Being able to do a front roll with a hand drag requires that you’re able to do front rolls. Adding the hand drag requires good kite control. We’ll focus this post on the pop and kite control needed to get consistent with front roll hand drags.
Pop
Since you’ll be rotating closer to the water you want to really pop off your front foot. Go into the pop with medium speed. Once you’ve popped you’ll want to tuck your head towards your back shoulder. Use your front hand to drag across the water.
Kite Control
We’ll break kite control down into two parts 1. the position of the kite in the air and 2. the position of your sweet spot on the bar.
Kite Position – When you pop your kite should be positioned at 12 o’clock. As you rotate forward with the trick, you’ll use your back hand to loop the kite when you feel yourself start to lose power. If you loop the kite too soon or if you semi loop the kite then the kite can pull you off axis. Make sure to commit and really angle that bar to get a tight and controlled kite loop.
Sweet Spot – When you pop and are rotating, make sure to balance the tension on the bar. Once you feel that you’re high enough off the water to do the hand drag, maintain comfortable tension on the bar to keep your height. What this means is that you may not want to sheet in too much or you’ll get pulled up too high but you don’t want to sheet out or you’ll land on your back. Once you feel yourself rotating around and can spot your landing, loop the kite to pull you out of the rotation and continue riding away.
