Grabs are often overlooked, yet an essential part of kiteboarding. There are so many good reasons to learn all the kiteboarding grabs. You'll gain Proprioception or body and spatial awareness.

Imagine every trick feels like slow motion where you have ultimate control like a video game on easy mode. You'll massively improve your kite control, too. Grabs teach you to fly the kite with one hand.

Later, you'll develop great core strength and power for more advanced kiteboarding tricks.

The biggest benefit of learning kiteboarding grabs is that they are an easy way to improve every trick you know. A basic backroll or front roll will look and feel very different when you try different grabs.

Control and style differentiate between a good kiteboarder and a great kiteboarder. Grabs add style to the most basic things, like a simple jump. Lastly, small progress on simple things will accelerate your progress in other areas. When we make small progress, our minds get rewired for success and fun. The more fun we have, the more we learn!

The best way to start is to try all the grabs with a simple kiteboarding jump while hooked in. Backhand grabs are the easiest to learn. They also help beginners land their first kiteboarding jumps, as the front-hand pressure naturally redirects the kite forward to a proper landing. We'll start with the easiest grabs and work up to harder variations.

Essential tips for kiteboarding grabs with the back-hand:

• Take your back hand off the bar and bring both knees to your chest.
• Refrain from reaching down for the board. Bring the board to your hand.
• Split the bar with your front hand for better kite control.
• Grab at the apex of your jump or after you complete a rotation.

Avoid the no-grab zones: These would be areas near your fins between the tail and your foot straps. The actual nose, tail, or between the feet will always be the most stylish. There are silly names for these grabs, too. The Nelon is a mix between a nose and a melon; the Nute is a mix between a mute and a nose. The tailfish is a mix of a tail grab and a stalefish. Technically, these are grabs, but they are considered improper form. You can grab here for learning board-offs, as they are an easy-to-reach area.

Kiteboarding Tail Grab: Bring the tail up and into your back hand. Make sure to grab the board in the middle of the tail, not on the edge.

This is the easiest grab and the place to start. Poke your front leg out a little to make the grab easier and stylish.

Kiteboarding Indy Grab: First, bring both knees up into your chest. Then, reach your back hand in front of your back leg to the toeside edge of your board and grab between your feet. For extra style, you can tuck your back knee down and poke the front leg out a little.

This is another very easy grab. You could start here if you choose. 

Key tip: Remember to bring the board to your hands. Do not reach down.

Kiteboarding Stalefish Grab: Take your backhand behind your back leg and grab the heel edge between your feet.

Try it with a backroll: This one works exceptionally well with a backroll and looks amazing! Learn this right after you try it with a regular jump.

Key tip: Bring your knees up into your chest. 

Front-hand grabs are more complicated. You have to control the kite and avoid overspending it while making a grab.

These are stylish and rare, so you will stand out if you learn them and incorporate them into all your kiteboarding tricks.

Avoid oversending the kite: The two most common mistakes are reaching for the board rather than bringing it up to your hands and oversending the kite. You will need to practice putting your back hand on the front of the bar to prevent this. 

Essential tips for kiteboarding grabs with the front hand:

• Bend your knees and use your core to bring the board to you.
• Split the kiteboarding control bar with your backhand. Keep two fingers on the front of the bar for leverage to redirect the kite into a good landing.
• Put your back hand on the front of the bar. This is a good alternative for those who always oversend the kite and get dropped.
• Put your back hand on the front of the bar. This is a good alternative for those who always oversend the kite and get dropped.
• Make the grab near the apex of your jump.

Kiteboarding Nose Grab: Use your front hand to grab the nose of the kiteboard. To make the grab easier, tuck your front knee tight and poke the back leg out.

Spice it up by taking it to toeside.

Key tip: Place your back hand on the front of the bar to avoid getting dropped.

Kiteboarding Mute Grab: Your front hand grabs in front of your front leg on the toeside edge of the kiteboard between your feet.

Key tip: Get those knees tucked into your chest. It helps to turn forward slighly to make the grab.

Kiteboarding Melon Grab: Your front hand grabs behind your front leg on the heelside edge of the board between your feet.

Key tip: It helps to rotate slighlty in a way that feels natural to you. Experiment to find what feels right.

Kiteboarding Method Grab: As a bonus, you can shift a melon 90º back to make this a method grab. Take it to the toeside for extra rotation and style points.

Note: In the melon above I'm facing forward while in this photo my back is facing the kite and I'm kicking my legs back. This is the same grab with a small adjustment. 

