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Big Air · Advanced

Backroll Hand-Drag

See it in the Trick Tree

In a backroll hand-drag you trail one hand through the water partway through a slow backroll, the styled step riders take toward the darkslide.

Also called: hand drag · back roll hand-drag

Prerequisites

BackrollBoosting Higher

Unlocks

DarkslideStrapless Backroll Hand Plant

Ideal conditions

Know your best conditions: flat water, and using a larger kite is better. Travel at a moderate speed with your kite higher in the air.

How to do it

  1. 1. Setup and approach

    • Come in on a good solid upwind edge, with plenty of tension in the lines and preferably some power in the kite.
    • Ride with the kite a bit higher in the air than usual — flat water and a larger kite make this trick much friendlier.
    • Get low to the water as you resist, shift your weight back towards the tail so your back leg is quite bent, and keep your hands centred on the bar.
    • Bring the kite up from either 11 or 1 o'clock — with a big kite and power, drift it up slowly; with a small kite be more aggressive. It only works if you're edging.

  2. 2. Initiate: drop back and carve up

    • The moment you feel lift, free your back hand and get ready for the wash: rock your rear shoulder down towards the water and tilt your head toward your back shoulder.
    • Feather the bar out carefully rather than pushing it away — shove the bar out and you lose your lift.
    • Keep the tail of the board engaged a tad longer: extend your front leg and keep pushing against your back leg so the board rolls back onto its tail rocker and carves you upwind — let your hips turn with the board to start the rotation.
    • Don't be too greedy with lift: pull the bar in for support too early and you'll lift yourself off the tail and have trouble carving up.
    • In Alby's version, don't pop the board hard off the water — gently send it upwards, put your front hand into the water, and send your legs as high and as straight as possible.

  3. 3. Drag and rotate

    • Let your hand plough a flume of spray while you keep power and tension on; with your weight back and front leg extended you'll invert more — aim to reach the 180-degree inverted position.
    • Blake's cue: bring your front knee to your chest as you lean back, dip your back shoulder and look in that direction — the body is going to follow the head — then reach down and drag your hand across the water.
    • Once you're halfway around and inverted, use your front hand on the bar to steer the kite forward with your wrist — try not to just pull the bar in.
    • Turn your head and look over your front shoulder — without turning your head you'll just stall and freeze at the halfway house.
    • Riding it as a transition instead: while hand-dragging, slide the kite to the opposite side of the wind window, and when you start to slow down, loop the kite — bar close and pulled down for a tighter loop, further out for a slower, larger loop.

  4. 4. Landing

    • Get your now rather clean back hand back on the bar and make sure you keep your knees up.
    • Give the bar a hefty pull and push so the kite dives down through the window, look downwind as the kite pulls you that way, then extend your legs for a gentle touch down.
    • Stay compact until the very end — knees tucked into your chest until landing, then spot your landing, stomp the water and ride away.
    • Cushion your landing and aim to touch down pointing downwind for better control.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake

Your hand never gets wet.

Fix

Don't kick up into the rotation — that only creates unwanted height. Keep the kite movement gentle rather than pulling it too far back, and concentrate on extending your front leg so the board carves you up.

Mistake

No rotation — you freeze halfway around.

Fix

Shift your hips further back towards the tail of the board and extend your front leg so the board turns as you invert; once inverted, turning your head is essential to complete the rotation.

Mistake

Not enough support or height from the kite.

Fix

Make sure you're moving the kite enough and not releasing the bar too much. If you're underpowered, steer with your wrist and not by pulling on your arm so you don't stall the kite, and keep drifting the kite up until you feel lift.

Mistake

Pulling the bar in for support too early.

Fix

Don't be too greedy with lift — pulling in early lifts you off the tail and you'll have trouble carving up. Stay on the tail and let the carve start first.

Mistake

Body opens up mid-trick and the rotation dies.

Fix

The more compact you keep your body, the more you can rotate — keep your knees tucked into your chest and squared up with your shoulders; it helps with every aspect of the trick.

If it goes wrong

  • When the kite goes soft with your hand still in the water, don't haul the bar in to get the power back. IKSURFMAG's hand drag back roll page says that being underpowered makes it very easy to stall the kite that way, and to steer with your wrist rather than by pulling on your arm.
  • If the kite has already begun sliding backwards into the power zone, push the bar away from your body. This is general kite handling rather than trick advice: Berito's piece on backstalls says pushing the bar lets the trailing edge rise back up.
  • If you feel the kite ripping over your head and pulling you off balance partway round, your back hand has taken over and steered it off course. Elite Watersports lists this under back roll mistakes generally and has you bring the front hand toward centre and ease off the back hand during the rotation.
  • If you come round too far and you're heading for a landing across the wind on an edge, or a second rotation is starting, dive the kite for the landing. IKSURFMAG writes this for the boned back loop rather than for the hand drag, and says the dive stops the rotation and pulls you off downwind.
  • If a big yank comes anyway, let go of the bar. The Kitesurfing Handbook's back roll page gives that instruction straight, right after warning that hands set too wide on the bar can redirect the kite.

Learn this with a coach, not from a page

This is a high-consequence move. The sources it is built from describe riders getting hurt on it, and every one of them teaches it as a step you earn rather than attempt. Get coaching, build up in stages, ride with people who can help you, and give yourself deep water and clear space downwind.

Find a certified school

Educational reference, not instruction. Kitesurfing is a risk sport: the steps here describe what named schools, instructors and technique libraries teach, and the page lists exactly which ones, but real conditions involve wind, gusts, water state, traffic and equipment behaviour that no written guide accounts for. Schools also teach justified variations — where our sources disagree, the page says so instead of picking one. Judge your own readiness, use the safety systems on your kite, and do not attempt a move because a page made it sound achievable. KitesurfingOfficial accepts no liability for the use of this information on the water.

Questions riders ask

What should I have dialled before trying the backroll hand drag?+

Alby Rondina's checklist: understand the back-roll transition, with and without the loop, before attempting the hand drag.

Do I need to be able to do a plain hand drag or wash first?+

Ideally you've already tried the hand drag/wash, but there's no harm trying this even if you've not yet dragged or washed.

Is it easier on a bigger or smaller kite?+

A larger kite and more board speed make the move easier, since the kite will be happier holding you. Smaller kites need more aggressive movements and risk stalling — steer with your wrist rather than pulling on your arm.

How long should the hand drag be while I'm learning?+

Don't chase the length of the drag at first — when learning, focus on getting the back rotation with some inversion; the long stylish drag comes later.

Keep reading

Sources

Every step on this page traces to the sources below. Where they disagree or stay silent, the page says so instead of guessing.