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Unhooked · Expert

Slim Chance

See it in the Trick Tree

Slim Chance is an unhooked inverted front loop stopped halfway, with the bar passed behind the back against the rotation for a wrapped landing.

Also called: slimchance

Prerequisites

Unhooked FrontrollS-Bend

Unlocks

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

How to do it

  1. 1. Setup and approach

    • Bring the kite down to 11 or 1 o'clock at the highest; a low kite is what makes the pass reachable.
    • Ride in with moderate speed and power, hands centred on the bar.
    • Unhook and bear away off the wind, then carve back hard onto your heelside edge with your weight low and your elbows tucked in.

  2. 2. Load and pop

    • Stamp down as hard as you can off your back leg; that physical pop is what lets you keep your arms in and your head up near the bar.
    • Keep both elbows bent and tucked as you leave the water.
    • Give the kite a nudge down with your front hand as you take off. It feels wrong, and it is what keeps the bar within reach for the pass.

  3. 3. Invert and pass

    • Throw your head and shoulders down over and past your front foot, pressing your front ear onto your front shoulder to start the inverted front rotation.
    • Keep your face looking forward, square to your shoulders; turning your head into the rotation makes you spot the landing too soon.
    • Lift your knees and drive your hips up toward the bar until hips and hands nearly touch, pulling the bar in to your back hip.
    • Hold the rotation to the high point of the half rotation, until your feet swing into the second half of the loop and the lines go briefly slack.
    • Release your front hand, reach it around behind your back while your back hand twists the bar into position, and snap your head the opposite way as you make the pass.
    • Get both hands on the bar for a beat before the water comes back into view.

  4. 4. Landing

    • Let your body drop, spot your landing, and keep your knees bent so the board can swing back underneath you.
    • Point the board off the wind as you touch down.
    • Reach up with your free hand, get it back on the bar, hook in, and ride away.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake

You reach around and the bar is nowhere near your hand.

Fix

Your kite is too high. Commit to a bigger pop and steer the kite down with your front hand on takeoff.

Mistake

You land toeside off balance, or over-rotate and slap onto your back.

Fix

You passed too early or tried to dangle upside down too much. Wait until your feet are rotating into the second half of the front loop, and stop chasing extra inversion.

Mistake

Your feet drop out the wrong side mid-air.

Fix

Your front arm straightened, so you swung around the axis of the lines rather than rotating your body. Keep both arms bent and stay in charge of the rotation.

Mistake

The pass feels a mile long.

Fix

Pull the bar hard in to your back hip and commit to the inversion; the more inverted you get, the easier the pass.

If it goes wrong

  • While you are still missing the pass, stop redirecting the kite on takeoff. For handle passes generally, IKSURFMAG says that gets you some water slapping but leaves the kite with no lift, so you pull the bar down to you rather than pull yourself up to the bar.
  • If the rotation gets away from you and you no longer know which way is up, let go of the bar and brace for the impact. Mystic's crash guide, written for kitesurf crashes in general, gives that as the answer once your orientation is gone.
  • If you come down still unhooked and cannot get the loop back over the hook, take the chicken loop in one hand and let the bar go. Session Sports teaches this as the standard unhooked out and says it depowers the kite, so you can bring the loop back to your 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 should I have on lock before trying a Slim Chance?+

A powered unhooked front loop with a strong pop is the entry ticket. Having the S-Bend down first makes the body movement familiar, and you should be happy riding with the kite low on a kite tuned for unhooked pop, with both hooked and unhooked front rolls solid in varied conditions.

Why is it called the Slim Chance?+

Your odds of riding one out are slim when you start trying it; the name is a joke about the early landing rate.

Is the Slim Chance the same trick as the Front Mobe?+

No. The Front Mobe is also called the NIS, short for non-inverted slim chance: a front roll taken almost all the way around, then turned back the other way, kept flat rather than inverted. The Slim Chance is the inverted version.

Where should the kite be?+

Low: around 45 degrees, and no higher than 11 or 1 o'clock. It works with the kite low and powered, or slightly higher, which is more forgiving while you learn.

Which hand comes off the bar for the pass?+

The front hand releases first and reaches around behind your back, while the back hand twists the bar into position for the handoff.

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.