Tips by Tan Kay Tuck
Video : Megan Ethell
Photo : Kim Yong Il
APPROACH – Come in as you would for a wake-to-wake spin. ie a progressive approach into the wake, loading the line with your hips rather than your shoulders. Ideally you want to drift in closer to the wake before you sit on your edge as you don’t want to have too much rope tension when you are learning this trick. When you do sit on your edge, load the hardest at the base of the wake, as that would send you up rather than out.
In short – edge out and flatten board, drift in roughly 50% and start loading the line by sitting on your edge. Load hardest for the last 20-30% and get ready to pop.
POP/INITIATION: There are three key things to remember when popping;
1) Scoop the board up, at the peak of the wake – very much how one would to initiate a back roll
2) Advance yourself over the handle – do this by pushing the handle to your hips with both hands and leaning over the handle slightly – This will keep the handle close to you while you rotate around it.
3) Keep your eyes on the second wake once you initiate the trick – This will keep your shoulders in position while your board goes into the off-axis rotation. ** If your eyes follow the board upwards, you will probably go into a back roll
Ride all the way up to the peak of the wake. At this point, initiate the trick by scooping your board upwards to start the rotation. At the same time, advance yourself over the handle and keep your eyes on the second wake. Your body will begin to twist, as your board does the off-axis rotation but your shoulders hold their position. **If you advanced yourself over the handle correctly, the handle should move from the middle of your stomach to your rear hip as your board continues to rotate away from you**
HANDLE PASS: When your board is almost on top of you, release the handle with your lead handle, turn your head to look over your shoulder and go for the handle pass. If the initiation stage was correct, this is the easiest part of the trick
LANDING: If you turned your head for the handle pass, you should spot the water early enough. Once you have the handle in your lead hand again, keep it close to your lead hip on the landing, as you don’t want to land with your arm out. Keeping your lead hand close to your lead hip will also give you enough leverage to land in a controlled posture and ride away.
PROBLEMS:
1) Cant get the handle? Initially you will find that once you initiate the scoop of the board, you will feel urge to spin straight away and go for the handle off the wake. By doing so, you will actually spin away from the handle and not into or around the handle, thus making a handle pass impossible.
2) If you feel that there is too much rope tension, unless you are taking a very wide cut and charging in with a full on shoulder load edge, you are probably making the same mistake i.e. spinning away from the handle.
SOLUTION: Advance yourself over the handle (pulling the handle in, close to your hips as you initiate the rotation) and delay the handle pass off the wake. Tthe idea is to keep the handle snug by your hips so you can spin around it. So long as you advance over the handle and delay the handle pass off the wake, you can
technically take your off-axis 360 way out to the flats i.e. the farther out you start to edge in and the harder your cut, the longer you have to delay the handle pass.