A Resource of Kite Surfing Tricks & Tips

Toe Side Pop Out to Wrapped

Popping from a toe side and landing in a wrapped is a great start to wrapped if you haven’t tried it before, and if you can already manage a shifty or more to wrapped, then this should be a doodle and a surefire way of adding extra style points to any move you land in toe side.

For those of you who have never tried a wrapped, it is releasing the front hand and rotating away from the bar so that you can reach around behind you and land on heel side with your arm in a self-induced arm lock. If you can go blind one way, imagine going the other way but still releasing with the same hand and turning the exact same way.

LOW AND NEAR

In pic A, you can see that the surfer is almost carving downwind away from his toe side edge. This is very sudden change of direction that does two things. First, it allows you to keep your speed for a moment even without pulling the kite, which means your board will still be planning; therefore you will be able to pop without it sticking. Second, by suddenly turning towards your kite, the lines will slacken and the bar will be light in your hands so you can keep it low and close.

In pic B – Just as the surfer is about to pop, you can see that the bar is in close. With the slack in the lines the surfer can bend his arms and make sure the bar will close to him all the way around his 180 degree spin. You can also see that the kite is relatively low, say around the 45 degree mark. With the kite here it is less likely to pull the bar up and away from you. Also, ( as you’ll be releasing with your front hands) if the kite does move, it will go up, so starting with a lower tad is a good option. If you are popping off flat water, you will need to let go with your front hand as you heave up.

SPEED

As we have already mentioned, you can throw this pop whenever you come fast in your toes from another move. However, when you are trying this for the first time as a pop from toe side, your approach is pretty important because you will need speed. The simplest way to maintain speed is to unhook whilst riding heel side as you will have a better unhooked riding position. Then, you can slide the back of the board straight downwind and you are ready to pop from a very off the wind toe side. However, once you get the hang of it, you could unhook from toe side or just before you pop.

TIMING IN SEQUENCE

1 – Having approached with good speed and his kite positioned at about 10:30, the surfer has unhooked and the spun around to a very downwind toe side chasing the kite. Getting ready to pop the surfer has rocked his weight back over his trailing foot and flexed his back knee. The surfer got his bar in close to his body and is ready to spring.

2 – The surfer stamps down hard on his back foot and extends his body upwards. At the same time the surfer releases his front hand enabling him to stand over the board for a balanced spin.

3 – AS the board rises, the surfer lifts his legs and starts his rotation by turning his head and shoulders down and away from the kite.

4 – The surfer twists his wrist and turns his palm up behind his back, which helps him turn his shoulders further still. At the same time the surfer pushes his left foot through to get the board in front of him.

5 – On landing, the surfer makes sure that the bar is twisted all the way around and ready to be grabbed.

6 – The surfer reaches with this free left hand and grabs the bar.

7 – then releases his right hand.

8-9 – The surfer continues to turn his head and looks up towards the bar and gets both hands back on the bar.

10 – Sail away, hook back in and then try it from a railey to toe side.

KEYSTONES

  1. Speed
  2. Sudden chase kite
  3. Pop hard off back foot
  4. Turn head all the way
  5. Twist wrist and shoulders

 


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