Kitesurfing Tutorial: How to Down Loop in a Gybe Transition

[@tomaslight]

Last summer I started to ride directional and really enjoyed your videos. Few years ago as beginner I have subscribed to your channel. They were good videos, but latest ones are just great.

[@jmmolinari]

best downloop transition explanation I heard so far! now I just need some wind to start practicing 💪

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Perfect! Let me know how it goes

[@nilsemmahendrickx-iskandar5350]

Learned it this summer, love it, power maximum carving power woohooo! 🤙🤙🤙

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Nice one! :)

[@SoaringMidlo]

I just had two days of light wind to practice and am starting to get the hang of it. I had to work up some courage to try it for the first time. I haven’t added the carve yet, but I found it works pretty well with a sliding transition (tack?) in light air.

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

AWESOME! Glad to hear you are making it work mate!

[@tormodhenryskalsvik3154]

Great advices, can't wait to try :)

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Let us know how you go :)

[@tormodhenryskalsvik3154]

@@FlukesKitesurfing I got to try the downloop turn dyring christmas, nailed it at 1st, 2nd and 4th attempt :) In Northern Norway and at 2 degrees C crashing is not very temping so that`s good motivation for committing to the loop. Although no proper gybe transition, more like a sliding turn transition, so next level will be practicing the gybe you explained!

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

@@tormodhenryskalsvik3154 Awesome! great work :)

[@mikkel_hansen_dkk]

really good riding there ! and super nice edit!

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Thanks mate!

[@alexis1959]

Excellent tutorial - thanks!

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

You're welcome!

[@mattycolbourne]

Looks like Tofino BC? Excellent videos has really helped me get started in the sport, Cheers from Vancouver Island!

[@grassmugge]

I find this move helpful in low wind.

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Yeah, a must have for foiling too :)

[@アイセルフ]

気持ち良さそう！ 👍👍👍 素晴らしい自然。 素晴らしいカイト🪁

[@ibrahimemrezayim9292]

such a clear explanation, in stronger wind you should first point your board downwind to avoid paceplants :)

[@wildenboy]

Totally agree, where as if you do that in light wind, the kite won’t turn fast enough since it has lost most of the power.

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Yeah, best to initiate the gybe early when its windy for sure :)

[@ZanyWabbit]

I hope my instructor next year is as clear as you.. love this channel. also, is the guy on the foil in the background @05:36 has magic power as i see no kite or waves lol

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Lol! yeah a couple of efoils out :)

[@drbfitk366]

Great video & awesome explanation on best way to approach downward loop transitions. Thanks Luke, It's early Spring in Canada & almost time to get out there practicing. I'm starting with your recommendation and flying a 10M Roam. This kite sits deeper in the wind window & turns little slower. In lighter wind (~ 20km/hr) should I start with initiating turn with the kite first and follow turning direction of board??

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Awesome, yes it sure is getting to that time! and yes, thats true. as the wind gets lighter, start the turn with the kite earlier and then follow it because you need to keep more line tension. If you turn at the kite to early you will lose the tension. The roam does this easier than the Crave i would say :)

[@feliperadtke]

Nice video! Too bad it came after i tried my first kiteloop, 2 months ago. I didn’t pulled in the bar enough and the kite hit the water just like a tomahawk, as you said. Result: got my canopy teared apart...it’s fixed now, but i’m reluctant to try it again.

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Oh no! yeah, gotta commit to the loop :)

[@A-fl1ln]

Thank you

[@dexxo2000]

Thanks for the video and explanation! I tried this manouver in very low winds (13 to 20 knots) with big board and it work pretty well. Yesterday I tried first time in stronger winds (18 to 27 knots) and my kite always crashed down directly in front of me. (I could not turn it around...) Unfortunately at the last attempt the kites tube bursted :(. Any tips what I may do wrong? Maybe just too strong wind? Or not enough commitment? Thanks for any tips.

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Hey Dex, well great job giving it a go.. sorry to hear you popped the LE. hopefully its all repaired now! To answer your question, yeah, more commitment for the loop. its the number 1 focus if you are crashing the kite. To make it less intense in stronger wind, remember to initiate your gybe first this will take some of the tension off the lines and allow you to ride downwind while you are completing the downloop which will feel much more controlled.. Also, if you got it in light wind... i'd say keep doing it in light wind until you get it completely dialled :) Hope that helps

[@AKJammer1]

By now you're probably an expert, but one thing that wasn't mentioned is that you should start the maneuver with the kite high, bring the kite up to 11 or 12 even, then pull the trigger. As you get more practice you can not bring it up as high, once you get the feel on how your kite turns. The bar length also plays a part, if the bar is shorter you won't get as much of a pull on the steering lines and the kite will do a bigger loop, sometimes resulting in crashing. Start getting used to pulling on the steering line itself, not just the bar, if the kite doesn't turn fast. Bigger kites turn much slower btw. Luke, you haven't posted anything lately, everything ok?

