Big Air Technique

[Jake]

This past weekend was some of the best winds I've ridden in for quite a long time. The warm air and water was great on Saturday. I was flying an 11m Xbow and a Cabrinha Spoiler (narrow board). Got some of the biggest air ever, so big it scared me at first.

Anyway I was wondering how to get more hang time and land softly. I thought about working the kite back and forth, but chickened out, fearing a hard landing/injury.

Any tips on techinque would be appreciated.

[Kiteboarding Tampa Bay]

From: http://kiteboardingtampabay.com/basics-of-jumping.html

The Send, Snap, Sheet Technique

Send, Snap, Sheet is a good way describe the technique. (say it while snapping it out on your fingers) The tempo gets quicker as the wind speed increases, or on smaller kites.

The Send- 99% of people send it from 10:00 or lower to 2:00, and pendulum under the kite. If you assplant or drop like a rock, that's probably what you're doing. Send the kite from 10:45-11:00 and limit the back travel to 1:00 MAX.

The Snap- happens right as you're about to leave the water (after sending it). I say snap because you want to snap your hips away and upwind and get a clean release. Imagine trying to dunk a basketball springing from your back foot.

The Sheet- start your jump with bar sheeted at least halfway out, and after sending and snapping away from the kite, you begin to rise vertically if you did everything right. This is when you sheet in.

Hand Positioning- if you're hands aren't in close in higher winds, you're gonna pay the price. (sending it too far, or landing too hot) Learn to fly the kite with your wrists and really focus on getting the Send, Snap, Sheet technique down. In lower winds, you can move your hands out a little bit, 1-2 inches at a time.
Remember, you're not jumping a ramp, you're riding an elevator.


There's a few more tips on there as well.


Enjoy Your Flight!
www.kiteboardingtampabay.com

[ricki]

It is nice to have singular sessions like that, glad it was a good one. Getting big air is a blast and addictive all by itself. While you are working on greater height be sure to keep the landings sane too. Burning in at high speed from a good height with a bad landing can be painful! I had some years back in which I could feel pain in some internal organs afterward, not good. I find set up is important, don't rush it particularly if you are ramping off a nice wave. If the setup doesn't feel right or is rushed, blow it off. There will be more rising gusts and ramps after that one. I like to have a solid rising wind speed, a nicely shaped swell, no whitewater as a rule and a fast attack speed as I charge into the wave. Make sure you have plenty of room downwind and water depth too. It is interesting when your initial bump up goes even higher or stretches out unexpectedly further. It is tempting to boost huge in inches of water but every once in a while someone will screw up a landing and tear their knee up or something. Have fun with it.

[Jake]

Thanks! Good information Kiteboarding Tampa Bay.

I have the jumping technique down with good high jumps and have soft landings virtually all of the time (except when I get tired and I know that it is time to end the session).

For those jumps 20'+, I would like to know if I can get higher jumps by sending the kite backward, then forward, then backward again and forward again, essentially doubling the jumping process. Rather than experimenting with the risk of injury, I wondered if someone has tried this technique successfully with a good landing.