Transitions : Heel Side Carve

Transitions : The Heel Side Carve

Now that you are staying upwind, and you can use slide transition to help you stay upwind, it’s time to learn some transitions that are a bit more fun, faster, and send you downwind so you have more fun getting back upwind.

The heel side carve is named as such because you will be digging in your heel side edge and carving a fast turn downwind. In simple terms we are going to switch to toe-side, then execute a carve turn by edging with our heels as the tail of the board passes through the wind (jibes) and we ride away on our heel-side as normal.

The Switch

Ride along with decent power and check behind you and downwind of you to make sure that you are clear to transition. Edge into the wind and point the nose up into the wind. As the nose approaches the wind, push out on your back foot so it slides out and your back leg becomes your front leg. You are now riding toe-side. Alternatively, you can also do a pop switch where you pop off the water and switch the board in the air. Reminder, it is a bit tricky to land toe-side!

The Transition

As soon as you are riding toe-side, pull hard with your rear hand. This will send the kite the other direction. As the kite starts to cross the window, dig your heel edge in and carve downwind following the kite. Keep your weight over your back leg throughout so you can push hard through that foot and control the carve. It may take some practice to balance how tight your carve with how fast you send the kite the other way, but in theory, the faster you turn the kite, the tighter you carve the turn. If you turn the kite fast and carve slow, you will get tea-bagged. If you turn the kite slow and the kite fast, you will stall out before the exit.

The Exit

Dive the kite hard and rocket off with you heel edge dug in and the power through your back foot.

Style

You can make this transition as calm or as extreme as you want. In light wind lay down a nice arcing carve to carry speed through the turn, you can even add a kite downloop to power through at supersonic speed laying a huge fan out. In high wind, do a pop switch, crank the kite the other way, lay back and carve the tightest turn you can for a killer bump & jump move.