Ever wondered how much weight could be suspended by your kite lines while you’re riding along? The McClintock brothers thought they’d find out by suspending a kiteboarder in the middle!

We’ve all seen tandem kiteboarding where one rider tows another behind their back, usually by using a second leash or similar attached to the rear of a harness. But this trick’s new! When riding this weekend the McClintock brothers were doing some tandem kiteboarding for a bit of fun, when they realized that it was possible to totally suspend the main kiteboard in the air for entire runs at a time. Here’s how it works…

One person flies the kite, they have a normal board, a normal harness and plenty of extra power in their kite. The second person, attaches a rope (or two kiteboard leashes together) to the rear of their mates harness and then onto the hook of their own harness. Starting tandem requires a good dive of the kite to pull both kiteboarders from the water, and riding along is relatively simple to accomplish with some practice.

The trick then, is for the main kiter (the one flying the kite) to send the kite high in the window and maintain power, even if that means diving the kite (and themselves) towards the water. Meanwhile down below, the person on the rear has to edge really hard and maintain the riding direction and line tension. After careful positioning of the kite and some flat water, the guy flying can remain totally suspended mid air!

According to Josh, who’s the guy who stays grounded in this video. The hardest part of the whole process is riding along with no bar to hold onto, and having enough trust in his brother to fly the kite properly and not kiteloop them both into oblivion!

It goes without saying this trick is probably not one to try at home, but hey, if you’ve got the experience and a willing partner, why not try tandem kiteboarding!