Kiteworld Mag - Pop-to-Blind with Surface-Pass

Simple, stylish and highly effective, the hop-to-blind provides a stable platform for landing many of the latest moves done by the biggest show-offs You should be confident jumping to blind hooked-in before trying this and be very comfortable riding around unhooked. You will also need to make sure you have a suitable handle-pass leash attached to the manufacturer's recommended spot on your bar system.

• The flatter the water you can find, the easier this trick will be.
• Start out not too powered but planing comfortably with kite at its normal riding position.
Place your front hand in the centre of the bar with fingers either side of the chicken-loop line and unhook.

• Start your pop as for any trick, making sure you do not try to start the rotation of the board in the pop, but rather get the board into the air and then start to turn.

• When the board is out of the water you can then make the rotation. The most common mistake here is to only rotate 90 degrees and to land with the board travelling sideways. Think about turning beyond 90 degrees to point the board downwind towards the kite.

• Concentrate on looking at your back foot, keeping your weight over your back foot and bending your knees.

• At this point you need to think about passing the bar. If you have landed far enough downwind the bar will be very close to your back and will be easy to reach around and grab it with the other hand.

• If you have landed too much across the wind the bar will be pulled away from your back and it will be impossible to pass. Leaning forward will bring the bar a little closer.

• Let the bar wrap into your back and reach round to grab it with your other hand.

• Once you've passed the bar, decide if you want to swing the kite to the other side of the window and change direction, or get your other hand back on the bar, hook back in and either ride away in toe-side or push the board round to heel-side again.