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Strapless Upwind 360

See it in the Trick Tree

Strapless Upwind 360 is a full circle carved on the board, up through the eye of the wind and back through downwind, with both feet where they started.

Also called: Strapless Carving Upwind 360 · Carving Upwind 360

Prerequisites

Strapless TackDuck Tack

Unlocks

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

Schools teach this differently

IKSURFMAG publishes two versions of this move and the kite instructions contradict each other. The plain Strapless Upwind 360 keeps the kite on the side you started on (going right, nothing past 12:15), dumps the line tension so you can push the bar across, and pivots the board through downwind — no downloop is taught there at all. The Strapless Carving Upwind 360 has the kite moving across 12 to the other side of the window and finishes with a full push-pull downloop at the window edge, then a carve out on the heels. Pick one version and stay with it for the session.

Ideal conditions

Flat water. IKSURFMAG's carving guide says flatwater makes this much simpler because it is easier to carve the board through the eye of the wind, and its duck tack guide warns that the choppier it is the harder it gets, since the board slows quicker. Power matters more than any number: underpowered you struggle to carve and search in vain for support, stacked you get pulled all over the shop and still struggle to carve. In very little wind the second half becomes a pivot on the tail; as the wind increases it turns into a carve in and a carve out. No source opened for this page gives a wind range in knots.

How to do it

  1. 1. Set up and carve up through the wind

    • Put your front foot far enough forward that the board sits flat under you when you stop moving, and straddle the centreline with your back foot over or just ahead of the front fins.
    • Come in on an upwind course with the rail loaded and enough speed that you can still steer it. Come in too fast and you turn the board flatter, the fins break out, and it slides instead of carving.
    • Keep your hands centred on the bar so you do not throw the kite around the moment you start turning.
    • Drift the kite slowly up to 12 and push the bar out as it arrives, so the pull comes off before you commit.
    • Drop your weight, bury the rail with both feet and both knees, and carve up through the eye of the wind. Keep the weight over your back foot without collapsing into a deep bend, or the tail slides out from under you.

  2. 2. Through the wind and up onto the board

    • Stay on the rail the whole way through the wind, pushing against the board with the back leg so the tail does not let go.
    • As your back leg straightens, let the weight run forward toward the nose and draw your front leg back under your body.
    • Pull the bar back in for support as the board passes through the wind.
    • Stop driving against the board and soften your knees so your hips can swing under the bar.
    • Stand up over the board with your weight genuinely supported by its volume. Head and shoulders lifted over your hips, weight pushing down through the front foot.
    • The board comes to a standstill here, so keep the kite drifting slowly. The bar is where your support comes from — you can pause a moment and breathe.

  3. 3. Get the bar across and the nose back downwind

    • Dump the tension out of the lines so the kite cannot pull you, then push the bar across your body slowly — the same handling as a duck tack, but with your feet glued where they are.
    • Let your head and shoulders follow the bar around without spinning your body after it.
    • Move your hips back over your back foot and extend the front leg.
    • Drop your hips to sink the tail and lift the nose so the board can pivot.
    • On the carving version, load a full push-pull: front hand pulled down, back hand pushed all the way away, bar parallel with the centre line, and the kite downlooping at the edge of the window.
    • In very little wind the board simply pivots on its tail here. As the wind builds you will be carving in and carving out.

  4. 4. Dive, take the power, carve out

    • Get the bar in and keep pulling the front hand as the nose swings through downwind.
    • Get your backside and shoulders back upwind of the board before the power arrives, or it pulls you off.
    • Take the surge with your weight back as the kite comes back through the window.
    • Roll onto your heels and carve out on the new edge.
    • Once the kite is climbing again, stop steering and level the bar so it straightens onto the new course.
    • Aim kite and board across the wind in the direction of travel. The exit feels like the end of a tack or a beach start.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake

You arrive fast and powered, the fins break out, and the board slides instead of carving.

Fix

Control the speed and trim the kite. IKSURFMAG also notes that if you have too much power and the bar is far away from you, turning hard upwind is difficult.

Mistake

You fall downwind of the board halfway through the turn.

