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How to do an S-bend

Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 5:01 pm
by jimmyc
This information is taken from a prior post.

tommen wrote:
http://www.pkra.info/moves/images/34.wmv
this is what PKRA calls a s-bend.

stone wrote:
Just ask Shannon Best, it's named after him.

If you can't track him down (it's pretty hard) then do this:

1 - Powered. You have to be powered up good to do this trick. Off a wave not so much, but the more power the better it'll look.

2 - Speed. Goes with the power thing, but having a powered kite and board speed sometimes don't go hand in hand. You know how to go fast. Go fast first.

3 - Edge. Because it starts as a railey, you need to get a good edge. You should be doing raileys already if you want to learn this move, so I'm not going to go into detail.

4 - The first few times you try it, don't worry about your kite being too high. It'll save you the back slaps. Keep it at about 45-60 degrees, edge into a railey, and get the full pop. Think about keeping your body extended and straight. Straight arms, straight legs. Try to let your head go between your arms.

5 - Throw your weight forward. I think about it like I'm throwing my front shoulder down towards the water.

6 - Rotation. This is the trick. It's pretty much impossible to OVER rotate this trick BECAUSE you will only rotate as long as you stay extended (back to the straight arms, straight legs thing). Let yourself rotate. If you pull the bar back too soon, you'll stop your rotation, and from the sound of it, that's what you're doing. Pulling the bar in too soon, and you land on your back. Depending on the height and the speed of the rotation, you can judge when to pull the bar back to your hip.

7 - Pull the bar to your hip. I covered it in the previous step. It's always a good practice to pull it to your hip. Once you get it down, you don't have to, but pulling it towards your hip will get your prepared to move onto the next move, s-bend to blind. It's just pulling it to your hip then around your back.

8 - Spot your landing. You should have started doing this when you were judging when to stop your rotation. Focus on where you're going to land. Practice is the key for this one. It's obviously easier when the kite is higher, but then you might dangle a bit (not good).

9 - Practice. Keep doing it until you feel comfortable. Once you have them pretty dialed, start bringing the kite lower on takeoff. You'l have to rotate faster, but the style meter will go up. If you're really lit, you should be able to do it with the kite 5-10 feet off the water, and you'll be completely horizontal. That's when you know you've got it down.

Jason

stone wrote:
Grabbing Unhooked:

1 - Speed, Edge. I won't go into detail, just read up on it the post above this one.

2 - Hand placement. It's important. What grab are you doing? What hand will stay on the bar, and which one is coming off? Lets use a basic indy glide as an example. You're gonna let go with your back hand. So, I'd start with my hands dead center (harder for chickenloops), and then adjust a bit to compensate for the time when I'm going to be one-handed, so I'd get my right hand more in the center, left hand a little further out. For a chicken loop, I believe you can put your index finger on the opposite side of the rope as a translation for that. Remember that your hands aren't exactly centered when you edge and pop, so that the kite doesn't pull up (remember we're talking about an indy glide, so your back hand is coming off. Different grabs, different setup).

3 - Takeoff. However you're planning on doing it, the takeoff is pretty key. After you set your edge, tension your lines, and pop you want to keep the bar VERY close to you. I'd say to your hip, but the way that you takeoff on this move, it ain't gonna happen. Too much pull. Just really focus on keeping that bar as close as possible to your center of mass. I'd suggest leaving both hands on at first. Once you've popped and kept the bar close you should be moving with the kite, relatively, so there should be less pull on the bar. Don't worry about extension yet, it'll happen on it's own. There is a certain time when you'll have less bar tension. That's when you let go with one hand and go for the grab, whichever grab you're going for. Focus on getting that hand planted firmly on the board. Nothing is worse than a rail tap. Get a solid grab, it's good style points.

4 - The Grab. If this is the first few times you've done this trick, after getting the grab, I'd focus on getting your hand back and landing. If you're comfortable with it, hold on as long as you want.

5 - Extension (Optional). This is my favorite part. You get this right, you still look okay even if you miss the grab (it happens more than you think.) Once you have the grab, the kite will start accelerating downwind. It does even if you don't get the grab. As it pulls away, it's going to drag you out behind it. Better extensions come from stronger pop off the water, speed, and angle of the kite. Obviously if your kite is at 90 degrees you'll be extended, but you'll just be hanging. As you extend, you'll reach a point where you're as far as your arms are going to go. I like to look away from the kite (if it's an indy glide) because it makes you feel more exteneded. I think of it like a rubber band. The faster you get extended (it happens to you, you don't really do it) the faster you'll snap back. After a few trys you'll get the hang of it. As you start the rebound, get your eyes back on the water and spot your landing. It's better to come in tail heavy on this trick, so you don't break your legs when you land flat.

6 - Landing. It's going to be hard if the kite is low. No way around it. That's one reason I ride boards with more rocker, it's less of an impact on wake moves. Get the board under you. You want to land bearing off the wind a bit with speed. If you land with no speed, you're gonna land flat, smack, and sink after. Pretty painful. Though it sounds like a contradiction, landing with more speed = softer smoother landing.

7 - Practice. Yup, nothing new here. But more practice = better style and easier landings. Good luck!

Sidenote - This trick is much easier to get horizontal off a kicker (wave or manmade). So don't get frustrated if you can't get it completely horizontal on flat water.

stone wrote:
K, 2 questions to answer.

1 - Doing unhooked grabs with bindings / straps - As far as I can tell, it's the same. It might be easier to do it without straps because there is less weight on your feet, so less pull on your one arm that stays on the bar during extension and the snap back. For me it would be harder. I don't know how people keep the board on their feet with straps! lol.

2 - Accidentally sending the kite during an s-bend - The previous post was correct. keep your hands as close to the center of the bar as you can. The should be touching as much as possible with the chicken loop between them. In that position, you should be able to extend both your arms completely and the kite shouldn't move. If you're already doing that, then you might be putting more pressure on one hand during the move. You'd just have to work on it. If you're doing the move on a bow kite, that could be a problem, becuase those things turn quick with even light bar pressure. You'll just need to practice more!

Jas

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:45 am
by naishkiter10882
so an s bend is simply a unhooked rail frontside 360??

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:58 am
by Stone
It's a laid out front roll. I consider a 360 to be a handlepass.

Imagine the first front you do on a kite, with the kite right above your head and your arms and legs extended. It's that same concept, except you're trying to keep the kite low to the water, and get your legs and feet over your head when you rotate the front.

Re: How to do an S-bend

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:36 am
by aahi
There is a difference between an S-bend and a front roll: board above your head!! sorry for being anal but I get irritated when people claim half-ass tricks.

this is what an s-bend should look like on a kite:





Unfortunately we see a lot of people doing this and claiming it... (no offense to the guy in this video)





P.S. Nice tips Stoner

Re: How to do an S-bend

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 3:11 am
by dkt
The most important part of the s-bend is COMMITING.

Re: How to do an S-bend

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 4:49 pm
by volatile
If you really want to do a true S-bend and pretty much all wake board tricks on the kite you should consider working on it at the cable park. The kite gives you more hang time, but people often abuse the lift of kite and throw slow, boring versions of the real trick. Riders like Ruben, Shannon, and the original Lou throw true wake tricks.

During an S-bend you should be parallel to the water or your feet should be higher than your head. If your head is above you feet and the spin happen slowly... its probably more like a tweaked spin that an S-bend. Guys who have been riding the cable a long time actually throw a railey and at the peak of the railey they spin the S-bend. Looks way sicker and is truley more difficult.