How to Backroll Kiteloop Late Tail Grab: with Shaun Bennett

Yo, what's up guys? I'm Rygo.

And I'm Shaun.

And we were running through some footage that Brad Strom filmed at Hood River and Lyle. We've been doing some trick tips and Shaun here had some pretty rad big air tricks, and we thought we'd cover one of them that we really liked, the backroll kiteloop late tail grab. Can you break this down?

I just make sure that once I commit to the backroll kiteloop by keeping the bar pinned in all the way after the load and pop, I'm popping off the water and I'm trying to really whip my body and get inverted right off the water.

So you're inverting early?

Yeah, right away. I actually do them different to the left and to the right. I was trying to learn late backrolls to the left, and this is what kind of evolved. You could do a backroll kiteloop where you're popping off the water and initiating your loop all at the same time, which is the traditional way that people will learn them. They pop off the water, crank the loop at the same time, and then when they're coming out of it the kite's usually right out in front of you.

That's how I do my backroll kiteloops. I like to do them kind of low where you're looping as you're popping. It's a really explosive, fun-feeling trick.

It sure is, yeah. That one gives you a lot of g-force because you're looping the kite earlier, so backroll kiteloops always seem to get the kite lower for me. But then there are also late backroll kiteloops, and a couple variations of that as well. You could loop the kite, and three quarters of the way through go into your late backroll. Once you hit the apex of your jump, now your line tension is actually kind of hidden, like a change in direction. Because you're super loaded when you're leaving the water, your lines are really tight, but once you hit the apex of your jump your lines are actually going to go a little bit spongy and then reverse tension when you start to come back down. The key is to crank the kiteloop before that tension runs out the first time.

So you're doing a regular jump in this? Are you looping at the apex?

Right before the apex.

So you're on the way up when you're pulling the loop but you're not at the apex of your jump.

For sure. I want to make sure that I'm getting whipped upside down, and I'm upside down while the loop's happening, so it's pulling me through the loop upside down. The secret to this for me is just keeping my eyes on the center strut, which I've talked about so many times. I go in, and as I'm popping I'm following the kite, and as I'm cranking the loop I'm watching the kite all the way around until I see the center strut coming back all the way up. Now, when the kite's going up to catch me, I still have my hand right on the center with my finger over the center line. As that's going out, I can sheet out and direct the kite to 12 o'clock above me, and that gives me the time to reach back and grab the tail grab. The other trick is, as the kite is shooting to 12 to catch me, I'm making sure that it over-sends a little bit while I'm going for this tail grab because now the kite's off to my right while I'm holding the tail grab, and I can slowly increase my hand pressure with the left. That's going to pull a really nice downloop all the way around, and that's the way that you can hold the tail grab to the very last second.

So that's how you get that little extra loft in this clip, where you catch yourself, you go for the grab, and you're nice and floaty for the next 10 feet. I noticed that the lines were a bit over and I could see you were doing something a little different there.

Also, if I notice that the kite's right at 12 o'clock right above me, I'll actually give it a quick little twitch off to the right so that it's a little bit off to the side, and then I know when I initiate the downloop it's going to be going around my head.

Any tips for guys to work their way into this?

Try to do small ones where you grab the tail grab and you're holding it through the loop the whole time.

If you guys want to learn that variation, I did a full tutorial on the backroll. I called it a "backroll kiteloop nose grab", but I'm not doing the transition like Shaun; I'm not coming around and landing toeside and redirecting my kite. Give that video a watch for the first step of this trick, and then you can bridge it into this big air variation. That's actually kind of cool with a little extra send after the catch for the loft, because I'm just starting to do more big air myself. I'm a freestyle rider/park rider, but I've been enjoying watching some of the big air guys and noticing that after the catch, a lot of guys will do that little redirect, and I was wondering how they were getting that little extra loft for that downloop, so that's a cool little tip. Redirect the kite; that makes total sense.

Over-send after the catch and purposely flick it off to the side. That way I can get it across 12.

Awesome, dude. I hope you guys enjoyed this video. I actually enjoyed making this video with some new stuff to try, so if you liked it, give the video a thumbs up, hit the subscribe button, and we'll catch you later.