Hi. I'm primarily an arc flier, but have owned / flown a handful of LEIs and depower foils. I originally started flying fixed bridles. The question I have is this: If you should find yourself lofted higher than you expected during a jump, what should/shouldn't you do with the kite?

My friend Nick says to just bar out and put your hands toward the middle and straight, but I have a tendency to redirect because of my jumping experiences with fixed bridles... As I'm starting to do a little jumping, I'd like to know what I *should* be thinking as I leave the ground.

I know the board/ski/buggy is a big part of this, but I'm primarily wondering about the kite.

Thanks.

It depends... If it is a normal jump and you haven't overflown the kite, multiple re-directs will make the jump long and floaty. The most I have ever done is 3 and I had the kite over my head on the landing.

If you have overflown the kite, are moving forward too fast to land, or if you want to add style points, heli-loops are the answer. The skd tutorial is pretty good. The only word of caution I have is you have to time them right. If you go too early you will kiteloop and be in a worse position. If you do them too late you will be off balance when you land. Timing is key but they have saved me before. I got launched be my f-arc 1200 in nuking winds and over flew the kite by a ton. If I hadn't looped the kite I would have slammed from 10 feet up onto my neck and back.

That's what I do anyways. But I mostly jump static and have tons of experience. :P

What Snake said. Keep redirecting your kite until you land. Your friend is right about keeping your hands in the middle of the bar. It will keep you from over turning. Only put your hands on the bar ends when you have to make a quick turn.

Also I believe carltb has a very good tutorial on youtube about jumping safely. If you are flying in strong winds at some point you will go higher than you expect, and I think you are smart for trying to figure out what to do now instead of waiting until it happens.

Thanks, Snake and fly. I really appreciate it. So I'm trying to take my jumping to the next level (you know... more than a foot off the ground..), but I don't wanna do endless stupid crap to learn hard lessons like I did with FB's. I was trying to figure out a plan of approach h so I could incrementally get better without wounding myself. I was thinking something like this:
1. Static jumping from hot launch up to my height while po

wered on something soft.
2. Pendulum static jumps to the same height.
3. Small (like 1 foot or so) jumps while boarding) ... straight downwind.
4. Small jumps at the end when I turn around...
5. Small backrolls...
6. Celebrate not being hurt.

Thoughts? I have no idea where the weirdness is when trying to develop these
skills. I just know that I'm pretty worried about miscalculating and dropping from very high up like I did with FB'S. Any more advice yiu all could send my way would be great

What I learned in the beginning is not exactly the right advise, but it was what worked for me.

I started with a 16m arc in 15mph winds without a board. I just learned how to pendulum jump. I started sending the kite slow at first and then faster so I would go higher when I became more comfortable. Definatly pad up when you are starting to learn jumps. Watch your landing and be prepared to slide so you don't hurt your ankles.

Its a lot floatier and easier on your knees and ankles if you have a bigger kite in medium winds.

I think using a fixed bridle kite to learn in the beginning is harder because you are not in a harness. I felt more comfortable on a depower kite because I could spend my time focusing on the redirect vs just holding on for dear life.

After I learned how to jump with a bigger depower kite in medium winds I then moved onto the board. I learned how to ride upwind and downwind and then I took the pendulum jumps with my atb. I learned to jump without the board at first that way if I got lifted high with the board I would know what to do to land the right way instead of freaking out and crash landing.

I see that you have a 19m venom in your sig, maybe take out that kite if you feel comfortable in 13-15mph winds and try small pendulum jumps. Once you feel good about kite control send the kite harder, or take it out in 15-18mph winds.

Once you get all of that down and the fear factor decreases then you can start to learn rotations on the board like 360s and such.

Here is a link to carls jumping technique. It is the best that I have ever seen showing the movements for jumping. I hope this helps!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYF0GvGTFiA

How good are you at fb jumping? My advice is get very good at running and sending it back, that is the same way you do it with a depower. The harness will take awhile to get used to and you will probably flail around a lot the first few times. When you stop flailing around, go big. Get used to going big and make the process instinct.

I don't have much experience with a board but I will explain to the best of my knowledge. First, do not watch the kite go back. You should know about how much to pull the bar from practice running. Watching it will prevent take off. When you feel a hard pull sheet in and you will go up. Keep the kite over your head but when you are about to touch down drop the kite in your direction of travel. If you feel off balance or uncomfortable, kick the board off your feet. Make sure both feet come out other wise you have an ankle breaker.

Backrolls and frontrolls... here is an interesting bit. Backrolls are easier than frontrolls, at least for me. They are both very easy to do on fixed bridle and unhooked. Your body can automatically spin it's self, like a cat does to land on it's feet, when you are hanging by your arms. When you are hooked in, you have to start the spin on the ground and you keep spinning till you land. you have to get the spin just right when you take off. I broke my foot trying them hooked in without a board. I'd suggest you don't try them till you can jump consistently with a board.

Just an echo of FlyJump really but a big kite in moderate winds is definately the way to start getting the hang of jumping.
Start with small movements from 11 to 12 o'clock.
Keep your hands towards the centre of the bar to minimise unintentional kite movement.

Just keeping a big canopy directly overhead at 12 will keep your descent slow enough to avoid injury. Keep some weight on the bar to keep your upper body stable and avoid spinning (i conciously push down on the bar lightly with my hands to make sure i'm doing this which engages your core muscles) The worst thing you can do is overfly too far in the other direction or release you edge too early while the kite is pulling sideways and not UP.

2 key points for a super soft landing are:
1. As you start to come down form the jump, pull lightly on the bar with your front hand to redirect so you absorb the landing with some forward momentum.
2. Point your board downwind.

Nice! Those are great tips, guys. Thanks!

I'll let you know how the first real jump-intensive session goes. You're right, though, the venom is pretty lofty even at 10mph. I'll start there on a moderate day instead of going straight to the psycho 8m

I gotta film this, call me when you are going out.

You know I do alright with the ole up and down. LOL

You know I will . One of these days I need to actually film you when there is actual wind.