Glide Landing Question

[RomeUtah]

Hi All,
Been progressing on my glides on 15m soul. Everything has been coming together a little too easy for take off and flight, i can go head into the wind or at an angle, flying left and right flying the flying sleeping bag like a paraglider. Landings are a a bit sloppy. When I fly into the wind directly and not crossing the wind left and right, I go much slower and can comfortably loop 10' 15' above the ground and have an easy perfect landing on a board.
When I glide and constantly cross the wind window back and forth, im flying a bit faster, and it is a lot more fun but I dont feel like im getting into position to confidently loop the kite to land.
One of 2 things happen:
I come in hot(strava shows 20mpg avg speed) so I pull on the brake side and it swings me up a bit and still leaves me flying backwards and drops me to a slightly harder landing.
I do nothing and do the butt touchdown landing. Neither is ideal as I end up eating shit on the landing and gliding backwards and not landing on the board seems a bit kooky.
I have also messed a bit arround with turning a bit a sheeting out and back in but that creates a way more disorienting descent.
For reference, I snowboard, and fly backwards 15m soul 20 m lines. I know gliding is kind of a *fight club* subject so if not comfortable discussing publicly, I welcome any pms.

[tomtom]

Its very hard to land from glide on SNB, much easier on skis. Unfortunately. Gliding is same as speedriding and its close imposible to speedride snowboard.
Sorry but this is what it is

[ToeKnee]

Try flying forward. Switch hands right after launch and right after landing.

[RomeUtah]

Flying forward is not an issue. When you fly forward, you cannot loop the kite if you get lifted to come down safely. I personally get a bit disoriented when flying forwards. The french guys who fly, all glide backwards, my end goal is to go on bigger glides and mess with loops high up in the air.

[NorthernKitesAus]

Noob question, as I am learning to glide land as well. Wouldn't you just sine the kite around the zenith to generate upwind, but slow down your descent?

[RomeUtah]

you can sine the kite to slow down your glide for sure. What i got out of this season, is tracking and flying directly into the wind to slow down momentum and I started landing with a down turn, your body starts turning into one direction or another (90 degrees is really all you need on a snowboard). Touch down, sometimes super smooth, sometimes you can drop out a little heavy and hopefully not outrun your kite. I have before closer to the landing point my kite almost 90 degrees to the wind, that way my body and board were already in position for landing, that takes some practice, and you come in super hot

[fernmanus]

It is a good question.

I never loop the kite when landing. I also use a snowboard and fly backwards. When I glide, I usually look over one shoulder the entire glide and I don’t look at the kite. Riders get disoriented by looking from side to side and especially at the kite.

I prefer to land cross to the wind with speed. When you fly directly backwards it is hard to spot your landing and it can be difficult to figure out when you are going to touch down, but when you ride cross, you just turn a bit sideways before landing and you never have to loop for landing. I usually just sheet in or out a bit depending on how hot I am coming in. I would be happy to demonstrate the technique with you at Skyline or Strawberry this coming season. Kenny

[JTKiter]

I'm about where you are in terms of gliding but I use skis. Usually I face forward but sometimes backwards. I'm usually fine landing off the wind when facing forward, I just correct straight into the wind and land normally: re-direct or down-loop the kite as I'm about to touch down. Backwards is way harder for me as I can't judge my landing height or spot as well. On a snowboard, riding backwards seems logical but have you tried facing forwards?

[Windstoked]

You have it right Rome, gliding is easy, but "coming down is the hardest thing".

For downhill landing from the backwards glide position, applying the braking stroke to slow your speed and setup the landing requires good timing and a fine touch. Too much backstroke and you plummet down hard before you get your kite back across overhead, not enough and you'll come in too fast, start too high up and your knees will suffer.

Your use of kiteloops for landing puts you in the top tier of gliders, and that is a maneuver that I believe every glider should have in their skillset before they move up from low glides on gentle slope runouts. That's because it's a safety maneuver that can save your life in order to avoid collisions or unexpected updrafts or downdrafts. It also sets up the most controlled and smoothest landings. However, it is an advanced move that can result in serious injury, so those that are not already comfortable looping on the water should not attempt it.

The key to a kiteloop landing is setting it up with a good pendulum motion with one or more braking strokes and waiting until just the right moment as you come back under the kite before looping it. That puts the loop off-center from the window where it won't yank you downwind like a megaloop and it becomes more of a heli-loop that redirects you smoothly back up the hill.

A kiteloop landing is easier with skis because they are already pointing straight uphill. On the other hand, a downhill glide landing is harder with skis, for they must be rotated 180 degrees as you downstroke out of the braking stroke while a board only needs to be rotated 90.

[RomeUtah]

Im glad this post got a some more life in it, since original date of post I have become a lot more confident in landing when flying backwards, I land 75%-90% of my glides. Several things helped in that: Tea bagging on the side of the hill in the updrafts gave me more confidence in the brake and go strokes of the kite in the air, and being 20-50 feet up. Shifting my weight and kinking one leg more than another has helped initiate slow rotations on the way down. As said before, learning to loop on water in both directions both semi powered and heli, where the kite is catching you. Learning bit back rolls and front rolls on water and snow. And most importantly, constant repetition. When going out on a snow day, focusing on gliding, starting small and getting carried 50ft, then 100ft, then going off a hill with a steep break over. Analyzing take offs, if accidentally starting a rotation, looking at when to throw the kite for the landing, learning to fly through the wind window and trying to emulate a local who can ridge soar on his 18m chrono (Patrick N. is a certified badass when it comes to gliding on his kite), having friends tape me, not to get a video for the gram, but to see what im doing wrong or right, when im coming down fast or falling out of the sky.... just my .02