A Strapless Air Gybe is a transition where you carve hard upwind, pop the board into the air, grab it and swing it round, then ride away the other way.
Also called: air gybe · strapless jibe · jump transition
Prerequisites
Unlocks
Nothing in the tree needs this one yet — it stands on its own.
Schools teach this differently
Our sources teach two genuinely different moves under this name. IKSURFMAG's strapless air gybe is a committed pop: stamp the tail hard, grab the rail where your front foot was, and physically pull the board across your body to turn it before dropping back onto it, with speed listed as a requirement. Kari Schibevaag's advanced jibe on KiteSista turns the board with the front foot instead of the hand — you kick the board around behind you as the kite reaches the top of the window, and she describes it as "not a rotation, it is just a turning of the head and hips and a momentary release of your feet from the board", to be done "fast but with no speed and calm, it is not a violent move". IKSURFMAG itself also publishes a no-grab version that swaps the feet mid-air instead of turning the board by hand, and states it needs neither a decent pop nor high speed. Pick one method and stay with it, because the take-off intensity the two demand is opposite.
Ideal conditions
No source we cite gives a wind range. IKSURFMAG shot the grabbed version on an 11m in very light winds for the video and a 9m in about 18 knots for the photos, so being overpowered is not a requirement. The grabbed version asks for a fair bit of speed, since you need speed to pop and get airborne before the kite pulls; the no-grab version only asks for a speed where you are happily moving but easily in control. If there is chop, it can help to aim for a mini ramp. Ride with nobody in your way or behind you. The handbook entry on the air gybe notes that air gybes are easier in stronger winds because more power makes it easier to get airborne, with the caveat that the faster you enter, the more you pendulum under the kite.
How to do it
1. Carve and load
- Come in with a fair bit of speed and the kite around 11 o'clock. You need speed to pop so that you get in the air before the kite pulls.
- Set your front foot pointing forward on the inside rail, and let your back foot straddle the centreline of the board near the tail.
- Drop your bum, weight your heels and carve the board hard onto its edge — turn all the way into wind.
- Steer the kite back up towards 12 with your back hand right in the centre of the bar.
- Let the bar out a tiny bit, just enough to carve that little bit further into wind, and stretch your front hand out in front of you so your head and shoulders lean forward towards the nose.
2. Pop early
- Go just as you feel the kite start to lift. The earlier you pop the better, because popping sooner keeps the forward momentum you need to turn the board.
- Stamp down hard on the back foot until that leg is fully extended and the tail is pushed into the water.
- Lift the front leg in the same beat, bending the knee in a seesaw motion so the nose of the board rises.
- Pull the bar in as you leave the water for lift.
- Jump off the board with your own legs rather than waiting for the kite to pick you up, and watch the deck of the board on the way so you know where your foot has to land.
3. Grab it and swing it round
- Grab the rail around the place your front foot was, fairly central from nose to tail.
- Lift your back foot off the board so the tail can cork back up.
- Get both knees up, just as you should for a grab on a twin tip.
- Hold the board away at arm's length but keep it up. Sitting like that keeps the board resting against your feet so it cannot blow past you.
- Keep the kite around 12 and hang under it with tension on the lines.
- The temptation is to let the board go — if you do, it finds its own path. Pull your arm and the board across your body to bring it round in front of you, still looking the way you were going.
4. Foot on, then drop
- Aim your new front foot at the pad on the upwind side of the board, where it should be to ride away.
- Release the board only once that foot touches the pad and you have started to drop.
- Push the board down underneath you by extending your legs, so your feet stay in contact all the way to the water.
- Let your weight drop onto the upwind rail so the board slides with you.
- Dive the kite with your new front hand to pull you out of the move. In very light wind, keep pulling to loop the kite so you do not sink.
Common mistakes and fixes
Mistake
You get airborne but the board is out of reach and the grab never happens.
Fix
You are leaning too far back on take-off. Get your head, shoulders and stretched-out front hand forward towards the nose before you stamp, and lift that front knee so the board comes up to your hand.
Mistake
The board blows out of reach or gets pulled out of your hands in the air.
Fix
Either you have not turned into wind enough before popping, or you have let the kite go too far behind you. Turn all the way into wind, and don't let the kite pass 12 before you take off — slow the drift down or pop earlier.
Mistake
You land too far forward on the board, or on the nose.
Fix
You grabbed too far forward, which also makes the board hard to turn. Move the grab back towards central, and hold on longer so you drop the board at the last moment.
Mistake
Your foot lands on the board and it rolls fins-up or blows out from under you.
Fix
Get the foot to touch the centreline of the board, where it usually sits. Too far back and the board flips over it; too far forwards and it blows under it.
Mistake
You get back on the board but still fall in off the landing.
Fix
The kite has drifted too far across the window. Try to level the bar once you get it drifting, or make sure you give it a hefty dive.
If it goes wrong
- Learn it progressively and give yourself achievable goals. Start with turning hard into wind and popping the board up to get a feel for how it flies back at you. Then try catching it and floating. Only then try turning and dropping the board under your feet.
- Practise with nobody in your way or behind you before you start letting go of a loose board.
- In strong wind a light board can just fly straight back into you once it leaves your hands. Expect it to come towards you.
Learn this with a coach, not from a page
This guide explains what the move is and what riders get wrong, so you arrive at the session knowing what you are trying to do. It cannot watch your kite, read the gust coming, or stop you committing to something you are not ready for — a coach or instructor can.
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 for a strapless air gybe?+
No source states a wind range. IKSURFMAG's shoot details list an 11m in very light winds for the video and a 9m in about 18 knots for the photo sequence, so it is not a strong-wind-only move. What the grabbed version does want is a fair bit of speed, because you need speed to pop and get into the air before the kite pulls. The no-grab version lowers that bar: by its own account you don't have to pop decent airs and you don't need to be going at mac 10 holding lorry loads of power.
What should I already be able to do before trying it?+
IKSURFMAG's stated must is a good air gybe on a twin tip, because that is exactly what you will be doing on the surfboard. Doing it with a front-hand grab and without a late kite loop is what they describe as ideal, though they call that part not essential. Before the full move, spend time popping while riding along and reaching forward to grab your heelside edge between your front foot and the nose, so the pop-and-grab becomes automatic.
Where exactly should I grab the board?+
Around the place your front foot was, fairly central from nose to tail. Grab too far forward and the board is hard to turn, and you are likely to land on the nose. Grab too far back and you cannot control it against the wind.
Where does the kite go through the move?+
Start it around 11 o'clock, steer it back up towards 12 with your back hand right in the centre of the bar as you carve, and hold it around 12 while you are in the air so it supports you and you can hang under it. Don't let it pass 12 before you take off, or you get pulled back from the board. On the landing, dive it with your new front hand, and in very light wind keep pulling to loop it so you do not sink.
Do I have to grab the board?+
No. IKSURFMAG also publishes a no-grab air gybe: pop, swap your feet much like you would gybing, put the new front foot down on the centreline, then with both feet in contact and you still moving slightly forwards, push the tail of the board around. It needs neither a decent pop nor much speed, which makes it a reasonable route in if the grabbed version keeps blowing the board out of your hands.
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.