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KSO Tutorial · Big Air · Advanced

Kiteloop

See it in the Trick Tree

In a kiteloop you pull the back hand and send the kite a full circle through the power zone mid-jump, a move riders learn low before taking it high.

Also called: kite loop · loop

Prerequisites

Boosting Higher

Unlocks

Late BackrollUnhooked KiteloopMegaloopKiteloop Late BackrollBackroll KiteloopContraloopKiteloop Board-OffS-Loop

Helps to know first

Backroll Transition

Schools teach this differently

When to pull is taught two ways. Blake at MACkite and SoulKite Australia both want the bar pulled before the peak, while there is still tension on the lines. IKSURFMAG teaches the reverse to riders learning the move: leave the big pull until you feel yourself descending, so you carry less forward momentum and the kite has less power in it. They also describe the landing differently. MACkite asks for the board flat and pointing downwind, SoulKite for the heel edge with the toes downwind.

Ideal conditions

Start with small 'baby loops' at 2–3 meters of height, where a missed catch still lands soft — 3–6 m is the dangerous zone where you freefall but the kite can't catch you yet.

How to do it

  1. 1. Before you loop

    • IKSURFMAG names one thing you need in place before the loop: you can already jump, and you can already land those jumps well.
    • Pick 14 to 18 knots for the learning sessions. Elite Watersports puts the window there because lighter wind buys you time to react and keeps you off the edge of being overpowered.
    • Ride downloop transitions until they feel ordinary, then start putting a downloop into your jumps. Blake at MACkite places both of those ahead of any kiteloop attempt.
    • Body drag and loop the kite from the water, in both directions, before a board is anywhere near your feet.
    • Elite Watersports makes the case for those boardless drills: with nothing on your feet, your attention sits entirely on kite handling and on what the bar feels like under load.

  2. 2. Set the jump up

    • Learn it on a 6 to 12 metre kite and go out slightly underpowered. That is the range Blake recommends at MACkite.
    • SoulKite Australia starts riders on jumps of one to two metres, in under 18 knots.
    • Build the jump the ordinary way, off a hard edge and a real pop. MACkite's Big Air Basics traces every reliable loop above six metres back to those two things.
    • Have the kite at noon, or a touch before noon, at the moment you pull.

  3. 3. Pull the loop

    • The back hand is what makes this a kiteloop. It sends the kite around in the direction you are already travelling.
    • Aim to pull at about 80 percent of the height you reached, not at the top of it.
    • Pull as hard as you physically can on that back hand, and keep pulling. IKSURFMAG sets the cut-off at the moment the kite has come all the way round and started to rise again.
    • Keep the bar on the sweet spot the whole way through. IKSURFMAG wants the tightest arc you can turn, and getting it means not sheeting out while the kite comes round.
    • The loop tugs you backwards and starts turning your body. SoulKite Australia's counter to that is bringing the front knee up.

  4. 4. Catch and land

    • Once you have pulled, turn your head a little so your nose points toward the back hand. That is IKSURFMAG's rough guide for where to look while the kite comes round.
    • Sheet the bar out as the loop closes. Blake describes the kite then working as a parachute that catches you on the way down.
    • Once the kite has finished the loop and started climbing, push the bar away from you and let it fly back up to the zenith.
    • Put the board down flat and pointing downwind. MACkite singles kiteloops out as the case where that matters most.
    • Leave the twisted lines alone until the kite is settled. Elite Watersports puts kite control first and warns that rushing to unspin is what puts you in the water.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake

Waiting for the top of the jump before you pull

Fix

Pull at around 80 percent of your height, while the lines are still loaded. MACkite's episode explains that the weightless moment at the peak takes the tension off, and a loop pulled there turns slowly.

Mistake

Holding the bar in after the kite has come round

Fix

Sheet out once the loop closes. Blake at MACkite says a bar held in leaves the kite powered up and drives you hard down into the water.

Mistake

Edging hard against the kite while it loops

Fix

Let the board go with the pull instead of fighting it. Blake at MACkite ties hard wipeouts directly to edging against the kite mid-loop.

Mistake

Letting the kite drift past noon before you pull

Fix

Pull while it sits at noon or just short of it. MACkite's episode describes the alternative: a kite too far behind you throws the loop low and behind you.

If it goes wrong

  • Respect the height bands: 2–3 m loops land soft even when mistimed; 3–6 m is the freefall zone where the kite cannot catch you — do not learn there. From 6 m+ a properly flown kite swings through and catches you.

Learn this with a coach, not from a page

This is a high-consequence move — riders get hurt on it, and everyone who teaches it treats 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

A KitesurfingOfficial tutorial — and no page replaces real instruction. Kitesurfing is a risk sport: real conditions involve wind, gusts, water state, traffic and equipment behaviour that no written guide accounts for. Good schools also teach justified variations — where a move is taught more than one way, this page says so instead of pretending there is only one. Judge your own readiness, use the safety systems on your kite, and never 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 kiteloop and a downloop?+

The hand you pull with. MACkite's rundown of loop types puts it plainly: downloops are front hand, kiteloops are back hand.

What kite size should I learn kiteloops on?+

Blake at MACkite puts the learning range at 6 to 12 metres and asks you to go out slightly underpowered.

I keep landing before the kite has finished its loop. Am I doing it wrong?+

Not while you are learning. IKSURFMAG calls that landing perfectly acceptable at this stage, and the way on from it is to jump a bit higher and start pulling earlier.

Is a heli loop the same thing as a kiteloop?+

No. Elite Watersports separates them by where the kite goes and what it gives you: the kiteloop runs low and out in front, making pull and speed, while the heli loop turns tight above your head to manage the way you come down.

Keep reading

Fact-checked

This tutorial was written by the KitesurfingOfficial editorial team and cross-checked against published instruction from the schools and riders below. Where good teachers differ, the page says so.