Backroll Kiteloop starts as a backroll: a hard pull on the back hand halfway round loops the kite behind the rider and drags them into a downwind landing.
Also called: back roll kite loop · F-16 · back loop kite loop · kiteloop back roll
Helps to know first
Schools teach this differently
Our sources genuinely disagree on several points. Head and shoulders on takeoff: GONG has you turn your head over your front shoulder and look back to start the rotation, while both IKSURFMAG articles say the opposite, keep the head square to the shoulders and look forward along the line of your shoulder, because throwing the head makes you rotate too quickly and over-rotate when the kite loops. MACkite takes no side on what starts the spin, it only uses the moment you look over your shoulder as the cue to pull. Bar grip: MACkite says put your hands wide for leverage and faster kite turn, IKSURFMAG's intermediate sequence moves the back hand further down the bar, and IKSURFMAG's advanced version wants the hand close to the centre so you can crank it while keeping the bar in. The board on touchdown: IKSURFMAG lands tail first with soft knees, MACkite insists on landing with the board flat, so the step above only keeps what both agree on. How hard to pull splits them too, IKSURFMAG says as hard as is humanly possible while GONG lists over-generating the power of the loop as a named mistake, especially in strong wind. Kite size splits the same way, see the gear FAQ.
Ideal conditions
Flat, deep water with nothing to hit but water. Light to moderate wind for the first attempts, comfortably below the point where you are on the edge of overpowered, and lighter than you would normally ride. You need plenty of open space downwind, in front of you and behind you, because the kite drags you backwards through the loop. In onshore wind, go out the back and stay well clear of the beach and other riders.
How to do it
1. Setup and send
- Park the kite between 11 and 1 for your tack and build enough speed that the lines stay loaded all the way into the move.
- Set your back hand on the bar before you go. This is the hand that loops the kite, so put it where you get real leverage on it.
- Send the kite hard from around 11:30 or 12:30. Drift it back slowly and it ends up far behind you and close to the water, which is how the kite crashes or leaves you too low to land.
- As the kite starts to move, drop your hips low and back, front leg long, back knee bent, weight driving through the back heel.
- Come in with speed instead of creeping into it. With speed the yank from the loop feels far less violent.
2. Pop and the slow first half
- Extend the back leg and carve harder upwind as the kite lifts you, and keep the bar sheeted in.
- Stamp off your edge the way you would for a normal jump. That loads the lines and pushes the kite towards the edge of the window, which buys you lift once it passes 12.
- Level the bar just before you leave the water so the kite does not sail across to the far side of the window and rob you of float.
- Aim up and forward over your leading shoulder. Picture leaning against a door and jumping into its top corner rather than spinning into the wind.
- Keep the roll slow. Throwing it as hard as a normal backroll is the quickest way to over-rotate once the kite starts pulling.
3. Pull the loop
- Wait until you are halfway round and looking back at where you came from. That look back is your cue.
- Drive your back elbow down towards your waist and pull as hard as you physically can.
- Let your front arm extend. Holding on tight with both arms in keeps the bar level and the kite will not loop.
- Pull your front knee towards your chest and keep your abs switched on, because the pull from the kite will try to straighten you out.
- Keep pulling once you have committed. Easing off mid-loop leaves the kite diving instead of looping.
- Let the kite carry you round rather than muscling the rotation yourself.
4. Land it downwind
- Stop pulling the back hand as the kite climbs back towards 12, and start looking for your landing.
- Steer the kite all the way round and forward so it rises above you and catches you on the way down.
- Open your legs out a little to slow the spin, but keep the knees bent. Landing with straight legs will not end well.
- Square your shoulders to the kite and point the board downwind so the landing takes power out of the kite.
- Land with soft knees, get your shoulders stacked over your knees, then carve back onto your edge.
- Once you are riding and in control, dive the kite forward so it does not fall out of the sky behind you.
Common mistakes and fixes
Mistake
Over-rotating. You throw the roll as hard as a normal backroll, or your legs go straight in the air, and the loop spins you past your landing.
Fix
Keep the first half of the roll slow and let the kite pull you through it. Front knee to your chest for a low centre of gravity, then open out only slightly after the loop to bleed off spin.
Mistake
The kite never loops. You hold on tight with both arms in and the bar stays level, so nothing turns.
Fix
Drive the back elbow down to your waist and let the front arm extend. Pull as hard as you can and do not stop once you have started.
Mistake
Pulling at the wrong moment. Too early and the loop does not have enough rotation left to pull you round. Too late and it over-rotates you or hands you a harsh fall.
Fix
Trigger it when you are halfway through, at the point where you are looking back the way you came and the kite is coming back into view.
Mistake
Lazy send. You drift the kite back slowly, so it ends up deep behind you and near the water. It crashes, or you have no height left to get your legs under you.
Fix
Send it hard, the way you would for a jump or an air gybe, so you have height and time when the kite starts pulling from above.
Mistake
Getting pile-driven because the kite will not turn.
Fix
Check the kite is more above you and not already too far back before you pull. Then be genuinely aggressive on the back hand and stop the kite pulling the bar out of your hands.
If it goes wrong
- Set the session up so a crash costs you nothing: deep water with nothing to hit but water, plenty of space downwind and both in front of and behind you, because the kite pulls you back.
- In onshore wind, go out the back before you try it, and keep a safe distance from the beach and other riders.
- Wear an impact vest if you own one.
- Once you have started the pull, finish the loop. Stopping halfway leaves the kite diving, and a complete loop is softer on your body and on the kite than a diving one.
- If you feel off balance after you have stopped pulling and the kite is climbing again, you can let go with the back hand to steady yourself.
- You are hooked in and cannot simply let go of the power, which is why the first attempts belong in lighter wind and at a size you can commit to. Crashing fully powered hurts.
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 schoolEducational 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 already have before trying it?+
Backrolls on lock, plus downloops and kiteloops. IKSURFMAG puts it plainly: back looping well is a must, because the whole trick is controlling your rotation. A decent pop back loop helps because you are already rotating around an axis that is not vertical, and previous hooked-in kiteloops help your confidence.
What wind and water do I want for the first ones?+
Light to moderate wind and flat water. Do not go on the verge of overpowered. You want depth and plenty of space downwind, in front of you and behind you, and if it is blowing onshore, get out the back first. None of the sources we cite give a number in knots, they describe it relative to your own normal conditions.
Which kite and what size?+
Our sources split on this. MACkite says learn on nothing bigger than an 11m and step down from your usual size, since bigger kites loop slowly and make the landing hard. It prefers the freestyle kites in most brands' ranges, and rates three-strut C-hybrid crossover kites as the fastest and most powerful for looping. IKSURFMAG argues the opposite way round, that a biggish kite in fairly light wind is a kinder place to start because small kites live in punishing, gusty wind and you are hooked in and cannot let go. Both agree on learning in lighter wind than you would normally ride.
How much is it going to hurt?+
MACkite frames the fear as a control problem rather than a violence problem, and says the trick only gets scary when you do not know what you are doing and it gets out of control. Two things cut the impact down: entering with speed, because the yank feels far less violent, and completing the loop rather than leaving the kite diving. Crashing fully powered does hurt, so start small enough that you can commit.
Do the lines cross, and where does the F-16 name come in?+
The lines do not cross. GONG points out that unlike a plain backroll you have nothing to unwind afterwards, because the rider and the kite loop in sync. MACkite records F-16 as the trick's other common name, and notes that plenty of riders stumble into their first one by accident while learning backrolls, since pulling in on the back hand as you throw the rotation is a natural thing to do.
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.