Frontroll: How do I get the board off the water?!

Hey there, just after some advice!

So I've been trying some frontrolls of late, and I seem to be able to get the rotation OK, it's just that I can't seem to get the board off the water!

I know it's something to do with the pop off the water but how?!

Do you have to get the board out of the water before you begin your rotation?
The board just seems to want to stay suctioned to the water and my feet just slip out of the straps... Back Rolls are good, it's just going the other way!

Any tip's ideas on what to do?!

Cheers!

Sounds like you are just rolling over the front of the board and catching the rail. You're quite right...you have to pop before you roll. Which is actually what you are doing for the back roll except its easier for the back roll as the pop action is in the same direction as the roll

Build up speed, momentarily bear downwind then crank your board hard upwind - this is all while sending the kite as you would in the back roll. The pop will get your board off the water.

As you leave the water, tuck forwards over the front of your board and tuck in your legs.

Spot your landing and release the tuck.

"I think spotting the landing will be more important for this trick more so that a back roll yeah?"

You'd think so but it's not that hard. As it's more of a jump rather than a quick backroll, you tend to land with more downwind direction than with a back roll. So it the landings are pretty easy to spot.

mike

Here, I uploaded this for you...

Thats good info Darren and I have now got my front rolls sorted but I want to know if you knew that we are slow learners so you repeated the instructions 3 times (to be sure, to be sure) or if it was just a typo.

A thought from someone who just started doing front rolls... visualize your front knee coming up and compacting itself against your body as you send the kite and initiate your rotation. Should help with getting your board off of the water, but like most said... all about the sending the kite too...
Such a diff sensation than a back roll for me...
Let us know how it goes...

Thanks for the heads up Tightlines. Problem solved. A lot of little glitches from transfering the info from the old site to the new one. If you see anything else, please let me know.

Good winds,

If you actually want to do a front roll, not a front spin then you want to leave the kite at 45 degrees. Here's some tips, you need speed otherwise you won't get pop so don't bother going for it unless you got some speed. Once you got speed you will want to bear off slightly, then you crank it back hard upwind (with plenty of speed) once you feel the power peak you need to sort of ollie/pop/lift the nose of your board off the water. At the same time you want to initiate the front rotation, it might seem daunting but going more vertical I think is easier, as you leave the water square your shoulders up so your back is facing the direction your going.

At this point if you release your back hand (keeping the front in the very middle, one finger other side of the chicken loop) and lean back/ throw your legs over your head, tantrum style.

When your learning this style you could send the kite from 45 to about 65ish to give you a bit of lift, you got a hand free chuck a grab in there. Once you got it dialled you can move the kite lower and even try it unhooked.

From reading your response the main problem of not getting off the water is lack of speed and commitment. You need to edge hard and pop commited to release the suction effect. Hope this helps.