Kiteloop Late Backroll sends the kite for height, loops it at full power, adds the backroll late on the way down so it pulls the rider through the spin.
Also called: late backroll kiteloop · kite loop late backroll · late back roll kiteloop · kite loop late back roll
Prerequisites
Unlocks
Nothing in the tree needs this one yet — it stands on its own.
Schools teach this differently
Our sources put the loop and the rotation in different orders. SoulKite treats the backroll as something you add on the way down after the loop, which is the "late" in the name. MACkite's kiteloop back roll has you start the roll first and pull the bar in about halfway through it. IKSURFMAG's back roll kite loop grab tutorial waits until you are halfway around, just enough that you are looking back from where you have come, before pulling and pushing the bar with both hands. Same family of trick, different timing cues, so match your cue to whichever tutorial you are following.
Ideal conditions
Steady wind and deep water, and preferably not a day on the verge of overpowered. The knots come from the general kiteloop tutorials, not from this trick: 14 to 18 for first attempts, up to 25 as you move into stronger wind, and 28 plus on a small kite when you are going big. Watch out for gusty conditions, because the kite can suddenly lose power when you do not want it to.
How to do it
1. Setup and send
- Ride in hooked with speed, plenty of edge and good tension, so the lines are loaded before you touch the kite.
- Put the kite at 11 or 1 and give it a positive send. That send is what buys you the boost.
- Slide your hands wide on the bar, back hand out at the end. Wide hands give you leverage and let you loop the kite faster.
- Carve up just before you leave the water, with your weight low and resisting hard.
- Learn it underpowered. Nothing bigger than an 11m, and if the day suits your 12m, rig the 10m.
2. Pop and fire the loop
- Stamp off your edge like a jump, level the bar and pull it in for takeoff.
- Kick the back leg fully straight off the water. A soft back leg and no kick is what leaves you short on float and time.
- Keep looking forward along the line of your shoulder. Throw your head and you rotate too quickly.
- Go big first and initiate the loop at about two thirds of your maximum height rather than off the water.
- Pull as hard and as fast as you can with the back hand while you push the front hand forward, and hold the bar sheeted in at full power.
3. The late rotation
- Let the loop pull you backwards. It initiates some of the rotation for you, so you do not have to throw it.
- Add the backroll on the way down, after the loop. That late timing is what the name is describing.
- Keep the roll soft. Do not throw into it the way you would throw a normal backroll.
- Bring your front knee up close to your chest and keep your centre of gravity low through the spin.
- Keep steering the kite while you rotate. Where you aim it is one of the three things Mike MacDonald calls essential to this trick.
4. Kite recovery and landing
- Once the loop is finished and the kite is on its way up, push the bar away and let it come back to the zenith. Do not keep pulling.
- Let your legs out as you complete the backroll, opening up a little to slow the rotation down.
- Point the board downwind and land it flat, going a little downwind so the kite gives up its power.
- Keep the kite high through the landing to soften the impact.
- Land heelside with your toes downwind, and do not block your knees.
Common mistakes and fixes
Mistake
You throw the backroll the way you would throw a normal one and spin straight past the landing.
Fix
Stop throwing it. Let the kite pull you through the backroll instead.
Mistake
Your legs straighten out in the air and the rotation runs away from you.
Fix
Keep the front knee close to your chest so your centre of gravity stays low.
Mistake
You hold the bar pinned after the kite has come round, so it never climbs back to the zenith.
Fix
The moment the loop finishes and the kite is heading up, push the bar away from you and stop pulling.
Mistake
You throw your head to start the spin and rotate too quickly.
Fix
Keep looking forward along the line of your shoulder, and let the carve up before takeoff set the rotation.
Mistake
The kite piledrives you into the water instead of lifting you out of the loop.
Fix
The kite is not turning as it should. Check it is more above you before you pull the trigger, be aggressive with the steering, and do not let the kite pull the bar back out of your hands.
If it goes wrong
- You have a big window at the start of the loop, until about 3 o'clock, where you can still make the decision to abort. Pull hard on the other side to quickly bring the kite back to the zenith.
- Once the kite has completed the loop and is on its way up, push the bar away from you. Continuing to pull stops it recovering to the zenith.
- Wear an impact vest while you are learning and looping: Soul Kite Australia names rib injury as one of the most common injuries riders pick up on loops.
- Land with the board pointing downwind and the kite high, so the impact and the kite's pull both drop off.
- Choose your conditions: preferably not on the verge of overpowered, and in deep water.
- Watch out for gusty conditions. The kite may suddenly lose power when you do not want it to.
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 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?+
None of the sources opened here gave a wind range for the late backroll specifically. The written kiteloop tutorials band it by stage: moderate winds of 14 to 18 knots for your first attempts, stronger wind up to 25 knots as you build confidence, and 28 knots and up on a small kite when you are going big.
What should I already have dialled before trying it?+
Backrolls on lock, plus downloops and kiteloops, before you combine them. Mike MacDonald's advice for this exact trick is to get your kiteloops consistent and get comfortable with rotations at height. Underneath that you want to be fully confident going upwind, jumping, landing properly, riding downwind and handling the kite, with basic tricks like a back roll already there.
What kite size should I learn on?+
Nothing bigger than an 11m. Learn it underpowered by dropping a size from what the day calls for, so a 10m on a 12m day. Riders going big in 28 knots and up are on 7m to 9m.
It looks terrifying. Is it as hard as it looks?+
Coaches keep the two apart. Mike MacDonald calls it a scary trick but more scary than it is difficult. Ewan Jaspan calls it one of the easier kite loop tricks to accomplish, with endless progression on top. Mike's own answer to the fear is preparation: get the kiteloops consistent and get comfortable with rotations at height first.
Why do I keep over-rotating?+
Two causes show up in the tutorials. The first is throwing the roll the way you would throw a normal backroll when the kite is already pulling you through it. The second is letting your legs go straight in the air. Keep the front knee close to your chest through the spin, then let the legs out as the roll finishes to slow it down before you land.
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.
- North Actionsports — Big Air Tricks Explained
- IKSURFMAG — How to Kiteloop Late Back Roll (Get High with Mike, Mike MacDonald)
- IKSURFMAG — Kite Loop Late Backroll & all training steps (Alex Buss)
- IKSURFMAG — How to Kiteloop Late Back Roll (Michael Mac Donald)
- IKSURFMAG — How to do a Late Backroll Kiteloop (Ewan Jaspan)
- IKSURFMAG — How to Back Roll Kite Loop Grab (Technique, Advanced)
- SoulKite Australia — Kiteloop tutorial
- MACkite Boardsports Center — Kiteloop Back Roll, Ride with Blake (Blake Olsen / Ryan Goloversic)
- Peter's Kiteboarding Handbook — Kiteloops
- Peter's Kitesurfing Handbook — Progression and skills