In the strapless backroll hand plant you drift the kite to 12, rotate backwards around a hand planted on the board and loop it to come back up on your feet.
Also called: hand plant back roll · strapless hand plant back roll · strapless backroll hand drag · backroll hand-drag · strapless back roll hand plant
Prerequisites
Unlocks
Nothing in the tree needs this one yet — it stands on its own.
Ideal conditions
Flat water makes it easier to learn, and a larger, slower-drifting kite gives better support than a small fast one (IKSURFMAG). Once it is consistent, Rondina's school says to pull this one in front of the wave. No wind-speed range is published in our sources.
How to do it
1. Set up on the edge
- Come in with real board speed on your upwind edge, kite at 11 or 1 o'clock, so you can hold a good edge.
- Get your feet comfortably wide on the upwind edge of the board.
- Centre your back hand on the bar. The more lift you have, the longer the kite holds you.
- Get as low as possible while still keeping your edge, and start drifting the kite up slowly towards 12 with the bar on the sweet spot.
- It is tempting to let the bar out as the kite drifts and starts to lift. You want that lift — keep it in.
2. Plant the hand and roll
- Reach down and forwards with your front hand, looking towards the rail of the board just in front of your front foot.
- Rock forwards onto your front foot while lifting your back foot and turning your hips forwards. Moving forwards means you don't waste any lift and the move stays controlled.
- Get a good solid push down with your hand, or get a grab on the rail.
- With the board under control, drop your head and shoulders back — that rocks your legs and feet up.
- Look over your back shoulder, just as you would for a back roll, so you keep rotating.
- Your hand is the axis you turn around. Keep it forwards on the board, near where it started, and let it turn on the board.
3. Loop out and claim it
- Once you have come round, put your feet back on the upwind edge. Keep your knees bent and make sure your heels grip.
- Push the board back under your feet as the rotation finishes.
- Pull harder on your back hand to loop the kite. With the kite looping around, it pulls you back up as you roll forwards onto your feet.
Common mistakes and fixes
Mistake
You rotate but your hand never finds the board — the front arm is blindly stabbing in the dark.
Fix
Bend forwards. Concentrate on twisting the hips forwards and lifting the back foot up first.
Mistake
You land on your backside instead of your feet, which means you have lost support.
Fix
Enter with more board speed, drift the kite slowly rather than too quickly, and keep the bar sheeted in so you don't lose tension and support.
Mistake
Going for the exit kiteloop before the rotation and plant are solid.
Fix
Start off by getting the rotation and plant sorted. The late kiteloop is the final part.
Mistake
Learning it on a small, fast kite.
Fix
Take a bigger kite. Larger kites drift more slowly and give better support than small fast ones, which makes the trick simpler.
If it goes wrong
- Check where the kite is before you commit to anything else. If it has not reached 12 by the time you finish the carve upwind, the setup is already wrong: Ben Strowger's hand plant tutorial for Zephyr Tours says that if your kite is not at 12 o'clock, forget the rest of the steps.
- Coming down out of that loop with the kite still loaded, let the bar out rather than holding it in. MACkite writes that sheeting out on the bar acts like a parachute and catches you as you are falling, while holding in keeps power in the kite and pulls you harder downwind.
- Once the move is gone, deal with the loose board before anything else. Mystic's crash guide, written for kitesurfing crashes in general, says to get rid of your board quickly and to land as far away from it as you can.
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
What do I need to have down before trying it?+
Both coaching sources send you to the twin tip first. IKSURFMAG says that if you spend some time on a twin tip and have the back roll hand wash in the bag you are set up for this one, and ProKite Alby Rondina says once you know the backroll hand drag on a twintip you are ready to put your hand on a surfboard.
What kite size and water should I pick?+
A larger kite — it drifts more slowly and supports you better than a small fast one. IKSURFMAG also says hunting out some flat water will make this easier. Neither source publishes a wind-speed range.
How hard is it really?+
IKSURFMAG files it under intermediate technique and says it could be less difficult than you think once you have the twin-tip back roll hand wash. Rondina calls it actually quite easy and fun, and lists it 13th of his 16 strapless basics.
How is it different from a plain strapless back roll?+
In the plain back roll you bring the board up over you keeping the bottom of the board facing the wind, then land it as you would a normal back roll, knees slightly bent and head looking forward (Reo Stevens). In the hand plant your front hand goes onto the board and becomes the axis you turn around, and a late kiteloop pulls you back up onto your feet.
Do I hold the bar in the whole way through?+
Yes. IKSURFMAG puts it plainly: it is tempting to let the bar out as the kite drifts and starts to lift, but you want that lift, so keep it in. Releasing bar tension is one of the named causes of losing support and landing on your backside.
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.
- IKSURFMAG — How to Strapless Hand Plant Back Roll
- ProKite Alby Rondina — 16 Basic Moves on Strapless Surfboard
- Reo Stevens Coaching — Strapless Back Roll
- Zephyr Tours — Kitesurfing Tutorial: Hand Plant / Hand Drag (Ben Strowger, The Stoke Coach)
- MACkite Boardsports Center — Kiteboarding: Handplant Transition (Blake Olsen & Ryan 'RyGo' Goloversic)
- Mystic — How to Crash like a Pro | Safer Progression Tips for Riders