Latest News, Blog & Videos

Download the PDF Here Today we’re going to breakdown another fundamental move. The Pop to Blind or Landing Blind. This is a variation of the first two videos in this playlist. One of the most important skills to learn in freestyle or wakestyle kiteboarding is the blind landing. Landing blind makes anything you do look way better. The mistake most people make is thinking they need to learn this move powered. Something I’m pushing on our fundamentals playlist is all advanced kiteboarding tr …

  Rygo: In years past we've often touted the Neo as more than just a wave kite, but also an awesome freeride kite. While this is true, it occurred to me that we've almost done this kite an injustice in regards to its surfing capabilities. This year, I'm committed to going the extra mile with these reviews. We'll be diving in to everything you might want to know about the Neo, and why this may or may not be the right kite for you. The Neo is a good fit for a specific type of kitesurfer. W …

Today we're going to break down another must-have basic for progressing your unhooked riding: the front roll. Of all the basic moves, this might be the best looking and will give you the most bang for your buck as far as style. This is usually learned after the back roll and, while it's not difficult, it can be harder to learn if you don't have the right technique. Speaking of technique, there are two ways to initiate the front roll. Two variations While learning, I struggled to get this rig …

Kiteboarding Control Bars The first step in tuning your kite is choosing the right size control bar. The standard pairing is 43 - 47 cm bars for 05 - 10m kites 50 - 55 cm bars for 11 - 13m kites 58 - 63 cm bars for 14 - 19m kites These are just guidelines, of course. You can pair any size bar with any kite, but you will change how it flies. If you put a small bar on a large kite, you will slow it down significantly. If you put a large bar on a small kite, you will speed it up grea …

Welcome to the unhooked kiteboarding training course. This is a complete course that will consist of your first moves, progressively working your way up to the most advanced tricks. The goal of this course is to start with the fundamentals and work our way up. If you follow this guide you will: Unlock new moments faster Understand each trick completely in your mind so you can visualize it before you try it Learn how to do each move safelyWhy did I create this kiteboarding course? I want t …

Today we're going to break down a heelside back roll. This might be the most popular trick in kiteboarding. This is actually even easier than the raley. This will be your first roll in kiteboarding. It's going to open the door to many other more advanced tricks that begin with this rotation. The back roll is often a misunderstood trick, not because it's overly difficult but because people often mistake it for a flip. While you can invert your back rolls into a flip, more often than not they look …

I wanted to cover a topic that comes up all the time. Can, or should, you mix control bars? The short answer is yes. The long answer is... maybe. The last few years, I've used a ton of different brands. Cabrinha, Slingshot, Liquid Force, North, Duotone, Naish, Airush and more. When I started at the shop, I was surprised to see the crew was always mixing control bars. More often than not, you can mix any modern 4-line kite with any 4-line bar. However, there are some things to watch out for. I …

With the Red Bull King of the Air competition having just wrapped up, we wanted to do a video on big air, specifically on how you can trim your kite to get more air and hangtime! This is an easy tip that will make a big difference in your kiteboarding. Rather than our normal ride with Blake blog, we decided to keep this one right to point. Enjoy!  Step One - Trim your Kite for Hangtime The point of this is to trim your kite so that you can sheet the bar all the way in without the kite dr …

Today we're going to break down the Raley. This is an exciting point in your kiteboarding progression. It's a cornerstone trick that will lead to all the other tricks. This is usually the first trick aspiring freestyle or wakestyle riders learn. It's a must if you hope to progress into any other air tricks as they all stem from this fundamental movement. Best of all, it's a lot easier than you think. We touched on how to get started in our popping video. This week we are going to go into more …

This is going to be another quick, information-packed blog. I wanted to cover a question we get almost daily: How do I pick the right size kite? This video is aimed at new riders, but I will address intermediate riders at the end of this blog. When picking the correct size kiteboarding kite, there are four things to consider: How much do you weigh? Is this your first kite or are you adding to your quiver? What kind of conditions will you be riding in? What style of kite are you looking at? …

Today we are going to go over how to do a 360 hand drag transition without a kiteloop. This is another fun and easy one that doesn't take much risk. A 360 spin is a back roll without any inversion. Dragging your hand through the water gives you more of a carving turn, whereas if you're standing tall it's more of a spin. Free PDF will be available Friday  Sorry about that! Visit MACkite's live chat for a (1) One time coupon code.  - This code will expire as soon as the PDF …

Today we're going to break down one of the most important yet underutilized fundamental moves, the Surface Pass. It's not so much a trick in itself, but a drill to help you progress into spins. You must learn this if you hope to land anything blind, wrapped. This is the foundation for rotations like the Blind Judge, the 313, and beyond. Lots of people skip this step but, if you think about it, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches if you learn the movement pattern on the surface of the wat …

The goal of this video is to help you decide if the Vegas is right for you. I’ve done videos on C-kites in the past and when checking the forums, a lot of people got the impression that I am completely against C-kites like the Vegas. That’s not the case. That video was meant to deter beginners from starting out on a kite that would hold them back. The Vegas is an incredible kite but it does have some drawbacks for inexperienced riders. The grey area comes into play when you hit t …

Welcome to our latest playlist: The Unhooking Fundamentals. With freestyle kiteboarding being so advanced these days, it can be overwhelming. Strangely, unhooked riding has a weird reputation. You see it all over in the magazines and in pro rider videos, yet on the local beach it has become far less common. Often people are worried that it's too intense or dangerous. In truth, unhooking is one of the most fun aspects of kiteboarding. If you learn to do it right, it's actually easy and just a …

It has come to our attention that this particular grab is actually a Crail grab. In the video we call it a Nuke, however for the written steps, I'll be using the correct name. My apologies for any confusion. The Crail Grab is your backhand reaching across to the nose of the kite. The Nuke is technically when you take that a step further to your heelside edge. -Rygo Today we are going to go over how to do a powered transition. The powered Crail grab with a downloop. Last time, we covered a sent …