Kiteboarding Late Back Heli Loop: with Brad Strahm

What's up guys? Brad here, down in the Keys with Rygo and Kristen this week, filming some new content for the YouTube channel. Today I have a video for you guys on how to upgrade your late backroll from the previous video we did, bring it to a new level, and get one step closer to being able to do a late backroll with a kite loop.

For this variation of the late backroll, we're going to be working off the idea of using line tension as something to rotate against. In the first video I made for the late backroll, I mentioned that you want to initiate it while you're approaching the peak of your jump. You still want to feel upward pull from your kite. If you wait until the last minute where you're starting to feel a little bit of slack in the lines and you're starting to descend, it's going to be very difficult to do the rotation and you're likely going to have a very sloppy rotation. You'll probably wiggle a lot and it won't be smooth.

The same concept comes over to this trick, but now that we're getting a little bit higher and a little bit more comfortable with it, we can actually use our kite to create line tension and create an opportunity for rotation. I recommend being able to do a sent jump first before trying this, which would be the act of jumping, sending your kite back, then sending your kite forward to create forward momentum downwind, and then landing with a backhanded heli loop. You'll be using the line tension you gain from sending the kite forward to initiate your new rotation.

When you jump up into the air, you'll approach the peak of your jump and then you'll be able to start pulling on your front hand. I would recommend keeping your hands fairly close to the middle of the bar; that way you don't oversteer since that would be worse than understeering it. From there, you can steer your kite forward, and just as you initiate that pull on your hand and feel line tension incoming, that's when you'll want to lift your leg and initiate your backside rotation.

Once you come out of the rotation, your kite's now going to be more in front of you and you're going to need to reposition it for a landing. Since the kite is so far in front of you already, bringing the kite further down to that side isn't going to provide you much loft for a landing. Bring it back in around to 12 for a heli loop landing.

After you come out of the rotation, give the kite a second to start approaching to about directly above you, maybe slightly behind you. That way, when the kite does its heli loop, it will arc above your head and create upwards lift. If you initiate it too early and the kite loops more in front of you, you won't get as much loft and you'll get more horizontal pull, which isn't the most desirable for a soft landing. Come out of the rotation, be patient and let the kite get a little bit behind you, and then initiate a backhanded heli loop by pulling with a medium amount of force on your back hand. The kite will loop around and provide some lift for you. By then you'll likely be approaching the water for your landing. If you're still really high, you may need to initiate another loop, but for most people one heli loop will work really well.

I hope these tips help you guys upgrade your late backroll. Stay tuned for the next step to the mega loop late backroll.