Help with airs
Looking for advice on how to get bigger airs. I am riding a doomswell nubstep. believe its a 4"6. I have been able to pop and get little airs. My main question is what the trick to carry more speed up to the launch. I feel like at times my carves slow the board down right be for the launch.
video for reference https://www.dropbox.com/s/hfoo4h3oa142ft7/Brendan.mp4 |
I'm no expert but been working on airs this season. From reading all the tips from others, looks like you did too much of a bottom turn just before you air and that's what's causing you to slow down.
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whats the trick in building speed I guess is what I need to figure out. Building it and not loosing it up to an air.
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The bottom turn the OP is doing seems to be taking away the speed he generated. Plus, when you bottom turn that much before your air, you have to make sure to get your feet back underneath you before you hit the lip. Otherwise, you end up popping at an angle which can make you feel off balance. Not much of a bottom turn is needed if you have enough speed going forward. Chase Hazen does big ol' bottom turns before he airs, but Chase Hazen is a boss... he can do that kind of thing. You just want to get good speed going forward and then change the speed from forward to upward. I think there are 5 basic parts to airs. Go forward, change forward into upward, lift your feet HIGH, shift weight, land even. Here's a clip I put together of an air I did a while back to help out a member in a different forum. It shows not much bottom turn is needed if you have the right speed. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/WEvt8TmBST0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> This video has a ton of great information. Fast forward to the 8 minute mark for their info on airs. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/sQVayRd4VVw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> You've got this! |
That lf video helped. I think I just need to lift and level out higher. Really lift that front leg up. Also need to work on my approach with maintaining speed.
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It is pretty much like Ryan indicated. In a few attempts you were there, your timing was better and your positioning was decent for getting your first little airs or what we usually call baby airs. However, in a number of cases your pumping is a little weak, not really fluid, and when you drop to the bottom you stall too much instead of immediately moving up the face. Basically while you are dropping/falling during the pump you want to be thinking about the up ward ascent. You want to throw your body up, throw your hands up, then level it all out. And, yes the next thing once you are comfortable with the initial launch is knees to your chest, bringing those knees up is huge.
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ok got it! Thanks nick. Sounds like I need to work on my pumping as well. Your saying basically to be lighter and quicker on the feet while pumping?
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Yes, start with smaller pumps, holding between the lip and the mid face, this is your steepest and 'fastest' area. Learn to pump and hold right in that area, then you can expand to larger more aggressive pumping.
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Your pumps seemed to be dramatic (a lot of up, down, and out) without much momentum being gained. Quality pushes over quantity. The way you move on the board now shows you already have a good feel for the flow, so I bet you'll be airing soon! I had what I call an "aha!" moment where it all just clicked. I bet you'll have one too. |
Ah ok. So stay in the mid to upper part of the wave and work on smaller pumps. Got it!
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I'm in the same boat as you Brendan. I haven't quite got the airs down. I tend to carve and get some speed, but lose a lot of it when trying to get air off the top of the wake. I usually end up like you, on the top of it doing a lip slide, or even just going up and over to the other side, which would be really handy if we had a powered surf system on the boat, not a manual one.
I read the thread and watched the video and applied what I learned today. Same thing, not getting any real pop off the wake and either doing a stall, lip slide, or just plain carving up and over the wake whenever I attempt airs. Your video in the first post is pretty much what I'm doing when I attempt airs. My numerous attempts today led to a lot of falls, and some very interesting, "how did he not bite it?" recoveries, but no air. When the gopro video gets taken off the camera I'll post it up here for some critiquing as well. A couple of times I had a really good amount of speed going, I felt like if I launched I'd land in the boat instead of going up the wake for air. I think that's the kind of speed you're looking for, right? One of those times I just flew over the lip into the the other side, I think that's when I'm supposed to do the ollie and I mistimed it so it was more or less a strong carve over the lip. |
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We have about a 15-20 foot pocket, not huge, but definitely enough to drop back and build up some speed. Only takes about two pumps to get that kind of speed and trying to get air on a third. As I mentioned I kept either doing a stall on the lip or sometimes shooting up and over to the dark side. I really think I'm either trying to launch at the wrong part or my timing with my feet is off.
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Are you talking about this video, the last half? I can see that you're pumping to try to get your speed, but as you do what would be an air attempt, you basically just kinda wheelie the board so that the tail is what rides up the face. Fins never leave the wave... |
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BTW: Just to clarify, I'm referring to 15-20 feet from the transom, so usable pocket is more like 12-17 feetish. I know what it felt like, and I knew I was definitely missing a big part of something, did not know what it looked like. Thanks for posting the video. |
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