S-Bend is an unhooked raley carried on into a stretched, horizontal front rotation with the legs kept above the head, landed heelside.
Also called: sbend
Prerequisites
Helps to know first
Schools teach this differently
Our sources disagree on how the rotation starts: IKSURFMAG teaches a delayed spin (hold the raley stretch a full count, legs trailing, and the front knee must not lead), Kiteboarding St Petersburg has you bend the front knee as the head initiates straight off the pop, and Kitesurfist winds the shoulders forward before takeoff to anticipate the rotation.
Ideal conditions
Powered enough to pop but nothing more — neither overpowered nor underpowered; learners land it sooner with a little power taken out and the kite inched up a touch.
How to do it
1. Set up and unhook
- Come in with good board speed and park the kite at 11 or 1 o'clock; it stays parked there for the whole trick.
- Bear away slightly downwind so the lines soften, then unhook with your weight back.
- Before you unhook, check the bar's sweet spot sits a couple of inches from the chicken loop, and keep your hands in close to the depower line so a nervous tug can't turn the kite.
- The instant you're off the hook, carve hard back upwind on the tail: rails dug in, weight in your heels, hips up, upper body leaning back.
2. Pop and stretch
- Kick hard off your back leg as the board carves underneath you, the same explosive takeoff as your raley.
- Keep your arms slightly bent and pulled in as you leave the water; you need that bend later to push the bar around.
- Extend your legs fully and let them swing up behind you into the raley stretch.
- Pop hard, think 'extend', then go: hold the stretched position for a full count before you start the spin.
3. Rotation
- Drop your front shoulder and turn your head to look back over your back shoulder; the head leads and the shoulders follow.
- Leave your legs and board trailing behind you while your upper body rolls, so the knees, feet and board come around at the end.
- Keep your elbows bent and push the bar around in front of you through the spin.
- Halfway round, find the water and lock your eyes on the landing spot to carry the rotation through.
- If the kite has crept up, give it a small dive at the top of the rotation; the forward pull helps swing you around and the slack softens your landing.
4. Landing
- Push your hands down toward the water to finish the shoulder rotation and let gravity swing the board back under your hips.
- Keep the bar close and touch down pointing downwind.
- Bend your knees to soak up the impact.
- Ride toward the kite to take tension off the lines, then hook back in.
Common mistakes and fixes
Mistake
The kite creeps up as you take off and keeps rising through the trick.
Fix
Steer the kite down a little as you take off; if it keeps escaping, move your bottom hand up so you hold the depower line in a split grip.
Mistake
You stall halfway round and can't finish the rotation.
Fix
Check your pop first: if you're holding back, change down a kite size and give it your all, and keep your arms bent so you can push the bar around in front of you.
Mistake
The board swings out in front of you and you land on your backside, or worse.
Fix
Don't lead the spin with your front knee; let the board swing behind you before your head starts the rotation.
Mistake
Weak pop, and you barely get off the water.
Fix
Come in with more board speed and dig your rails in harder before you commit.
Mistake
A hand out toward the bar end yanks the kite into an accidental kiteloop mid-trick.
Fix
Set your grip close to the depower line before you unhook.
If it goes wrong
- Keep your hands close to the depower line so a panicked pull can't send the kite into a loop.
- Bend your knees on every touchdown to dampen the impact.
- While learning, take some power out and inch the kite up a touch; crashes stay soft enough to keep trying.
- Wear a wetsuit: crashes that are fair game in neoprene are unpleasant in boardies or a bikini.
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
What do I need before trying an S-Bend?+
Solid unhooked raleys. The S-Bend is an add-on to the raley rather than a separate move, so the stretched takeoff has to be automatic first. A backloop and the basic unhooked tricks in the bag help with the rotation.
How much wind and what kite size do I need?+
No hard number: the rule is powered enough to pop but nothing more, neither overpowered nor underpowered. Taking a little power out and raising the kite slightly makes the movements easier to learn.
How is an S-Bend different from a plain front roll?+
You hold the full raley stretch, legs above your head and body horizontal, while the front rotation happens. The same spin without the legs kept above your head is just a front roll, and wake purists expect boots and real inversion before they call it a true S-Bend.
Is it as committing as it looks?+
Going for the first late spin is more of a mental challenge than a physical one, and once you've broken the ice you can continue with gusto. One school rates it among the easiest unhooked tricks and it can be done without too much power.
Where does the trick come from?+
Wakeboarding. It crossed into kiteboarding with the new-school unhooked movement, which is why the boots-and-inversion crowd still argues about what counts as a true S-Bend.
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.