How to Land a Backmobe by Elias Ochner

Hello, my name is Elias Ochner, and I am 16 years old. I am from Italy, and my passion is kitesurfing. I started kitesurfing about four years ago. In this post, I will explain how to do a backmobe, and I’ll tell the story of how I learned this trick. I have been trying the backmobe for a long time. It’s easy to crash, but hard to land.

Before you try a backmobe, you must be able to do raley to blind. When trying a backmobe, you must first remember to keep the kite low, at around 10 o’clock. For sure, the takeoff is one of the keys for the backmobe. You must takeoff harder than ever. On the first rotation, let your arms stay long, and don’t pull them in. After the first rotation, keep your arms long until you finish the backroll 5, then pull the bar hard towards your back hip. Finally, let one hand go and pass the bar.

That sounds easy, but there are so many mistakes you can make. Firstly, you might not pop hard enough. Secondly, you might finish the backroll 5 and not have the momentum to spin more. Thirdly, maybe you can pass the bar but you are not spinning enough.

So, what can you do to land the trick? First: pop hard. Second: look back over your shoulder with your head. Third: after the backroll 5, pull the bar to your back hip.

I have a story about the backmobe. I started trying backmobes about a year ago, but I always made it to the backroll 5, but then the rotation stopped. Sometimes, I was able to pass the bar at a backroll 5, but I still couldn’t land the trick.

Nobody told me how to finish this last rotation. Well, maybe somebody told me how to do it, but I didn’t understand them. After the first few days in Brazil, I tried some backmobes. I nearly landed two of my first tries, but on one attempt my leash cut my chin. On my second try, I crashed with my chin on my knee and my chin was bleeding, so I started to get scared of the trick. After a couple weeks, I tried the backmobe again, but I didn’t know how to finish the last rotation. After one day I was frustrated, so I went to my mentor and I talked to him.

The next session, I tried it again but it was not possible to make the last rotation. My coach, Blaine, was watching me and he gave me some tips that really helped me. He said to hold the bar longer, look back with my head, pass the bar later, and pull the bar to my back hip after the backroll 5. I want to thank Blaine because he really helped me to nearly land this elusive trick.

For one week, I hadn’t tried anything but this trick, but I didn’t land it. The competition was coming, and I didn’t know what five tricks I should try, because I couldn’t land anything anymore because I lost all my other tricks by only practicing the backmobe. I crashed all my tricks in the competition, and I was banned from trying this trick for a few days.

A week later, I began a session with a backroll 5 and was feeling that it was the day I would land the backmobe. My next turn, I wanted to go for the backmobe but somebody was in another rotation, so I had to wait. I was getting angry because nobody was riding in the rotation. Then, finally, I had space to try my backmobe. I tried it, but I landed with the knee in my chin. I was crying in the water to Gabe and Tom, but they thought I was joking. Finally, they saw that I was bleeding and helped pull me out of the water. Then I went with Burgess and Gabi to Fortaleza. The dentist stitched my lip and he put braces on my teeth. After a few weeks, my lip healed, and I was able to kite again.

I was really discouraged with my progression in Brazil, but then during my last session something happened — I finally landed the backmobe! I landed it twice during my last session in Cauipe. The first time, after I landed it I was screaming in the water. Tom, Gabe, Louis, and Polly saw me screaming, but they didn’t see my backmobe. So I tried it again. After three more tries, I landed it again on camera. I want to give a huge thanks for all the coaching, especially to Maxi Gomez, Blaine Baker, and the rest of the staff and students at WCKA.