Tips by Mark Griffin
Video : Fahkrudin Yasin
Photo : Roger Koa
This is one the most fun of all the air tricks you can do at cable. It is also the building block to being able to land all your other air tricks to blind such as S-Bend to blinds and Backrolls to blind.
As with every other trick, there are a series of building blocks that will enable faster and safer learning of the trick. You must be completely comfortable with your Air Raley first. If you have not learned the Air Raley you can look it up first before attempting this trick. It will also help to practice letting go with one hand on the descent of your raley, as this will enable you to get comfortable controlling the raley with one hand, a critical component of the blind judge.
I also recommend learning Ollie Blind 180’s. You should be able to do these easily before even attempting a blind judge. In fact the more experience you have landing anything to blind will help immensely.
Approach the Blind Judge in the same manner as you Air Raley. To begin with, you want to control the height of your Raley, ensuring it is not too high. This will aid you in controlling your landing. As you reach the peak of your raley start pulling it in just as you would normally and spot your landing. As you approach the halfway point of your descent, let go of the handle with your rear hand and pull the handle to the small of your back with your lead hand. At the same time you will turn your head to your blind side. It is the turn of your head and the pulling of the handle to the small of your back that will initiate the spin. As you land keep your head looking backwards and really flex your knees on landing to absorb the impact. As soon as you are comfortable you can pass the handle and ride away like a champ!
The key to this trick is to know when to initiate the blind 180. The natural inclination is to pull early, this will make it difficult, but not impossible to land. The best way to understand the timing is to follow the example of your blind Ollie 180. You need to be able to land your Ollie blind 180 without passing the handle.
This trick is simple in concept but can be daunting to learn. Once you master it however it will open up new doors to progress your riding.