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Kiteboarders are obsessed with getting more air, more height and more power into their tricks. At the end of the day, there are no shortcuts to improving skill on the water, only practice. That said, there are some things you can do that over time are going to have a huge impact on your riding and your pop.Tip One - Ride Finless Take the next 2 - 4 months and commit to riding without fins on your twintip. At first, everything is going to be more difficult. You'll find that you can't stay up …

The Raley to Blind is a critical step in your unhooked freestyle journey. It's typically the first fundamental move to be paired with a rotation. In our “Unhooked Fundamentals” playlist, I hammered home the point that all advanced moves are combinations of the fundamentals. This lower intermediate move is the first progression towards the Blind Judge, the Blind Judge 3, 5 and beyond. Once you get comfortable landing this to blind, you can pair the rotation with the Backroll and the Frontro …

This week we're going to cover a popular trick that everyone wants to learn: the Darkslide! We've done a few videos on this, but I wanted to do a concise and to-the-point tutorial focused on doing the trick via bar feedback. You'll want to try this one with a little bit of power, but not overpowered. You can be a little underpowered, but you will have to go fast. Come in with decent speed and start to send the kite up like you would for a small jump. Pay attention to your bar. Right …

Strut-less kites require some special techniques and finesse to re-launch.  This quick walk through experience will help you explore some options for re-launch if you are struggling.  As we have said before, we recommend playing with these kites in shallow water before embarking on any offshore routes so you can get comfortable and experienced with their re-launch.Malcolm Crennell,  an experienced foiler passed his thoughts along to us and we thought it was well written and true e …

This one is for those of you that know how to do basic front roll but want to take it to the next level. This is going to be a shorter one, but we'll cover a lot of ground. So first things first: you should know how to do a basic front roll. This can be with a sent jump or with the load and pop method. Once you are airborne, look over your back shoulder and pull your front knee into your chest. As you come around for the roll, pay attention to the axis of your rotation. Are you doing mor …

The goal of this video is to inspire you to try some more transitions and mix up your kiteboarding. You can really add a lot of flow and energy to your riding by mixing in very basic tricks into every transition. This week, I'll break down three of my favorite transitions from beginner to intermediate. Transition One - Beginner Half Loaded Melon to Toeside with a Downloop This is a mouthful but it's super simple. You can do it hooked in or unhooked for extra style. Just get a bit of sp …

Today we are going to go over how to do a toeside butterslide kiteloop transition. This trick is a fun and easy one that doesn’t take much risk. A butter slide is when you weight the back of your board as you ride through the water. It’s done by hopping off of your heelside edge, spinning to toeside and weighing the nose of your board. This works best in flat water so that you can hold a steady edge. It’s natural to spin this around into toeside and then you are ready to make a carving …

This is part two of the master your kite and board videos. Last week, I covered a new angle on how to control your kite with the edge of your board. I’m going to expand on this now, and help you really get control of your board and riding position. Kiteboarding is funny because unlike other board sports we have a lot more going on with controlling the kite. The thing is, It seems like a lot of kiteboarders never learn how to ride a board properly and it actually holds back their pro …

Today, we’re going to do one of the most important videos we’ve ever done. 3 tips to master kite control. This is part one of two, I’m going to do a second video on advanced kiteboard skills to expand on this next. We're lucky to live in a time where all kites are really user friendly but it came at a cost. It seems like most new kiteboarders don’t know how to control their kite with their edge. Riding in a boarding stance is important In the early days of kiteboarding, riders had to …

Today we are going to cover a Darkslide Kiteloop Transition. This is an advanced trick and is similar to the hand drag and the 360 video we did in this playlist. In the sense that you will be sending the kite from one side of the wind window to the other for lift and then looping the kite at the edge of the window followed by a second half loop to transition. PDF available Step One - Small Send & Pop Come into this trick with a light pop and be subtle with sending the kite. You don’ …

This is the last video in the fundamentals playlist for now. Soon, I’ll be filming an intermediate level playlist. This week, we're going to cover the Back to Revert or Back to Toeside. In kiteboarding, I’ve been pushing that all advanced moves are combinations of the basics and this is going to be your first combo. You'll be pairing a backroll with a frontside 180.This is the second progression into the Back to Wrapped or the Backmobe and its super fun to turn into a downloop transition. …

This week's tip is going to be short and to the point. It’s a stylish variation of the pop and an important movement pattern that builds on many things for later on in your progression. This will be your first 180, and a good introduction to landing toeside with power. Remember, landing blind is just toeside with the kite behind your back. Aside from that, you'll be learning how to rotate frontside. This is important for tricks like the rally to wrapped or the back to revert. Later on, this i …

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 …

Today we are going to cover a 360 Kiteloop Transition. This is an advanced trick and it builds on the 360 video we did in this playlist. This is an extremely fun kiteboarding transition and is not as scary as you might think. You simply pop into a light backroll with no inversion. Like a hand drag, the kite swings across the window to keep you aloft. You then pull a kiteloop-and-a-half on the edge of the window. This pulls you the other direction. Nail this one and you’ll turn some heads on an …

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 …