Skip to content
KitesurfingOfficial

Big Air · Expert

Doobie Loop

See it in the Trick Tree

Doobie Loop is a big-air kiteloop with two inverted front rolls thrown at the critical moment, doubling the single roll of a Boogie Loop.

Also called: doobie · double inverted frontroll kiteloop

Prerequisites

Boogie Loop

Unlocks

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

Schools teach this differently

Our sources disagree on when to pull the loop, and both are MACkite. The Ride with Blake tutorial teaches looping at the apex — its step is headed "Loop at the Apex" and it warns "You don't want to loop too early and get pulled," adding that you should be in control with a little height when you initiate. The Big Air Basics episode teaches the opposite under "Loop Early in Your Jump," putting the pull at about 80 percent of total jump height on the reasoning that line tension is gone at the weightless peak, so the kite will not loop as fast.

Ideal conditions

Deep enough water with a clear downwind corridor, since a looping kite pulls you back and downwind before it lets go. Kites for looping run 11 metres and under; anything bigger loops slowly and is not very effective. You want jumps clearing the 5 to 6 metre band before you start adding rotations, having already perfected loops in the 2 to 3 metre range. For reference on what the trick looks like at the top level: at the 2024 Red Bull King of the Air, where Andrea Principi landed a Doobie Loop Board Off, the Cape Doctor peaked at 40 knots late in the afternoon with 2.5 to 3.1 metre southwest swells running all day.

How to do it

  1. 1. Before you commit

    • Land kiteloops, front rolls and back roll kiteloops consistently before you go near this one. All three are prerequisites, not nice-to-haves.
    • Drill inverted front rolls until they need no thought: pop, drive the front knee to your chest, twist your shoulders and head forward and down, kick your feet overhead. You want the muscle memory there so you can loop it without thinking about the flip.
    • Get your kiteloops working above the 5 to 6 metre band. Perfect them first at 2 to 3 metres, where you can come down safely without relying on the swing of the kite to catch you.
    • Treat the height in between as the danger window. You are high enough to freefall after the loop and not yet high enough for the kite to climb and catch you in time.
    • Check downwind before you go. A looping kite drags you back and downwind, so you want clear room behind you and some water under you.
    • Rig 11 metres or smaller. Larger kites still loop, but they are much slower, more difficult and not very effective.

  2. 2. Send and pop

    • Send the kite back positively with the bar on the sweet spot, but not as aggressively as you would for a maximum-height boost.
    • Watch how far behind you the kite travels. The further back it goes, the lower it loops, and a low loop means a heavier landing.
    • Carve hard against the kite off your back foot and drop your weight against the upward pull. A clean edge and pop is where steady, reliable loops above 6 metres come from.
    • Leave the water as vertical as you can get.
    • Level the bar and sheet it in as the kite lifts you, then throw yourself forward and down the way you would into any front roll.
    • Have the kite at noon, or a fraction before it, when you are ready to pull. Overshoot it and the loop goes low and behind you, creating a force back against the direction you were riding.

  3. 3. Two rotations while the kite goes the other way

    • Slide your back hand to the end of the bar as you start to rotate, so you have enough leverage to pull the bar in hard. If that feels like too much, move the hand before you go into the jump.
    • Start the loop at roughly 80 percent of your jump height. Wait for the weightless peak and there is not as much line tension, so when you pull, the kite does not loop as fast.
    • Pull the back hand hard and keep pulling it through your hip. The faster the kite comes around, the quicker your body spins with it.
    • Leave the front hand alone. Keep the bar sheeted in with it and let the back arm do all the work, because if the bar creeps out the kite just will not turn.
    • Stay small. Front knee tucked the whole way through, since extended legs let the loop throw you off axis and disorientate you.
    • Two inverted front rolls at the critical moment is what makes it a Doobie rather than a Boogie. How the two inversions link inside one loop is not something our sources teach, so what follows is the build-up to the move and not the move itself. The timing has to come from someone who rides it.

