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Big Air · Advanced

Darkslide

See it in the Trick Tree

In a darkslide the board skims across the water upside-down, deck facing down and toes pointed, while you hang below the kite.

Also called: dark slide

Prerequisites

Backroll Hand-Drag

Unlocks

Nothing in the tree needs this one yet — it stands on its own.

Helps to know first

Toeside Riding

Ideal conditions

Steady 15–20 knots over flat water; a 9–12m kite (sized to rider weight) that gives enough lift without overpowering, on 20–22m lines — if you're struggling with timing, shorter lines give a tighter kite response — ridden on a twin tip with medium rocker.

How to do it

  1. 1. Setup

    • Ride with a sufficient amount of power but not overpowered — being overpowered will end up pulling you off your edge.
    • Pick flat, slick water; chop makes it hard to time your pop just right.
    • Hook in well powered, with your sweet spot at least 5 inches out from the chicken loop.
    • Park the kite high and in front of you — 11:30 with your left foot forward, 12:30 with your right foot forward — so it holds you up through the trick.
    • Edge hard and keep that edge until the moment you commit to the trick.

  2. 2. Trip over the nose

    • Send the kite from 1 o'clock across to 10 o'clock with the bar sheeted out, then pull in on the bar — not all the way, or it will rip you off your edge.
    • Release your edge when you feel the maximum pull from the kite.
    • Pop lightly: push down with your back foot, pull up slightly with your front foot, and point your toes down and inward.
    • Fall forward and over your board, keeping your back foot straight and bending your front foot.

  3. 3. The slide

    • Drag your toe-side edge with your feet and board behind you and your shoulders down over the water — lean forward.
    • Bring your front knee in closer to your chest and push your back leg out a little further.
    • Keep your back straight and trust that your kite will hold you up.
    • Keep the kite high and in front of you, letting it move progressively from 11:30 through 12:00 toward 1:00 as you slide.

  4. 4. Loop out and ride away

    • The second before you lose all power is when you initiate the kite loop.
    • Right as you come off the slide, pull down on the bar so the kite downloops — this helps lift you off that sliding edge.
    • Keep your front knee into your chest, rotate the board to point downwind and land flat.
    • Let the loop pop you up so you can ride away clean.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake

Pulling the bar all the way in on the entry.

Fix

Sheet in only partway — pulled all the way in, the kite rips you off your edge.

Mistake

Dragging the tail too deep and catching the back edge.

Fix

Keep your weight slightly forward and let the back leg extend while staying soft in the knees — think of the tail like a fin: just enough contact to make spray, not so much that it slows you down.

Mistake

Letting the kite drift too far back during the slide — when you send it forward it cuts the top of the window instead of travelling up and over 12, pulls you downwind and drops you inverted on your back.

Fix

Go easy on the slide and don't get greedy with slide length — chasing length moves the kite too far back; being underpowered also stalls the kite and causes the same crash.

Mistake

Sliding on the top of your board or your foot straps, so there is no lift when you send the kite forward.

Fix

You need edge tension — get your weight a tad further back when you trip.

Mistake

Trying it in high wind, on gusty days or in chop.

Fix

Learn it in a steady 15–20 knots over flat water — chop breaks up the board's contact with the surface and makes the tail drag unpredictable, and too much wind yanks the kite out of position.

If it goes wrong

  • If you pull too much on your back hand the kite shoots up, and you either lose the support underneath you or get lifted off the water; IKSURFMAG's dark slide article says to let the bar out and drop into the water at that point, because a kite that has already gone a long way back can come through the loop slowly and with a lot of power.
  • Do not try to rescue a slide that is falling apart by firing the loop early, because the coach at Kitesurfing Lanka writes that an early loop rips you out of the slide, and that riders who are not used to looping tend to ditch the kite and go down with it.
  • On the exits that spin you, IKSURFMAG's dark slide back roll article says to bail the kiteloop if you feel yourself rotating too fast, since otherwise you finish facing downwind before the kite has come through the power.
  • If the loop does come through harder than you planned, MACkite's darkslide kiteloop transition walkthrough tells you to land downwind to take power out of 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 be able to do before trying a darkslide?+

Be proficient with downloops first: work both sides of the window with a downloop, then set up a rally — pop, send the kite over and downloop so it catches you and pulls you through with your feet behind you — and practice with some air before attempting to drag toe-side across the water.

What kite size and wind work best for learning it?+

A 9–12m kite on 20–22m lines in a steady 15–20 knots over flat water; if you're struggling with timing, consider shorter lines for a tighter kite response.

How do I get back on the board at the end of the slide?+

Initiate the kite loop the second before you lose all power — the loop pops you up so you can ride away clean.

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.