im just about to start doing some back and frontroll rotations during small to medium jumps with grab. Can anyone give any tips from your experience of past learning progression? Cheers

I had two cans of Guinness on the side of a lake with this old dude before attempting my first back rolls. Remember it every time I do one. Here's what he said:

learn fist where your head looks your body will follow. Hands on the bar (that's rigged correctly when flying the kite red line should be on left side) hands also close as on the bar to the centre line as to not misdirected or over direct the kite.

Kite at 45 bring it to 12 with bar sheeted out out just before kites at 12 start rotation / carve up wind for back roll and sheet in.....really commit to the neck /head part keep your head turned until you spot where you wanna land. when 1/2 way round gently pull the hand of which the direction you were traveling (pre rotation) if you were going left pull ure left hand 1/2 way through if going right pull your right hand (gentle we don't want kite loops yet). Don't do it in mad over powered winds for starters I done my first ones on a 12 on light as feck day.

I find front roll a little trickier. But it's the same concept. I can do front roll kite loops now and love them.

Found the back rolls easiest to start with. You can do them just before your transition land toe side then down loop the kite for that all time yeehaw spray. Makes old ladies wet an the knees when ya bust them out ????

Cheers for that. I can do backrolls and backroll transition no problem, but im looking to do them during a jump. Like a slow rotation with a grab on a higher jump.

Remember for higher slower rotation - the take off should be pointed less upwind than normal backroll or the rest of the above wont work at all...

Your body goes where your head goes.

Thats all all you need to know. The rest will come with failure and reflection.

Don't over think it nor make it so technical.

Select to expand quote

eppo said..
Your body goes where your head goes.

Thats all all you need to know. The rest will come with failure and reflection.

Don't over think it nor make it so technical.

This is great advice. You're not a beginner at doing tricks. I discovered that when learning something new mostly just giving it a crack is more efficient than trying to take on board pages of instructions from dozens of advisors which inevitably mean very little because everyone ends up doing their own variation, albeit slight.
More advantageous would be to have someone in the know watch you from the beach and let you know what appears incorrect in your actions.

Lol the most useful help I've ever got has come from watching frame by frame slow mo vids..

My first backroll kiteloop was in 25 - 30 knots, and yes I wasn't a beginner.. kite expert at the beach told me how to do it ;)
It turns into a 15 foot over rotating torpedo back bustng loop ??

Beware which beach expert you listen to. Most have only recently learnt to use a different brand bar with their kite

That's what I'm worried about, disorientation on rotation, and looping my 50 year arse into oblivion .

Select to expand quote

SaveTheWhales said..
Lol the most useful help I've ever got has come from watching frame by frame slow mo vids..

Even better

Impact vest if you have one, when things go wrong it is going to hurt. Look where you want to go and keep plenty of distance from shore and other kiters, you may need it. I always liked using bigger kites when learning new moves eg a 12, the kite moves slower and there is less wind to be spanked by when things go wrong.

Select to expand quote

ste said..
That's what I'm worried about, disorientation on rotation, and looping my 50 year arse into oblivion .

Hahaha, that 9m edge will spank u big time....

video footage please

After you manage one roll, go for 720 or more.

On my local no one is doing 720, heaps of riders.

Commitment is the key. One hand on the bar, in the middle. Both hands and you risk a kite loop.

I just done my ankle, with a DVT after impact. Rotated, the board went off one foot, kicked it off and landed on one foot in shallows.

on blood thinners now, 50yo, Will never ever rotate on a smaller kite ;)

Select to expand quote

ste said..
im just about to start doing some back and frontroll rotations during small to medium jumps with grab. Can anyone give any tips from your experience of past learning progression? Cheers

Backroll -- regular jump, just aim to do half a rotation so you're facing upwind (backwards to normal), then use your kite redirect to pull you around for landing. Basically just a slight over-rotation on the take-off. You can do these just-powered, hovering over the water, with aggressive kite work.

Frontroll -- IMO the easiest option is a front roll down loop transition. Aim for a 3/4 rotation, so you've come around and are facing just past upwind, then use the redirect and loop to pull you the last way around.

If you try to add a jump to a rotation the way I assume you're doing your bankrolls now -- only popping and relying 100% on timing the speed of your rotation to get around -- you're going to be spinning around and over-rotating.

Multiple rotations are kind of easier, cos you just aim to spin as much as possible and hope you can use the redirect to get a landing :D

So you have to be really comfy with flying the kite in a jump (regardless of where you're facing) and then timing the redirect to give a good landing using a strong pull from the kite.

Bigger jumps need less kite work, floatier kites give you more time.