Andres_Santacruz wrote:Dimitri Maramenides, pro rider for hana crew and airush, came down to a competition here last april. He was explaining that there are two ways to do the kite loop, one that is "easy" and one that is "hard". The first one("EASY"), is let's say you are going left, you pull the bar right to jump, once you are in the air, you keep pulling it right, and the kite loops clockwise. By the time you are going to land, the kite should be going up again.
The second, is let's say you are going left, you pull the bar to the right to jump, then pull the bar back towards the left to do a counter clockwise rotation. I don't know how they have time to do this, they must really land with a lot of power and speed.
Sounds really hard to me, i'm not ready to try yet, besides i don't know if my psycho 9.5 would turn fast enough.
Andres it's not hard at all, it's really easy, I reckon much easier than those board off footy thingies you're teddy likes so much
although I haven't tried them yet I must admit, but are you sure you got that the right way round? The second way you describe is what I'm doing, really overdoing recalling the kite and I think it's really easy underpowered because the kite turns back towards zenith so stays higher in the window, the way you call easy is the best way to have the kite looping at the centre of the window imo, from what I've seen, i wouldn't try it myself, I think you're much more likely to get pulled horrizontally. So I think you're got the hard and easy way mixed up there mate.
Btw, if you try the lower knots on the brake leaders the 9.5 will be fast enough for you to do this underpowered, try it and see.
There have been a few threads on this, I wrote a long description of how to cook or burn a kiteloop in the kitelooping injuries thread
phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=10236
Basically if you try looping the kite underpowered by totaly over-recalling her when she's high in the window it's very unlikely you'll get hurt and it's a great way to add more fun to a lightwind session.
Try it overpowered looping the kite back so she drops into the centre of the window will hurt most probably. I think this is what all the people saying "I can't do kiteloops, I tried one and got wasted" are trying.
As to what a "true" blue kiteloop is, who gives a f***? Looping the kite in a jump is great fun, you can do it in very little wind and I see no reason why it should hurt as long as you're not trying to be bloody rambo and only kite with a "If it ain't nukin, I can't have fun" attitude.
Try one and see, the first time you land, look up and see the kite looping with the lines crossed, you'll love it, one of those, "never forget that" moments.
Have fun
Jo
Ps, About the convintion part, I think it's a bit like a forward loop in windsurfing, you can tell yourself for years "I'll never be able to do that" just like you are, and as long as you keep telling yourself that, you wont
