How to Nail a Proper Style Photo Grab – by Clémentine Bonzom

How to Nail a Proper Style Photo Grab – by Clémentine Bonzom

If you want to get the perfect blend of style and action in a kiting shot, then you need to learn how to grab. Clémentine Bonzom will give you her advices to help you to do a proper style photo grab.

When you want to get the perfect blend of style and action in a kiting shot everyone will tell you that you need to add a grab to your trick. Even though grabs like the tail are much more accessible, you should definitely consider advancing to the Stalefish, Melon or Nuclear as ones which are not too complicated to do and adds a lot of style. I am going to explain to you how to do them.

First of all to have the chance to perform a nice grab you need some power in your kite to get as much speed as possible and to be able to get some height which will give you the time to grab your board whilst smiling to the camera. If you want to get even higher don’t hesitate to use a little wave as a kicker and get a nice take off.

Clémentine Bonzom Grab - KiteSista

So here are the steps to follow to achieve your grab:

  • Put your kite a bit higher that you would normally do for a freestyle trick… not too high otherwise it will be a bit to difficult to pop efficiently, between 10-11 o’clock or 1-2 if you are riding on the opposite side.
  • Keep your front hand (the one which will stay on the bar) as close as you can to the trim, you can even place your finger around the central line especially if you want to try his trick unhooked later.
  • Get lots of speed
  • edge hard and quickly
Clémentine Bonzom Grab - KiteSista
  • Straight after your take off, roll your body over your front shoulder in a downwards direction, a bit like you would do for a front roll while keeping your body tense to stop the rotation when it’s necessary. Your objective is to throw your low body over the front (until it reaches your chest).
  • At this time you need to let go of your back hand to be able to grab the board. Don’t be sad if you don’t make it first, you will have many attempts without even touching the board but it will come! First of all you need to get comfortable with the fact that you need to let go one hand off the bar which is a bit weird at the beginning. Your front hand will help you to keep a good balance in the air while you will push down on the bar.

Next we will talk about your hand placement on the board which can be a bit messy if you don’t grab one specific place on your board. The names never stop changing but I have included a little diagram to help you out. In the photos I am doing a Stalefish, but another really popular grab in this position is the Nuclear where you grab the topside edge between the nose and your front foot.

Grabs
  • Wherever your grab your board you need to focus on your body position, composer and tweak which will make the difference with the style of your trick. You need to bend your front leg and straight the back while you tweak. For this, you will have to grab the board and have then straighten your body to the side to tweak and get a better style.
  • The next step is to get back to the normal position by contracting your abs and tensing your body. The front hand which is still on the bar will naturally pull the kite down which will give you enough speed for your landing.
  • For your landing, don’t forget to bend your two legs especially when you will not have your kite to absorb the impact as it will be already very low.

Your turn to try, good luck!

Clémentine Bonzom Grab - KiteSista

Written by Clémentine Bonzom

Follow Clem on Facebook and Instagram



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