[@M78-y7r]

Thx for the great explanations (as always!). I want to learn the downloop, however isnt it wearing out the lines a lot? I dont feel like buying new set of lines every couple of months...

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Glad it helped. hmm, I guess it does cross the lines which could create wear, but I haven't found that to be very bad. This downloop is significantly less aggressive than all the other loops I do in tricks on almost every tack, and I've been riding this bar for 1 year and it still looks good. So I wouldn't worry about that too much :)

[@2007dalin]

i'm more used to cabrinha kites but i was riding my buddies prodigy the other day and really struggled to get his kite to do the down loop. It didn't turn near as fast as i am used to, possible a different line setting is available for faster turning but a slow turning kite makes this move much harder.. are you guys riding in bc now?

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Yeah for sure, different kite shapes will turn differently, that said, I find you can usually get all kites to do a down loop, it might just need take a little more aggressive bar steering and also adequate bar tension :)

[@jockknots848]

Would it be easier to first try downloading while body dragging? Or does that have disadvantages?

[@jockknots848]

meant downlooping (not downloading)

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Hey Jock, you can try full looping like that. I wouldn't really recommend trying to down loop. But, if you want to head out in light wind body dragging and practise lopping the kite thats great practise for getting feel of how it moves. The reason i'd practice full loop and not "half" like the down loop, is that you have set a clear goal, "kite back to 12". For your first loops that should be the entire focus. Go out there body dragging and let the kite do a full loop and try to stop it exactly at 12 by sheeting out and letting it climb. This will help build memory for the feeling and process, which will translate into helping while riding and performing the downloop. hope that helps.

[@nicolasboudet9302]

I am not very comfortable with the loop and I always tried it with poor results, as kite touching the water and collapsing in it 🥴. I am not sure to have pulled the bar enough before steering, but I wonder if my kite was not too low at the starting point? I recently tried to move the kite to 12 before starting the underloop , and don’t know if it is useful or not as 45d that you recommend is only 10:30 Your expert views on it?😎

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Hey Nicolas, ok sure, if your kite is crashing it would likely means as you say, need more line tension as well as more aggressive steering, so pull in on the bar and really steer it. If you go to much, you will know it because you will get pulled over the front of the board, but that said, thats what it sounds like needs to happen... more aggressive. also, if you are starting your gybe to early, that is what removes the line tension, then the kite wont respond.. so you have to asses wind speed (as mentioned in the video) and time your gybe based on the strength of the wind. Light wind = start downloop then gybe. Strong wind = start gybe then downloop Don't start at 12 as that is closer to an actual loop... and you might get sent into the air. best to start at about 45 (even lower as you get comfortable with the timing). Hope that helps

[@udaysharma59]

What’s the difference between Jibing and tacking in kite surfing?

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Similar to sailing, the tack you start the transition by turning upwind. The gybe you start the transition by turning downwind.

[@australianmike]

After the underloop how do you untwist the lines?

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Hey Mike, once you comfortable riding back in the other direction, let go of the bar, let the lines un-spin, (tends to happen almost automatically) and then grab the bar again. (remember red on the left is the main thing) :)

[@apanalat]

5:32 is this the silver surfer in the background??? No kite, just flying 😬😬😯😯😯

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Haha, magic!

[@apanalat]

@@FlukesKitesurfing 😀 nice video by the way as all your videos:)

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

@@apanalat Awesome thanks!

[@walterroeber8734]

Didn’t know you owned a twin tip✌️

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Yeah... had to dust it off... First time riding one in a couple of years making this video haha! :)

[@dansouth7507]

I have never heard it called an underloop

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Hey Dan, yeah I tend to use the terms interchangeably, however I think the common one is down loop :)

[@zzzzzz-zzz-789]

Hey you'r content is set to 'made for kids' so viewers aren't able to enable the 'bell' for notifications on your videos! Would love to be notified of your new videos when they come out. This is the error it shows: support.google.com/youtube/answer/9632097?nohelpkit=1&hl=en