Hi everyone,
Been practising the s%#t out of darkslides and backroll handplants. Here is a link to some gopro footage of a few of them. Next step Darkslide Backroll.
I've been youtubing how to do the darkslide as I'm just about to start giving it a go. Never thought about doing the handplant, but looks like you've got them dialed. Nice work!! Nice flat water you're working with too
hi pilot, yeh the smooth water helps a lot, its in a river mouth in Bowen QLD. Darkslides a good move to learn as it dosnt hurt when you stuff it up you just get dragged a fair way, so it helps in shallow water so you can walk back to your board easy. And the handplant is a good next move as it requires the same kite movement as the darkslide. They don't take long to learn either, I just went out and did it over and over for a week or so lol. Bigger kites make it easier to BTW
Cheers for the post Wallis! Inspired me to have another crack at these! Make em look easy, throw in a few spills next time haha. Do you always loop the kite?
I think you should try the jesus walk too! Let us know how you go
so how do you go about doing them both? up here in gero theres a group of us wanting to do the darkslide but it ends up shovelling the nose into the water, we dont have mirror water like that here either..
Thanks Green, Yeh I used to try to do it without the loop when I first started them, it works if you have a very quick kite.. sort of. If I don't do the loop the kite just stalls and wants to fall out of the sky on the way back forward unless the wind is extremely strong. jesus walk would be awesome but you would have to be a master of darkslides and boardoffs for that one I rekon.
arloj, I guess if your nose diving the board you must not be lifting the front foot enough as you pop the board over.
My imagery stops at 0:41...
If we ever get wind again in Mackay I am having a darkslide day for sure
Thought that was just my computer stopping as well. If you search "darkslides and handplants" in youtube It works properly in there. And rails, have you ever come to bowen for a kite? On a ese or, is perfect for the don river creek mouth with smooth water.
Pause the player, click back on the time bar a few seconds, then play again...
Nice one! My goal for this year was to try dark slides and hand-plants... I can do the plants, but haven't tried the slides 
Yeh the smooth water definitely helps for these tricks. Just dont make the mistake I kept making, when I saw Wallis doing these.. I tried tried the backroll handplant before the darkslide and was looping to early and getting ripped back first into the water after torpedo'ing forward 4-5 m. lol On the upside I landed a backroll kiteloop (by accident) but im happy :p
^ +1 for the bankroll kite loop!
Actually learned the hand-plant bankroll on the Speed3 21 
tried it as a transition, but it's easier to just keep going.
Wallis what site do you use for your weather in bowen. Im keen to come up for a weekend
mattkennedy, in the video im on a 9m waroo. These days im riding an 8m Vegas most of the time. Basically If theres wind theres usually enough for the 8 or 9 but I always have my 13 in the car just in case. What kite are you planning on using? A lot of people come to bowen to kite, from Townsville, mackay, airlie beach. they all love it here. Ive never been anywhaere else
Sick - dark slides look so sweet - old school tricks rule - can't do them yet but goal for this season
I can do the fingerslide ok, but struggle to get the board down for some decent drag on the darkslide. Any tips? I go to fall forwards and darkslide, but its usually pretty brief and I get more pulled upwards and not the contact I want with the water.
Im doing them both as transitions, so kinda trying the trick at the apex, then looping it over the other side to pull me round
Need some pearl of wisdom for a decent long drawn out darkslide
Chur
Chris
Not sure what a fingerslide is? I think if your getting pulled up too high your moving the kite too fast and doing half a jump. You need to pick up a good comfortable speed then move the kite from about 11 slowly back to 1oclock, you shold be sliding during this part. Too fast you will jump, too slow you will just body drag. When it hits about 1oclock it will pop you out of the water then you can get your feet back the right way around then give it a hard yank to finish the loop, land going downwind and that's it. Takes a while to get all the timing right but each try seems to get closer. A big slow kite will give a lot more hover time between 11 and 1 therefore a longer easier darkslide.
Select to expand quoteKamikuza said..
Pause the player, click back on the time bar a few seconds, then play again...
Nice one! My goal for this year was to try dark slides and hand-plants... I can do the plants, but haven't tried the slides
thst looks sic, got any crocs or sharks in that river?? looks eerie as
Thanks, and there is a croc warnings sign there but is only a sighting every few years. And sharks can never say that there's none have seen a couple of small ones in there tho. It's good most the locals stay out the front in the rough give us few a lot of smooth water to play with. Only takes a few weeks with darkslides to go from thinking your Gona mangle yourself to doing them comfortably every time.
Select to expand quotekemp90 said..Kamikuza said..
Pause the player, click back on the time bar a few seconds, then play again...
Nice one! My goal for this year was to try dark slides and hand-plants... I can do the plants, but haven't tried the slides
thst looks sic, got any crocs or sharks in that river?? looks eerie as
what about cobblers
Select to expand quotecauncy said...kemp90 said..Kamikuza said..
Pause the player, click back on the time bar a few seconds, then play again...
Nice one! My goal for this year was to try dark slides and hand-plants... I can do the plants, but haven't tried the slides
thst looks sic, got any crocs or sharks in that river?? looks eerie as
what about cobblers
In qld theyre called stonefish and im pretty sure they dont get that far north.
Select to expand quoteUnhook3d said..cauncy said...kemp90 said..Kamikuza said..
Pause the player, click back on the time bar a few seconds, then play again...
Nice one! My goal for this year was to try dark slides and hand-plants... I can do the plants, but haven't tried the slides
thst looks sic, got any crocs or sharks in that river?? looks eerie as
what about cobblers
In qld theyre called stonefish and im pretty sure they dont get that far north.
yep we still have plenty of stonefish here. but none in the river hes kiting in
Select to expand quoteRails said..
My imagery stops at 0:41...
If we ever get wind again in Mackay I am having a darkslide day for sure
took me 4? days before i could get them right :) biggest thing for me was tucking your legs and board up when you loop the kite im sure if i was on a c kite would been quicker progression tho it was a pretty entertaining week for everyone there till i nailed it once you get it tho can do half a dozen in a row on your run
thanks for video tho OP :D going to start on handplant next session. let us know how you go with the jesus i can never seem to kick my board up.
Lift your legs above your head in a more vertical position when you do a hand plant, like you see skaters do at a half pipe. That will make it more stylish.
Finish the dark slides with a more aggressive kite loop and transition i.e change directions.. looks better imo
Yeh still haven't done it as a transition yet. I assume you keep looping it till its going the other direction? Now I'm using an 8m Vegas the darkslides are a lot shorter with alot more of a pop out when it loops. Might try it on my 15 when we get wind again see I I can drag the slide out a lot more
Select to expand quoteWallis1986 said..
Thought that was just my computer stopping as well. If you search "darkslides and handplants" in youtube It works properly in there. And rails, have you ever come to bowen for a kite? On a ese or, is perfect for the don river creek mouth with smooth water.
Been meaning to, heading to Townsville in a few weeks, will drop in if there is wind, what tide is best for the Don?
To get into the smooth water in the vid, mid to high tide, just need to have enough wind to get upwind otherwise you will end up way down the back in the mangroves, had a mate go missing for 3 hours in there lol. And mid to low tide it best out the front in the ocean as sand bars start to come up and makes a lot of smooth ish water areas. So basicly if you confident of your upwind, any tide will do.
Killing it now Wallis........will be grabbing some tips when we head out next.
Great vid as well.
Select to expand quoteRails said..
My imagery stops at 0:41...
If we ever get wind again in Mackay I am having a darkslide day for sure
Wind came tried one and hah! Smasho.
Will try another once I recover
