OK, I’ll admit it; I’m old school. This means when I ride, the only time I unhook is after I’ve landed my kite and my session is over. This also means I don’t throw aerial handle passes or make laid-out, one-handed bottom turns when wave riding. But what if I’m missing out on some incredible aspect of the sport? All the pros are doing it. Is riding unhooked really that much more fun? To answer this, I had to find out for myself why unhooked tricks get all of the hype.
On a recent trip to Turks and Caicos, I was introduced to beach after buttery-smooth beach where the word gust wasn’t even in the local dictionary. Also on the trip was 19-year-old Naish team rider Sam Light, who spent his sessions nailing every unhooked trick in the book with style. Eventually he inspired me to learn a few new moves.
Light coached me with the basics of unhooking and popping into raleys, which I found to be relatively easy in such a perfect learning environment. Next, we added a spin and soon enough I was stomping S-bends, which gave my body a new sense of freedom and power. Ultimately, Light pushed me to try an S-bend to blind. It naturally forced me to pass the handle at the end of the trick, and I rode away cleanly for the first time.
I finally felt the stoke and accomplishment of learning to ride unhooked with a relative amount of comfort, and I credit a few things to my success: finding the right location and conditions were key, as well as getting over the fear of letting go of my kite and utilizing the instant depower a bow kite has to offer.
Now I understand how unhooking can completely change the way you ride, how it can add style to your sessions and how it opens up so many new possibilities. But let’s face it, once you’re old school, you’re always old school and, therefore, I still find a hooked-in boost 40 feet into the air hard to beat.
By: Aaron Sales Photo: Bill Doster
