Riding unhooked means taking the chicken loop off the hook so the kite pulls through your arms alone, and every wakestyle trick starts from that pop.
Also called: riding unhooked · unhooking
Prerequisites
Helps to know first
Ideal conditions
Practise first in marginal conditions where you're confident holding the power, and pick flat water. It makes a world of difference because you're much more stable. You need a four-line kite with a chicken loop, a modern kite leash with a quick release on the harness end, and lines set on the right pigtail knots so the sweet spot trims right down to the chicken loop. Once confident, progress to stronger winds.
How to do it
1. Trim & setup
- Before anything else, trim the sweet spot right down so the bar rests just above the chicken loop, with equal tension on the front and back lines.
- Park the kite at the 10:30 or 1:30 mark, about 45 degrees above the water.
- Hold the bar in the middle with both hands almost touching the chicken loop line, and keep your elbows tucked in close.
- For the pop drills, park the kite around 11:00 or 1:00 and take your front hand and split the bar between your index and middle finger — it keeps you from sending the kite too high or low.
2. Unhook
- Come off your edge and bear away downwind: let yourself be pulled up over the board by bending your knees, leaning your shoulders slightly forward and putting a bit of pressure on your back-foot toes, all the time looking downwind where you want to go.
- Pull the bar right in, hands to your hips, then push the bar down in one circular movement while keeping your shoulders back. The chicken loop drops out of the hook.
- Don't look down at the hook while you do it. Looking down brings your shoulders forward and puts your hips back, making unhooking harder.
- Once unhooked, drop your weight low so you can pivot off your back foot and carve back onto your edge, putting tension back on the lines.
3. Load & pop
- For your first unhooked pops, find a small piece of chop and ride at it with the bar close, between your chest and hips, and a slight bend in your elbow. As you pop off it, stomp down on your back leg and bring your front leg up, then right after bring your back leg up into your chest.
- To load the lines, sit back like you're sitting in a chair with good posture and leaning back: hips locked upright, shoulders rolled back, pressure on your heels, bar close between your hips and chest.
- Carve away from the kite and stomp down with your back heel, then throw your legs out behind you and let the kite pull you forward.
- For bigger pop, dig your edge so hard you create a ramp in the water; as the board leaves the water, point your toes and feel the tail release from the water.
- The moment you release, immediately pull hard on your front hand to send the kite back down.
4. Land, ride away, hook back in
- Pull the bar back down into your lead hip, even towards your front knee, point the nose of the board downwind at the kite, and land flat riding downwind.
- Bend your knees to absorb the impact, and don't land on an edge or get too eager to ride back upwind. Landing downwind takes so much power out of the landing.
- To hook back in, keep your shoulders back to keep the hook up, pull the bar down and right into your hips, line the chicken loop up over the hook, then lift the bar until the loop is pulling up on the hook.
- Let the pressure off your arms and carve back onto your edge, tensioning the lines.
Common mistakes and fixes
Mistake
The kite falls back in the window (flaring) the moment you unhook.
Fix
You've unhooked with the sweet spot too far from the chicken loop, so there's too much tension on the back lines. Trim so the front and back lines carry equal tension with the bar resting just above the loop.
Mistake
The kite moves on its own while you're unhooked.
Fix
Keep your hands centred on the bar — with hands centred you won't get any involuntary movement of the kite.
Mistake
Bending at the hips like a hinge while loading.
Fix
That takes energy out of the lines and chokes out the pop. Keep your hips locked upright and take the kite's energy as one unit.
Mistake
Letting pressure off your heels mid-load.
Fix
The board slips out and the slingshot effect is reduced. Keep driving pressure through your heels the whole load.
Mistake
Landing on an edge or rushing straight back upwind.
Fix
Get in the habit of landing flat and downwind. It reduces the impact and sets up more powered tricks later.
Mistake
The kite pulls away from you on release.
Fix
Pop more downwind next time.
If it goes wrong
- Overpowered while unhooked: let go with your back hand and grab the top of the chicken loop, then let go with your front hand and grab alongside it above the loop. As the bar moves away the kite depowers, and you can pull the chicken loop down and onto your hook.
- Always ride with a kite leash with a quick release, attached to the fifth line or to the chicken-loop line below the bar on a depowering bow, and loosen or remove the bar stopper so the kite fully depowers if you lose the bar. Under no circumstances attach the leash directly to your chicken loop (a suicide leash).
- If the kite is pulling away from you mid-trick, let go of the trick and focus on landing flat, riding downwind. Don't ride overpowered while learning this.
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
Do I need strong wind to start unhooking?+
No. Practise first in marginal conditions when you're confident holding the power, on flat water where you'll be much more stable. Stronger winds and launching into raleys come later.
The bar pressure spikes hard when I load up. Am I doing something wrong?+
No, that dramatic increase in bar pressure is only temporary. It's exactly what pops you into the air, so don't back off it into a hip hinge.
How do I get any pop in light wind?+
Ride downwind and do a series of small hops to build board speed, then unhook and land into a scoop on the last hop, like 1, 2, 3, pop. In light wind, flicking the kite (back hand to send it up while stomping just before release, then front hand hard down on release) is mandatory, and crashing doesn't hurt too bad.
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.