  4. 4. Spot it and put it down

    • Keep looking over your back shoulder through the rotations with your front ear tucked into your armpit. Where your eyes look, the body follows.
    • Do not sneak a look at the kite. Keep your eyes open and wait to spot the landing as you come around.
    • Sheet out as you start to fall. The bar out acts like a parachute and catches you.
    • Let your feet drop beneath you as the power bleeds off, and keep your weight centred over the board rather than off to one side.
    • Land flat with the nose pointing downwind and absorb the impact. The more angle you come down at, the harder the landing.
    • Pull in on your front hand right before you touch down so you do not outrun the kite.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake

You ease off the back hand once the loop bites and the pull comes on strong.

Fix

Keep pulling that hand through your hip for the whole move. Stop early and you finish the rotation with the kite still pulling like mad, which lands you far too fast and usually pitches you over the front.

Mistake

The bar creeps out of the sweet spot as the power loads up.

Fix

Keep it pulled in all through the move. If it creeps out, the kite just will not turn even if you are tugging on the back hand, and you end up with the kite crashing into the drink.

Mistake

You pull the loop at the top of the jump, at the weightless moment.

Fix

Pull at around 80 percent of your jump height while there is still line tension. Wait for the weightless peak and the kite will not loop as fast.

Mistake

You overshoot the kite behind you before pulling.

Fix

Keep it at 12, or even a little before it, so the loop is centred and straight downwind of you. Too far back and the loop goes low and behind, creating a force back against the direction you were riding and wasting a lot of the loop's energy — and a lower loop means a heavier landing.

Mistake

Your legs extend during the rotation.

Fix

Tuck the front knee and stay compact. Extended legs let the loop throw you off axis and disorientate you; staying small and tucked gives you control, and a tweaked back leg gives you room to correct.

If it goes wrong

  • Do not half-pull the loop. If you do not pull hard and complete it, the kite just crashes on the water and brings you with it, so once the wheel is in motion committing to the full rotation is the better bet than trying to wriggle out halfway.
  • Set up so a failure is survivable: check you have ample room to get pulled back and downwind by a looping kite without risking anybody else's afternoon, and make sure you have a bit of water under you.
  • Respect the mid-height window. You are high enough to freefall after the loop but not quite high enough for the kite to climb and catch you in time, so build height in steps rather than jumping straight into it.
  • Sheet out on the way down. The bar out acts like a parachute and catches you as you are falling.
  • If you need an exit on a big loop, sheet out as the loop comes around and pull a heli loop with what was your front hand, since you are going to want to land as a transition. That untwists the lines from the loop so everything is opened up and the kite flies easy and smooth off the landing.

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 is the difference between a Boogie Loop and a Doobie Loop?+

A Boogie Loop is a kiteloop with an inverted front roll in it. Do two inverted front rolls at the critical moment and it is called a Doobie Loop. North also notes the trick being performed with a double loop and with board offs.

What do I need to be landing before I try one?+

Kiteloops, front rolls and back roll kiteloops all on lock, and get comfortable with your inverted front rolls first so the flip is automatic before the kite starts pulling you through it. On the height side, get your kiteloops above the 5 to 6 metre range rather than in the baby-loop band below it.

What kite should I be on?+

Nothing bigger than an 11, or even a 10 — larger kites will still loop, but they are much slower, more difficult and not very effective. The fastest, most powerful kites for loops are the three-strut C-hybrid crossovers built with kitelooping in mind, which MACkite pitches at intermediate to advanced riders (Duotone Dice, Cabrinha FX, Liquid Force NV, Naish Dash). Newer to intermediate riders get on fine with freeride kites like the Duotone Evo, Cabrinha Moto, Slingshot RPM or Naish Pivot.

What is the scary part?+

You perform the move blind, with all the action happening behind you — flipping one way while the kite loops the other. From the moment you crank the bar in there is no way back, and if you do not pull hard and complete the loop the kite crashes on the water and brings you with it.

Does it actually score in competition?+

Yes. Andrea Principi's Doobie Loop Board Off scored 6.76 points in the Open Division final at the 2024 Red Bull King of the Air, part of the run that secured his second consecutive title. Judges score height, extremity (for example the yank, the horizontal distance a rider travels during a kite loop), technicality (rotations, board offs, handle passes, grabs) and execution, and controlled landings are essential for top scores.

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.