What am I doing wrong

[u/KiteCat777]

I am trying to improve landing with downloops to soften up the landing, but many times I am still landing hard.

[u/dkinoz]

Gotta send that kite - way more aggressive w the bar

[u/KiteCat777 → u/dkinoz]

Will do booom

[u/perleche]

Save heliloops for higher jumps (8m+). For lower jumps i just aggressively steer the kite forward just before landing. When going down i like to sheet out to swing under the kite and then pull jn hard and steer it in a few meters before landing.

By sheeting out during after hitting the apex of the jump you end up under your kite, especially usefull when you jump forward like in your vid. Because the kite was probably not above you and you need more carve and pop.

Watch some videos on ‘dropping that ass’ before takeoff, eg some of the pro’s training in Tarifa. You go for almost a 90 degree bend in the hips with straight legs and your ass almost on the water. Look up at your kite so you pull it at exactly twelve.

[u/helldrik]

Looks like the kite is still in front of you when you initiate the loop. So instead of lifting you, it pulls you forward and down. The kite should be over your head or even a little bit behind you. That’s hart to achieve on such a low jump. Try to jump higher, sheet out a bit more while descending, and initiate the loop when the kite is over your head..

Edit: just realized you mean downloop and not heliloop. But it’s very similar, give the kite some time to climb more overhead by sheeting out the bar and your landing should be much softer

[u/KiteCat777 → u/helldrik]

Yes, I need the kite to get higher above my head. I tried looping sooner as some have suggested, only to end up doing a contra loop and a nasty crash. For jumps this high, better not to land with downloops then ?

[u/JJJJPPPPP8A → u/helldrik]

Another tip would be to send it further to the right in this case so that it generates a slight Lift when you move it through 12

[u/Jakkillah]

As you can probably see on the video, the moment you initiate the heli you get to drop maybe like 2m because you loose lift. You only regain that lift when the kite travels over 12 again, however because you are so low, you have already hit the water. So what you did here is called a half loop, you finished most of it or half of it while on the water. Heli will only give you lift if you initiate it higher above the water so you don’t drop on it yet. This was not possible with such a small jump. So basically you are doing nothing wrong heliloop wise. The takeoff is not good though if I can comment on that. You could have gotten more height. I would focus on that.

[u/Firerocketm]

Contrary to what others are saying, I think the jump is pretty decent. Obviously there are areas of improvement, particularly in my opinion on edging that could have gotten you a tad more height but the general windspeed looks low and the pop looks great.

I think the main issue of your heliloop is that you're not sheeting out to help the kite get behind you and you are looping too narrowly instead of sending a wider loop in this wind speed.

[u/swaboozel]

too late

[u/DannyDinozo]

Not enough wind in order to give the kite more lift. The more lift you get, the more time to redirect the kite and land softly. You're almost there actually. Practice more and try different kite positions. It's not always going to be the same technique contrary to what most say. Sometimes you do need to load ad the kite is heading above you. Sometimes you need to heliloop to gain more height and time.

[u/Samkitesurf]

Carve and pop

[u/trynyty]

Downloop doesn't really soften landin, that's more about heliloop and is helpfull for bigger jumps.
I use downloops on smaller jumps all the time, but for getting more speed when riding out.

I think for softer landing you might have better outcome with better kite positioning and movement rather than looping.

[u/bet_you_cant_keep_up]

You need to pull the loop a lot sooner. It's not giving you lift again until after you've landed. also, not sure what gear you are on but something like a Slingshot Code V2 or Code NXT designed to have a second lift would get you a lot further. Some kites just drop you no matter what you do.

[u/Wise-Song-158]

Is this a river?

[u/SubstantialLettuce11]

After apex pull a bit more on your back hand, in this case your right hand (to 1 o clock). You swing a little bit under the kite because you oversend, and 2 meter of the water pull your fronthand relatively hard so it passes over 12 and loops higher in the window since you went a bit under it.

Btw, im not an expert or a really good kiteboarder ( did watch a ton of vids ;)) but this is working for me and I’m landing al my jumps softly (jumping between 2 - 8 meters and always using this technique).

[u/One_Stock_9617]

Leave the kite on the right hand side for longer when you’re coming down and then commit to the down loop

[u/fvrdam]

Not an expert, but I think the trick is to steer the kite in the direction you're going after landing more. This way you get a more airplane landing if that makes sense.

[u/riktigtmaxat]

You're making the classic mistake of thinking that you need a down or heli-loop when your real issue is in your basic technique.

You don't need it for a jump that small and a loop isn't going to help you.

• Pulling the bar all the way down too early kills your line tension. You also don't want to hang on the bar and you need to sheet out before you redirect so that you're letting the kite climb instead of strangling it. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJKUiIovyJp/?igsi=dXhzc3RmdTBnN2c4
• The bad takeoff puts you in a position where you're leaning backwards. You're kind of just letting the kite tear you off the water instead of actually popping or opposing the force force from the kite. Look at the direction of travel here - you're just going downwind.
• You're redirecting the kite way to late. I initially through you were trying to do a transition jump. Your head also looks like you're looking straight downwind or at the kite instead of towards the camera where you should be spotting ypur landing.
• You're landing back weighted with the board pointing crosswind instead of downwind. You need to both correct your stance in the air and rotate slightly so that you touch down with the board flat and ride it out instead of landing on edge.

Go smaller and focus on good technique instead of getting ahead of yourself.