Steven Akkersdijk is here to blow your minds! Check out this mental foiling trick, taken from the land kiting fraternity he’s flying his kite 360 degrees through the upwind part of the window...

We’ve seen a few people pull this trick off on the foil now, it’s a land kiting trick which enables you to fly a kite in a 360 loop around you. Steven Akkersdijk gives us the lowdown on this witchcraft!

What if you I told you how to manipulate the wind window to your liking?

Playing with the wind has always been my favourite part of kiteboarding, as most of the time; we are quite limited with the wind. You have a wind window, and your kite should stay there otherwise it will fall, but what if you could manipulate or alternate that wind window, to your liking.

This trick here goes by many names; Kite 360, deadman’s turn and around the world, are the ones I’ve heard the most.

What happens in this trick is that you make the kite fly a full 360 around you. The way to do this is relatively simple; you need to ride faster than the wind. Like that, you create your own wind; this “created” wind is also known as apparent wind.

A simple way to explain apparent wind is by jumping on your bike. If there is a bit of a breeze and you’re standing still with your face downwind, you will feel the wind in your back. If you then start cycling in that direction and you go faster than the wind you’ll feel it from the front (you just created your apparent wind)

I didn’t come up with this trick (the credit goes to the buggy kiters), but I used to do it running when I was younger at the kite school when we had a kid’s camp. I saw a video of someone doing it a couple of years back on a foil, and instantly knew I wanted to do that as well.

When I got my foils from Levitaz, I knew it was time to try it. I had a set of short lines that I usually use for kiteloops, and decided that would be perfect.

At the time I was in Mauritius with Christian Rosenbrock and assured him I would get it right in three tries, that was my challenge. In the end, it took me five times, before I managed to ride one out!

The best gear for this trick is a foil set up that has a big front wing with not too much resistance (because you need to keep speed after the loop). I, for instance, use the Levitaz Cruizer.

For the line length, the shorter, the better. I learned with 10m lines, but to be honest, that was a little short. Now, I’m riding with 14m lines and find it perfect!

I've also tried the trick with 18m lines, and you need a little more speed for this one.

The kite size makes a huge difference. A bigger kite means lower wind speeds, so it will be easier to perform the 360. On the other hand, a bigger kite flies slower and has more drag, so that it will slow you down more.

I found the ideal size to be a 10m kite, in about 16 knots. This way, you get a good whip from the loop, but can still foil faster than the wind without too much trouble. At the moment, I've mastered this trick between 8-25 knots with kites ranging from 6-13.5m.

So, how do you this trick? First of all, you’ll need a foil and short lines (I’m riding 14m lines in the pictures)

  • Ride on a across the wind course with a good amount of speed.
  • Steer your kite up to 1 o'clock.
  • Pull the kite to the right into a down loop, and let it fly straight through the wind window to 10-11 o'clock.
  • During this loop, you’ll get a lot of speed downwind, make sure you go with the flow and don’t resist it too much.
  • The moment your kite reaches 10 or 11 o'clock, it will fly out of the wind window. It won’t do this by itself, but because you are pulling the kite with your speed downwind.
  • Continue pulling the kite, and slowly make a toeside turn to make sure you’re always pulling the kite at a 180-degree angle (lines and riding direction should be parallel)
  • When the kite starts entering the original wind window, it’s time to steer the kite around towards 12 o'clock, so it catches the power and makes a short turn on the foil to make sure the kite doesn’t pull you over.
  • Continue the loop and finish in the original riding direction.

Tips to make it easier:

  • Steering your kite up after the down loop will make for an easier kite recovery, as when you steer it low over the water (up it has to cover less distance, and you have to pull it less)
  • Shorter lines and a bigger kite make for less of an aggressive pull in the down loop, which makes it easier to hold on to the rodeo.
  • Stay compact when the kite re-enters the wind window to be more stable against the pull of the kite.

Videos

Around the world / Kite foil
By steve1

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