heli loop not providing lift

[Soleas]

You need to make the kite fly forward before you loop it. When coming back down from a jump first i make sure the kite is at the back of the window. If its not I pull my back hand a little to take it back again and at around 4-5m height i make a sudden short front hand pull so that the kite faces forward, depower a bit ( helps the kite start moving forward, and when i feel the kite moving above my head i then powerup and pull for a loop. This way i always get a stop from my fall and land like a feather. Even in the lulls. The key is to make the kite gain forward speed before you loop it. In very strong winds its a bit of a different story but you are talking about a 12m here. I do this on a 10m Soul foil kite.

[Mike101]

You need to make the kite fly forward before you loop it. When coming back down from a jump first i make sure the kite is at the back of the window. If its not I pull my back hand a little to take it back again and at around 4-5m height i make a sudden short front hand pull so that the kite faces forward, depower a bit ( helps the kite start moving forward, and when i feel the kite moving above my head i then powerup and pull for a loop. This way i always get a stop from my fall and land like a feather. Even in the lulls. The key is to make the kite gain forward speed before you loop it. In very strong winds its a bit of a different story but you are talking about a 12m here. I do this on a 10m Soul foil kite.

How do you even begin to step up to this? I'm happy throwing downloops on transitions and at the end of jumps. I'm trying to pull the loop earlier and earlier but this is a totally different movement for the kite. I nearly summoned the courage to try it last week, from about 2m up, on a 7m in 40knt but then thought better of it. Whats the best kite size and wind speed to try this for the first time?

[Soleas]

10-12m kite in 15-20 kn would be a good start. I start the redirecting/moving kite forward process at 4-5m height. That starts to slow the decent and at around 2-3m i pull the loop when the kite reaches almost at the front edge of the window. Also i dont pull the loop very hard so i get a little wider loop. It is a bit scary at first cause i take the kite back again as i mentioned before. Taking the kite back again while coming down puts the kite in good position to accelerate but also makes me fall fast. Falling fast though creates more apparent wind for the kite to fly forward again and helps with the feeling of timing. Scary but safe in the end.

[blackswan]

Thanks to all posters, I have now figured out the things I was doing wrong and the heli loops are working great. The two biggest mistakes I was making and other newbies might make:

1. Trim the kite properly, you need to trim your kite differently when looping than regular jumping. I always rig on the last knot now with my small kites.
2. While at peak of the jump, before pulling the heli loop, pull slightly on the front hand (if you are looping with front hand) to get kite to "turn" a bit and put it in the right position for the loop. Without this early pull to turn the kite, my loops are just trash. So the full process looks like: boost, wait, pull slightly on front hand, wait, pull harder for loop and land super soft!

[Herman]

Glad to hear that you are nailing it. I flew a 9m Switchblade for the first time in ages a couple of days ago. A good kite but it definitely does what it says on the tin. First time I pulled to gybe onto a wave the kite was miles behind me. I then started playing with the trim. It is not backstally but I found the same as you, if oversheeted it does not want to move. Pulls well though. Once you get it moving it accelerate well enough but I can see why it requires careful technique to heliloop.

PS once you are fully dialled in you will become better aware of what the kite is doing and you will be less reliant on a particular trim setting. Yehaaah!