Fix

Two causes: the tail slid and you overextended the back leg, or the kite got too far forward and too low and pulled you off. Keep the rail buried, keep the kite high and on the side you started on.

Mistake

The board refuses to swing through downwind and just stalls pointing into the wind.

Fix

Your weight is stuck on the front foot so the board cannot pivot, or the kite is parked above or behind you with nothing to pull you round. Throw the hips back and keep the kite moving.

Mistake

The board does not carve far enough up into the wind.

Fix

You are sliding and pulling yourself round instead of turning the board with the edge. Feel the pressure while you edge and use that force to turn it, and keep some urgency in the arc rather than a languid one.

Mistake

The downloop rips you off the board on the second half.

Fix

You pulled too early, or there is simply too much power. Trim the kite first and make sure the loop happens at the edge of the window. If it still hits that hard, go down a kite size.

Mistake

You lose the kite's support just as you stand up on the board.

Fix

Either you never drifted the kite all the way to 12, or you took it too far past. Drift it a touch more if there is nothing holding you; ease it back if it is pulling you off the board.

If it goes wrong

  • Learn this where losing the board costs you nothing: The Kite Spot says start strapless in flat water, and ride in water at least waist deep so you protect your limbs and the board's fins.
  • Ride it without a board leash. The Kite Spot says a leash is not used by a beginner strapless rider or a rider doing strapless freestyle, and Matos Tarifa explains why: once the line reaches its maximum length the board gets catapulted back toward you, and after a crash the only thing sticking out of the water is your head.
  • Treat the leash and its fittings as a tangle risk too. Matos Tarifa notes the board and its attachment can end up wrapped in the kite lines and bar and set off a death loop.
  • Get your body dragging solid so you can retrieve the board yourself. Matos Tarifa calls body drag a fundamental skill that should be taught as soon as a toe touches the water, and notes that IKO and FAV both prohibit board leashes in teaching.
  • The sources only make room for a leash in specific situations: Kitefun Tarifa says use one only if your board can end up in stones, and The Kite Spot names reef breaks, crowded line-ups and big waves.
  • Sort your trim before you attempt the powered second half. If the kite still yanks at the edge of the window, take a smaller one out rather than fighting it.

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 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 I try an upwind 360?+

The tack. IKSURFMAG's strapless duck tack guide says the only real prerequisite is the tack, because your carve is essential, and the carving upwind 360 guide says that if you are a master tacker you should have all the skills and patience to nab this one. The carving version is described there as a heel-to-toe duck tack with a downloop tagged onto the end. Before any of that, Kitefun Tarifa says it helps a lot if you already ride a twintip and go upwind, and ideally handle toeside and pop.

How hard is it?+

IKSURFMAG files both the Strapless Upwind 360 and the Strapless Carving Upwind 360 under intermediate. The carving guide's own advice is to break it into two halves — the carve up onto toeside, then the downloop and carve out — rather than trying to do the whole thing at once.

Where exactly does the kite go?+

Drift it slowly up to 12 and push the bar out as it gets there. On the version without a downloop, keep it on the side you started on: going right, do not take it past 12:15. On the carving version the kite keeps moving across 12 to the other side of the window and gets downlooped at the edge of it. Either way, failing to drift it to 12 or taking it too far past 12 is what costs you support in the middle of the move.

What board and fins should I be on?+

A strapless surfboard. The Kite Spot puts most average riders on 25 to 29 litres and smaller riders on 21 to 25, and points out that pressuring your feet into the board to drive the rail into the water is what keeps you in contact with it at all. Kitefun Tarifa says a three-fin thruster is the usual setup for strapless freestyle and good for medium waves, with quads turning faster and five-fin setups giving more grip in bigger waves. None of that is specific to this trick.

Why bother with an upwind 360 at all?+

IKSURFMAG's line is that you come out of it having not moved or changed your feet and still going in the same direction, a full 360. That is the same appeal as the duck tack it is built from: Peter's Kitesurfing Handbook describes the duck tack as a way of turning a directional board without losing any ground downwind.

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.