2: the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action

# 02: POSITIVE POWER Words>Jim Gaunt Intro > Taming the kite loop

The kite loop is unique to kiteboarding and comes laden with consequences. So when Dimitri Maramenides returned home to Cape Hatteras from a recent trip to Barbados with an armful of intriguing pictures in which he’s getting hauled across a river surrounded by coconut trees, we wanted to know more...

These shots contain some pretty heavy

kite loops. Can you talk us through the

commitment involved and how riders

should build up to them?

First of all, the latest gear makes it way

easier to make progress than it used to

be. When I started doing them a few years

ago I was getting killed. Any kite from

before 2004 will do the same to you. The

newer the kit, the faster and safer it will

be; pivoting on the axis rather than

tanking around its tips.

The second thing is that you have to

commit. You simply can’t stop pulling

halfway, that’s when you get hurt.

The faster the kite the quicker it will go

round. That’s also why me and a lot of

other riders don’t like using bow kites for

kite loops - they’re so fast and they

literally spin, you don’t really feel the pull

like you do with a C. But that’s also why

they’re great for learning kite loops. My

friend didn’t do kite loops, he tried them

on my bow kite. He got it straight away.

It looked windy in Barbados. What size

were you on there?

The yellow kite is a 14, but I put really

short lines on. I found that river last year,

but there was no wind. This year there

was wind, but the river had shrunk to just

45 feet wide and 200 feet long! It was

dangerous really. There was no current but

only one kiter could go at a time. It was

about two feet deep and there were

branches everywhere. I had to put the

short lines on otherwise my kite would

have been in the coconuts!

In all those shots are you doing different

variations of loops?

Yes. Once you get used to the loop you

can. For your early attempts you just want

a little bit of wind. But more hang time

comes from loading the kite more and

going in higher wind. Now when I go

really high and get the kite going round, I

don’t pull so hard on the bar, making the

loop much slower and more extreme. You

get that really big loop and pull. But that’s

quite advanced. It’s more like pull, stop,

and pull again. If I just pull like you do

when you’re learning the kite won’t go

below me.

Where do you see kite loops going in

the future?

I think it’s just another evolution. We’re

coming to the end, especially with the

kites you can do loops on easily now. The

future will be kite loop combinations, like

kite loops with handle-passes as people

do already. I’m trying kite loops with

board offs. Kite loops will always be

around, but they will be combined.

Have you had any bad moments or

injuries trying them?

Oh yeah, but that’s why you’ll see I say to

do them with both hands on the back of

the bar. If you don’t do that and you

decide to abort halfway, that’s when you

break your ribs. Kite looping is harsh and

it’s why most companies won’t warranty a

board for kite looping - you can land so

hot when you go big. Sometimes you can

feel it coming through your feet and right

up your legs. For a nice smooth one, you

need to try and get the kite back to the

top before you land. If one foot comes out

when you land, you can really twist your

knee. But you learn from your experiences.

Can you describe to me what’s going

through your head as you take off?

On the river kite loops I was conscious of

trying not to land on a branch in the river

or in a tree! At the time my kite was only

ten feet away from the trees! Obviously this

isn’t going to be the case for everyone. In a

normal kite loop I don’t really think about

Photo>Chris Cifers

the set up. I’m so used to it. All I’m

thinking is I want my body to be higher

than the kite. But this is extreme. Most

riders will concentrate on actually making

sure the kite completes the loop. You

progress to trying to get level with the kite.

And at the exact moment we see you in

these shots?

I’m concentrating on the landing. You don’t

want to land on your ass, you want to

land clean. So I’m making small alterations

and turning my body to land downwind. It

may not look like it sometimes, but I have

control from here because I’m used to it

and know what to do. Everything happens

so fast when you’re learning, which again

is why low wind is the recipe for success.

For me, everything happens slower now

“IT WAS ABOUT TWO FEET DEEP AND THERE WERE BRANCHES EVERYWHERE. I HAD TO PUT THE SHORT LINES ON OTHERWISE MY KITE WOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE COCONUTS!”

y

and I have time to react. It’s a process and

it’s different at each stage.

You have a black belt in martial arts. Is

there anything you can teach people in

regards to positive belief?

It’s experience really, but the thing I do

know, thanks to all my injuries, is just

always be aware of every scenario that

could go wrong, and compensate for that.

I try to see where I might land and think

about space. Always think space. Don’t do

it right on the beach, and always be

downwind of anyone around you. Don’t

think about getting hurt the first time you

do it because that hasn’t happened to you

yet. If you do, you’ve lost already. Make all

your mental preparations before you go on

the water and concentrate on what will

stop accidents from happening. Once

you’re on the water and have decided

where you’re going to do it, forget about

all that. Just think positive.

When you’re learning something new do

you find that you have to try it within the

first few runs of a session? I know that if I

haven’t tried anything new in the first five

minutes I slip into just kiting backwards

and forwards!

I agree. For the first ten minutes I do my

normal warm up routine. Then

immediately I’ll try something I’ve been

thinking about and work on it. If I’m still

getting killed after 30 minutes or so then

I’ll go back to the routine I know and call

it a day. You have to try everything more

than once. Try kite loops ten times a

session and by the second session you’ll

get them looking really good. Think

positive and you’ll realise how quickly it’s

all over and how easy it really is. Build

your confidence slowly. You will soon get

over excited and try and push it too far

and get spanked though... but that’s all

part of the fun.

Photo>Gus Schmiege

KITEWORLD #21>61