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Foil · Expert

Foil Frontroll

See it in the Trick Tree

Foil Frontroll is a forward 360 popped off the tail of a foilboard with the kite between 11 and 1, landed board downwind and front wing into the water first.

Also called: kitefoil front roll · foil front roll · front roll on foil

Prerequisites

Foil Jump

Unlocks

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

Helps to know first

Frontroll

Schools teach this differently

The two IKSurfMag pages teach different take-offs. The foil freestyle guide says to steer the kite up to 12 o'clock slowly, put all your weight on the back foot before the kite gets there and kick the tail, with the kite between 11 and 1 the whole time. The twintip front roll page says the opposite about the send: a short, sharp send beats a slow drift because you can hold your edge and have something to kick against, level the bar in the sweet spot, do not pull the bar until after you have kicked, and kick yourself upwind and away from the board. It also names a timid kite, one that never gets up and past 12, as the reason rotations do not finish. The rotation grammar above the water reads the same on both pages: head and shoulders lead, stay compact, spot the landing.

Ideal conditions

Flat water and steady wind. IKSurfMag pitches foil freestyle as being able to train these tricks in under 15 knots, and tells you never to learn new tricks in challenging conditions like strong gusty winds, chop or bigger waves. It has you carry an average speed of about 20 km/h into the roll. For context on the discipline underneath the trick, Zephyr Kite Tours puts 12 to 15 knots on a big kite as the range for learning to foil at all.

How to do it

  1. 1. Set the approach

    • Pick flat water and steady wind. IKSurfMag is blunt that you never learn new tricks in strong gusty wind, chop or bigger waves.
    • Ride a front wing of 850 cm² or less. Smaller wings are easier to pop and give you less impact area on the landings.
    • Gain some average speed, around 20 km/h, on a settled flight.
    • Hold your hands in the middle of the bar so you do not lose control of the kite.
    • Wear a wetsuit that covers both arms and legs, a helmet and an impact vest. They are what keep the bruises and cuts down.

  2. 2. Send and kick

    • Steer the kite up to 12 o'clock slowly. It stays between 11 and 1 for the whole manoeuvre, so do not park it behind you.
    • Before the kite reaches 12, put all your weight on the back foot and take the pressure off the front foot by pulling that knee up.
    • Give a small kick, or pop, to the tail of the board with that back foot.
    • Pull hard on the bar to get the maximum power out of the kite.
    • If you are nervous about crashing, lean back a bit as you go. That way a fall puts you behind the board instead of over it.

  3. 3. The rotation

    • Turn your head in the rotation direction the moment you leave the water and let the shoulders follow it. Where the head looks, the body goes.
    • Lift your knees and get as compact as you can. The smaller you are, the quicker you rotate and the more balanced you stay.
    • Keep the bar level with your shoulders and hold it gently from beginning to end, so you are less likely to pull on it.
    • Do not look up to see where the kite is. It will throw you off balance.
    • Keep looking over your shoulder and wait for your first glimpse of water downwind. If the rotation feels slow, stay calm rather than panic-pulling the bar.

  4. 4. Landing

    • Once the 360 is round, stop looking over your shoulder, pick your landing spot and look forward towards it.
    • Set the board downwind and lower your legs to get the landing gear down.
    • Dive in front wing first rather than slapping the board down flat.
    • Put pressure on the back foot especially, and counter with the front foot so you do not dolphin-jump. Nose downwind gets you back onto the foil and gliding.
    • Keep the kite between 11 and 1 right through touchdown.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake

You stall at 180 degrees and land on your back. IKSurfMag calls keeping your orientation in the air the hardest thing about the trick.

Fix

Turn your head in the rotation direction as you pop and get into a compact position straight away, so the spin carries all the way to 360.

Mistake

The front wing breaches on the run-in and you drop back to the water before you have even sent the kite.

Fix

Zephyr Kite Tours pins continued breaching on instinctive back foot pressure. Practise riding on more front foot pressure and move your weight back gradually, rather than sitting on the tail.

Mistake

You over-rotate straight past the landing.

Fix

Two causes on the IKSurfMag front roll page: still looking back over your shoulder after the rotation is done, and letting the bar out on the way down. Turn your head forward once you are round, and keep the bar level.

Mistake

Every landing is a flat slam onto the board and the foil.

Fix

Ride a front wing of 850 cm² or under, set the board downwind, and dive in front wing first so the wing meets the water before the board does.

Mistake

You are trying it in gusty, choppy conditions and the take-off never feels the same twice.

Fix

Save it for flat water. IKSurfMag's line is to never learn new tricks in challenging conditions such as strong gusty winds, chop or bigger waves.

If it goes wrong

  • If you can feel the attempt going wrong before you commit, pull hard on the bar so the kite pulls you away from your board and you do not crash into it. IKSurfMag says to train this first until it becomes instinctive.
  • Lean back a bit as you pop, so a fall puts you behind the board instead of over the top of it where it can hit you.
  • If you lose track of yourself mid-rotation, do nothing. Float down under the kite rather than yanking on the bar hoping it brings you round.
  • A wetsuit covering both arms and legs, a helmet and an impact vest are the recommended kit for learning these tricks, to avoid bruises and cuts.

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

How much wind do I need for a foil front roll?+

IKSurfMag pitches foil freestyle on the promise of training these tricks in under 15 knots, which is a large part of why people take freestyle onto a foil in the first place. It gives no minimum and no upper limit. What it does insist on is that you stay out of strong gusty wind, chop and bigger waves while you are learning, because those move the foil under you while you are upside down. For the discipline underneath the trick, Zephyr Kite Tours puts 12 to 15 knots on a big kite as the range for learning to foil.

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

IKSurfMag puts two things ahead of the rotation: riding safely on the foil, and jibes. The Foiling Collective's kite foil series, produced by Alex Buss at Kitesurf College, runs the same way round and puts its frontroll lesson last, after bodydrag and taxi, first flights, jibes, footswaps, 360s, tacks and jumping. If your flight height is still wandering, the rotation will not fix it.

Which foil should I be on?+

IKSurfMag recommends a maximum 850 cm² front wing for foil freestyle, because smaller wings are easier to pop and there is less impact area on the landings. That is the opposite of what you want when you are learning to foil at all: Megaloop Kiting's beginner guide points new foilers at low-aspect front wings over 1200 cm² with a thick chord, on a short 50 to 75 cm mast. Two different jobs, two different wings.

Is this a beginner trick or an advanced one?+

Both readings are in the sources, and they are measuring different things. IKSurfMag rates the front roll Level 1 inside its own foil freestyle progression, meaning it is the first rotation you learn once you can foil and jibe. The Foiling Collective files its frontroll lesson last in a sequential kite foil series that starts at body dragging. So: the entry rotation of foil freestyle, sitting on top of a full stack of foiling skills.

What do I do when I know I have blown it?+

Pull hard on the bar so the kite pulls you away from the board, and train that until it happens without thinking. Lean back a bit on the pop so a fall puts you behind the board rather than over it. If you get disorientated in the rotation itself, do nothing and float down under the kite instead of yanking on the bar. Wear a helmet, an impact vest and a wetsuit that covers both arms and legs.

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.