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Unhooked · Advanced

Raley

See it in the Trick Tree

In a raley you pop hard and let your body and board swing out behind you fully extended, then swing back underneath for the landing.

Also called: unhooked raley · superman

Prerequisites

Unhooked Riding & Pop

Unlocks

Raley to BlindKryptS-Bend

Ideal conditions

Flat water works best — look for flatter sections in between waves or chop, since the trick involves a couple of sudden changes of direction. Any kite size you're comfortable unhooking with is fine, as long as you're leashed on. Any twin tip larger than 140cm won't make it easy.

How to do it

  1. 1. Setup and unhook

    • Come in with decent speed and keep your kite parked between 10 and 11, or 1 and 2.
    • Bear away at least 45 degrees off the wind before you carve — the direction you're travelling just before you carve back onto your edge is pretty much the direction you'll land.
    • Ride toward the kite to take some tension off the lines before you unhook.
    • To unhook, pull the bar in toward your hips and push it down to release the chicken loop — keep your shoulders back and hips forward, and don't look down at the loop.

  2. 2. Load the edge

    • Lean back and edge hard upwind — like leaning on the back two legs of a chair. Roll your shoulders back and keep your chest and hips up.
    • Keep your front leg straight and bend only your back leg slightly; weight and hips over the back foot, shoulders committed well upwind.
    • Keep your arms in close, almost like you never unhooked, and dig your heels in — watch your spray as you load, it should be massive.
    • Load the board and pop off the water when the pull moment is at its strongest.

  3. 3. Pop and fly

    • Popping is the simple act of stamping down, suddenly and explosively, with your back heel against the board's edge — pop off the water before the kite has the chance to pull your shoulders forward.
    • Pull down on your front hand as you release the edge, and point your toes to scoop as the board exits the water.
    • Let your arms stretch out as far as you can without locking them — keep a slight bend at the elbows — and let your legs swing up behind you; slight arch in your back, chest open and facing the water, eyes on the water.
    • Bring your legs high up behind you, above your head, and extend your arms.
    • Keep the bar parallel with the kite's leading edge so the kite doesn't climb, and keep your eye on your landing spot throughout your time in the air.

  4. 4. Swing back and land

    • As you start to come down, pull the bar into your lead knee with both hands and bring your knee into your chest.
    • Point the nose of the board downwind at the kite and land with the bar close and a slight bend in your arms, almost like you never unhooked; absorb the landing evenly with both knees.
    • Point the nose of the board toward the kite and land flat, not favoring any edge.
    • Touch down tail first with legs extended but ready to absorb the landing, then look up toward the kite and follow it with your eyes to keep your balance.
    • Land riding downwind and ride downwind to take the power out of the kite — don't land across the wind in your original direction of travel.
    • Get the bar close to your hips and hook back in; once you're steady, carve back onto your edge.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake

Bending at the hips like a hinge while loading, which chokes out your power.

Fix

Keep good posture and treat your body as a unit — point your hips and chest into the sky.

Mistake

Flying dangling under the kite (a 'gayley' — a dangly jump with no pop), probably the most common problem.

Fix

It comes from pulling on the back hand while carving or having the kite too high — steer with your front hand and make sure the kite isn't too high; the article's target is around 45 degrees, with 11 or 1 o'clock already too high.

Mistake

Feet coming out of the straps on takeoff.

Fix

Either your straps are too loose, or more likely you're physically throwing yourself forward off the balls of your feet — jump up and back against your edge from your heels instead.

Mistake

Losing speed, power or your edge before the pop.

Fix

Don't bend both legs too much — keep the front leg straight with only a slight back-leg bend, turn far enough off the wind first, and check your kite trim.

Mistake

Riding downwind too long around the unhook — the kite might stall backwards, and you lose momentum and speed.

Fix

Keep a tight core and cut away from the kite soon after unhooking.

If it goes wrong

  • Once it is clear the move is not coming back, stop fighting for the shape and deal with the water instead. For unhooked pops generally, MACkite says that if you have to, let go of the bar and put everything into landing the board flat and riding downwind rather than coming down on an edge.
  • If you come out of it still unhooked and the chicken loop will not go back onto the hook, take hold of the chicken loop first and only then let go of the bar. Session Sports, which builds its raley progression around this, says that doing it this way depowers the kite so you can bring the loop back to the spreader bar without being ripped downwind.

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 do I need to be able to do before trying a Raley?+

You should be able to pop and ride upwind — being able to land off pieces of chop helps as well. MACkite rates the Raley about a two on a scale of one to ten and calls it a cornerstone trick that leads to all the other tricks.

Where does the height and body stretch of a Raley actually come from?+

From the pop against a loaded edge, not from sending the kite: by edging hard you put as much tension on the lines as possible, like stretching an elastic band, and when you stamp off your back heel the kite pings you toward it, stretching your body out and flicking your feet up behind you.

Why do I have to land pointing downwind?+

Riding downwind takes the power out of the kite. The guide warns not to land across the wind in your original direction of travel — land riding downwind and keep riding downwind after touchdown.

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.