There are more advanced grabs that take more flexibility, coordination, and skill. These can be front-hand and back-hand grabs. They will look more technical and stylish if executed well. If you spend time learning these and try them with rolls or rotations, you will turn heads. You can add any of these grabs to the drop after a kiteloop for loads of style points!

How do I learn these advanced grabs? The best way is to practice. Leave your kiteboard on the floor and stretch out every time you walk by it. At first, you can use a couch or a desk for balance. Over time, you will get flexible enough to try these in the air.

Kiteboarding Crail Grab: The Crail Grab is when you reach your back hand to the nose of your kiteboard. Avoid grabbing the area between your straps and the nose. Your hand should be centered on the nose.

Key tip: Turning your back to the kite is the key to landing this one. Sometimes, the centerlines get in the way.

You can also do them on a vertical or horizontal axis to change the look. It helps to poke your back leg as hard as possible to make this grab easier.

Kiteboarding Seatbelt Grab: This looks like you're buckling a seatbelt.

Take your front hand, reach across your body, and grab the tail of your kiteboard.

Like the Crail, it helps to poke the front leg out hard to reach easier. I like to shifty a full 180 and do it switch as it will feel like a Crail. 

There are grabs where you can reach through your legs to the opposite edge of the kiteboard. These will look more technical but are easier than the cross-body grabs. They have some wild names made up by skateboarders and snowboarders in the 80's and 90's.

Kiteboarding Chicken Salad Grab: To do this, reach your front hand through the front of your legs and grab the heelside edge of the kiteboard between your feet.

Kiteboarding Roast Beef Grab: Similar to the stalefish grab, except you are reaching your backhand in front of your legs and through your legs to grab the heelside edge of the kiteboard. Arguably, this is no more difficult than a stale fish, but it has a unique look. These grabs will look better if you poke one leg out more than the other.

Kiteboarding Canadian Bacon Grab: Take your backhand and reach behind and through your legs to grab the toeside edge of the board between your feet.

This is a rare grab, so you will stand out on the water if you learn it.

Kiteboarding Thaipan Grab: Take your front hand and reach behind and through your legs to grab the toeside edge of the kiteboard. This is the rarest of kiteboarding grabs so give it a go!

You can use tweaks, pokes, shiftys and rotations to make grabs pop!

Tweaking & Boning a grab: You bend one leg and poke the other straight. There are no hard, fast rules for which leg to bend or poke. Experiment and see what looks and feels good to you. This will always make every grab look way cooler.

Style matters: Compare this tail grab to the first one above.

Shiftys: This is where you turn your body into or away from your direction of travel. It will make your grab look more technical. Do this while boning a grab out for even more styleone leg out more than the other.

Compare: Compare this shifty indy with a tucked knee to the first indy we showed. You can see how these details completly change the grab. 

Rotations: The most stylish grab will be tweaked out with a shifty one way and a rotation out the other. For example, you can turn your back in your direction of travel and grab a melon.

This makes it a method grab. Now, rotate back the other way and land toeside. This looks like you did a 360 spin without ever actually doing a spin. Doing all this together is so simple, but it will look styling and technical with very little work on your end.

Blind and wrapped landings: You can take it one step further and land with the kite behind your back. This will be the most advanced but also the highest level of free riding. Blind is where you rotate to the toeside and land with the kite bar behind your back. Wrapped in landing heelside but with the centerline wrapped behind your back.

Yes, absolutely! Grabs are the perfect way to add style to any kiteloop. The timing doesn't matter, but it will change the difficulty and look of the kiteloop. The easiest time to grab is after a loop and a catch. The most stylish grabs will be during a kiteloop. The best riders will do one grab for the loop and another grab after the catch.

Adding grabs to Kiteloops: You can add a grab at any time to a kiteloop. It will look the most extreme if you hold it while looping the kite. This can be with mega loops, boogie loops, or even simple hand-drag loops.

Easy Kiteloop Grabs: A simple variation is a small backroll hand drag with a nose grab after the loop. Loops are the perfect time to work on front hand grabs because you will natually comit to pulling with your back hand.

The best time to grab with a kiteloop: Another great variation is to add grabs after the big kite loop. The part right after a freefall and the kite has caught you is sometimes awkward and funny-looking as the rider dangles there. This is prime time to showcase style and add a grab to demonstrate control.

The expert team at Elite Watersports is here to serve. If you have any kiteboarding related questions call us. We can build custom kiteboarding packages, book kiteboarding lessons or simply offer helpful advice. We're your one stop shop for kiteboarding knowledge.

Swing by the shop and say hello!  

If you need help deciding on your first kiteboarding kite give Elite Watersports a call. We're happy to set you up with your first kiteboarding kite.
(727)-800-2202