is not to lose too much speed; you do not want to come out of this manoeuvre with no speed as it will bring you back into the pit. So try bring your kite a little higher when you do this just in case you need to dive it to get you out of the pocket. Rail to rail surfing – it is all about transferring your weight from the one rail to the next at the right time – a good kite will also not stall and delay before re-engaging – allowing you power throughout this move.

Floater Tips

Rob Chrystal | F-One | Photography by Ryan Joffe

Rob Chrystal Floats a thick section! The floater is a great move that allows you to get around sections but if you drive off the top you can use this to generate speed and it also helps you stay on the face of the wave. Again – make sure you don’t pull the kite back as you want to keep the motion going forward in the same direction as the kite.

So next time you have some onshore winds, even if you have small surf, get on it and start honing your toeside skills so the next time you are faced with decent swell you can make the most of it. The more you practice the easier it will get until it all gels together.

Written by

Rob Chrystal

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Toeside Wave Riding Tips was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.