Butterslide is the move where the rider shifts weight onto the front foot until the tail of the board breaks loose and slides sideways across flat water.
Also called: Butter Slide · Nose Slide · Nose Press · Butter
Prerequisites
Unlocks
Nothing in the tree needs this one yet — it stands on its own.
Helps to know first
Schools teach this differently
Our sources genuinely disagree on which foot drives the press, and MACkite is split against itself. MACkite's butter slide / nose slide guide and Elite Watersports both teach it as a front-foot move: press the front foot, the tail releases, you balance on the nose. Global Kite Spots files the trick under the heading "Butter slide / nose press" and calls the tail-press version harder. But MACkite's own news walkthroughs teach the opposite, putting most of your weight on the back foot, pulling up with the front foot, and aiming to get the board as vertical as possible, with nose butterslides treated as the same process on the opposite leg. ProKite Alby Rondina describes "the butter" the same back-leg way, as a short motocross-style manual. Kite position is unsettled too: 11 or 1 o'clock (Elite), 10:30 to 11 (MACkite guide), or 45 degrees (both MACkite news pages). Bindings split as well: Elite recommends straps for ankle mobility, while MACkite says you can butter slide just fine in footstraps but boots give better leverage. The phases below teach the front-foot nose press, since that is what the majority of our sources and the trick's alias set describe.
Ideal conditions
14 to 20 knots with clean pull, on flat waist-deep water with open room to glide. Every guide that talks about power wants you moderately to highly powered rather than marginal, and every guide that talks about gear wants the fins off the board. Water quality matters more than the wind number here: ride early or on an incoming tide while the surface is still glassy, since chop, gusts and the churned-up water of high-traffic hours are all named as things to avoid.
How to do it
1. Set up: flat water, no fins, real speed
- Pick flat, waist-deep water with open room to glide, and go out early or on an incoming tide while the surface is still glassy.
- Pull the fins off the board. It gets considerably easier to break the board loose without them, and if you want to ease into it, take off just the rear pair first.
- Rig properly powered rather than marginal. If you are hunting for pull, go up a kite size instead of grinding away on the small one.
- Riding heelside, build up real speed before you try anything. Ride in slow and you sink instead of slide.
- Park the kite high, around 11 or 1 o'clock, and leave it there. You want vertical lift out of it, not downwind drag.
2. Break the tail loose
- Flatten the board out and stop edging. Stay centered over it with a soft bend in the knees instead of leaning back.
- Press down through your front foot. That is what unweights the tail and lets it release.
- As the pressure builds, start rotating your body as if you were transitioning to toeside.
- Halfway round, increase the front-foot pressure and hold that position instead of finishing the rotation.
- Guide the tail outward with your back leg, smooth and controlled. Do not force it.
- Take your front hand off the bar. It buys you balance and greater leverage.
3. Hold the glide and ride out
- Balance on the front tips of the board and lift the back end as high as you can get it.
- Hold the glide for as long as your legs allow. Expect them to be tired the first day and expect a few tries before the balance point feels obvious.
- Choose your exit: default back to heelside, or keep rotating the nose round and ride away toeside.
- Even your weight out gently and steer the board back downwind. No stomping the board, no yanking the bar — let it realign under you.
- Once heelside starts working, try initiating the press from toeside instead. Some riders find that the easier position to transition from.
Common mistakes and fixes
Mistake
Riding underpowered, so there is never enough pull to hold you up on the nose.
Fix
Go up a kite size and fly it high. This is the first thing Elite Watersports lists when a butter slide will not happen.
Mistake
Leaving the fins in, which makes the tail refuse to break loose.
Fix
Take them out. If that feels like a big step, start by removing only the rear pair and ride that first.
Mistake
Loading the back foot, which is the opposite of what the nose press needs.
Fix
Shift your weight forward and commit to it. Elite is blunt that this is a front-foot trick.
Mistake
Flying the kite too low, so you get downwind drag instead of the vertical lift the trick runs on.
Fix
Bring it back up to around 11 or 1 o'clock and leave it parked there.
Mistake
Trying it in chop, crowds or gusts, which add chaos to a move that runs on flow.
Fix
Move to flat water. The press is easiest there and it also looks the most pronounced.
If it goes wrong
- If the slide is dying and you feel yourself sinking, shift your weight back over the middle of the board and ride away downwind to stay on the plane.
- Ease out rather than snapping out: even your weight up and steer the board back downwind, and let it realign under you.
- Do not stomp the board or yank the bar on the way out.
Learn this with a coach, not from a page
This guide explains what the move is and what riders get wrong, so you arrive at the session knowing what you are trying to do. It cannot watch your kite, read the gust coming, or stop you committing to something you are not ready for — a coach or instructor can.
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
How much wind do I need for a butterslide?+
Elite Watersports puts the window at 14 to 20 knots with clean pull. MACkite's guide phrases the same requirement as kite moderately to highly powered, and Global Kite Spots and ProKite Alby Rondina both make being properly powered the condition for it working at all. If you are on the edge of your range, size up rather than fighting for speed.
Do I really have to take the fins out?+
If you want an easy time of it, yes. Elite says pulling the fins makes the board considerably easier to break loose, MACkite's guide tells you to remove them outright, Global Kite Spots says fins make it much harder, and ProKite treats taking the fins out as the next step that lets you go full butter. Start by taking off just the rear pair if you would rather ease into it. On board choice, Elite wants a twin tip with medium flex, a flat rocker line and a wider shape.
What level do I need to be to try one?+
An early one. Elite is explicit that you do not have to be intermediate and you do not have to be advanced, and that a total beginner can learn it. MACkite calls it quite easy to execute given the right equipment, conditions and a good sense of balance. ProKite Alby Rondina lists the butter as the second easy trick to try after your waterstart, and MACkite's 28-trick list, scoped beginner to intermediate, has the butterslide at number six. ProKite adds one condition worth noting: try it if you are already comfortable riding toeside, which fits, since MACkite's version rotates you through that position.
Straps or boots?+
The sources split on this. Elite recommends straps, because they allow more ankle mobility and make it easier to adjust mid-slide. MACkite says you can butter slide just fine in footstraps, but that boots will give you better leverage. Ride whichever you already have on your board.
Why does my board keep sinking instead of sliding?+
Speed and power. MACkite's walkthrough is blunt about it: if you go slow, you will sink. Elite lists riding underpowered as its first mistake and fixes it with a bigger kite flown high. Check your kite is not sitting low either, which Elite counts as its own mistake, with the fix being to keep it around 11 or 1. And when you do feel it sinking, shift your weight back over the board and ride downwind to stay on the plane.
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.
- Elite Watersports — Butter Slide Kiteboarding Guide
- MACkite Boardsports Center — How to Butter Slide / Nose Slide
- MACkite Boardsports Center — Kitesurfing Butterslide
- MACkite Boardsports Center — How to Butterslide, Ride with Blake
- Global Kite Spots — Trick inspiration for intermediate kitesurfers
- ProKite Alby Rondina — 11 Easy Kite Tricks After Waterstart
- MACkite — 28 Fun Tricks for Beginner and Intermediate Kiteboarders