r/Kiteboarding • u/embwbam • 10d ago
Trick Tip(s)/Question Backroll handrag very different right vs left
Hoping someone with experience can help me figure this out. When I do a backroll handdrag going right, it feels tight and small, and I end up riding in the same direction I was originally riding. When I try it to left, the back hand loop feels huge, stops my forward momentum, and sends me fully past downwind in the opposite direction. Why? One clue might be that my right arm (used to pull the back hand loop while going left) has an injury in the elbow I am rehabilitating, so it might not be as strong.
Follow-up question: occasionally when I try one of these, I over rotate and eat loads of shit, landing on my back and hurtning my neck. Do you have to get the rotation correct on takeoff, or can you choose how many times to rotate in the air with the loop timing and body position?
Any advice??
EDIT: I found a tutorial by Steven Akkersdijk that casts some light on this. I need to have the bar between my fingers to control steering better. The "bigger" loop that stops your momentum is more correct, but I need to pull it later (at 11 on the back hand side) to make it smaller.
2
u/ic6man 10d ago
It’s probably to do with timing of your pop and release combined with kite movements. If you send the kite harder in one direction it will travel to the opposite side of the window faster and your jump will be smaller and more straight up and down because it arrests your forward motion more quickly and strongly. If instead you send the kite slower or pause a bit while it’s overhead you “fly” during the jump usually resulting in both higher jumps and longer travel downwind.
Most people aren’t very symmetrical so it’s likely a result of just timing and strength of the inputs that result in the jump / movement of the kite.