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Unhooked · Advanced

Tantrum

See it in the Trick Tree

Tantrum is an unhooked backflip popped off the heelside edge with the back arched, an inverted version of the unhooked front roll.

Also called: unhooked tantrum

Prerequisites

Unhooked Frontroll

Unlocks

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

Schools teach this differently

Our sources split on how to frame the trick: Rondina's line (IKSURFMAG / ProKite Alby Rondina) defines the tantrum as an inverted version of the unhooked front roll and treats the hooked-in tantrum only as a learning step, while the Adventure Sports Holidays / Bigstyle tutorial teaches it as an arch-backed swan-style backflip — a front-roll variation moving away from the cartwheel-style rotation — learned hooked-in with a note that it transfers to unhooked riding.

Ideal conditions

Flat water, or popping off the back of a wave, for the takeoff. No source we cite gives a wind range.

How to do it

  1. 1. Set up the approach

    • Pick flat water or the back of a wave for your takeoff.
    • Come in with speed.
    • Set the kite at about 45 degrees; a low kite lands smoother and faster than a high one.
    • Slide your front hand to the middle of the bar before takeoff.
    • For the unhooked version, unhook before you pop; mid-spin you will be holding the unhooked kite with one hand, and that hold takes real strength.

  2. 2. Pop and throw

    • Pop firm and clean off your heelside edge.
    • Just after the pop, let go with your back hand.
    • Open your body out 90 degrees to the kite.
    • Throw your head back and look up at the sky; think of tripping backward over your own heelside edge — your heel catches, your head gets thrown back, your back arches.

  3. 3. In the air

    • It feels like a backward somersault, but keep your shoulders open through the whole flip.
    • Stay stretched and arched; the extended, swan-style shape is where the style comes from.
    • Rotate with just your front hand on the bar; one hand on the bar stops you over-sending the kite.
    • During the flip, look back at the water below you; your body follows your head through the rotation, and you get your bearings and spot the landing early.

  4. 4. Land it

    • As you come down, pull your arms back in.
    • Land with your board, legs slightly bent, and drop into the landing.
    • Keep the kite nice and low through touchdown for the smoother, faster landing.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake

Popping soft off the edge.

Fix

Approach with speed and make your pop firm and clean before you throw anything.

Mistake

Keeping both hands on the bar and over-sending the kite mid-rotation.

Fix

Release the back hand just after the pop and rotate with only your front hand on the bar; that stops you over-sending the kite.

Mistake

Closing your shoulders and tucking like a gymnastics backward somersault.

Fix

The rotation feels like a backward somersault, but keep your shoulders open and your body stretched for the whole flip.

Mistake

Riding out with the kite parked high.

Fix

Fly the trick with a low kite; a tantrum looks far better with it, and landing with the kite low is smoother and faster.

Mistake

Throwing it before the prerequisites are solid.

Fix

Get front rolls dialed first, ideally one-handed, then a hooked-in tantrum, then take it unhooked.

If it goes wrong

  • When the flip starts slowing down partway round, keep driving your head back and hunting for the water instead of letting the rotation stop, because Clio Mouchel traces a tantrum that lands you on your back straight back to the head giving up on the search.
  • If the tantrum has already gone wrong and you are still in the air, Clio Mouchel's instruction, written for the trick off a kicker where you hold a handle rather than a bar, is to let go instead of riding it down, which she frames as avoiding injuries on the landing.
  • When you surface from a blown attempt still unhooked and cannot get the loop back on the hook, Session Sports teaches the general unhooked recovery of grabbing the chicken loop and letting go of the bar, which they say depowers the kite so you can bring the loop back to your spreader bar without it ripping you downwind.
  • If you come out of the crash overpowered with the kite sitting high, Christian and Karine's method for unhooked riding generally is to take the back hand off the bar and grab the top of the chicken loop with it first, since a high kite pulls the bar upward and you will not seat the loop by hauling the bar down.

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 be able to do before trying a tantrum?+

Solid front rolls, ideally with one hand off the bar. Rondina's progression asks for an unhooked front roll first, then a hooked-in tantrum to learn the movement, and only then the unhooked version. Expect the one-handed kite hold mid-spin to demand real strength.

Is the tantrum a front roll or a backflip?+

Both descriptions are in use. Alby Rondina defines it as an inverted version of the unhooked front roll, while the Bigstyle Kitesurfing tutorial calls it an arch-backed swan-style backflip — a front-roll variation that moves away from the two-hands-on-the-bar cartwheel-style rotation. The movement itself is a head-back, arched flip thrown over the heelside edge.

Where should the kite be?+

Around 45 degrees at takeoff, with your front hand moved to the middle of the bar, and kept low through the trick; a low kite gives a smoother, faster landing and a better-looking tantrum.

What makes the unhooked tantrum hard?+

Holding the unhooked kite with one hand while you spin, which takes real physical strength. Once you can do that, the school that teaches it says the move is fairly simple: picture doing a backflip to the water after takeoff.

Where can I take it after landing the basic version?+

Rondina's tutorial lists tantrum to blind, grab variations, and taking it off obstacles and kickers.

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.