The Perfect Backroll

September 2nd, 2008 | Trick Tips

Heel Side Back Roll

The heelside back roll is a huge stepping stone in skill level and is often learned as a first invert. You will be ready to start learning back rolls when you are comfortable doing wake to wake jumps both heelside and toeside, you are confident with a variety of 180′s, grabs, and most importantly a good progressive edge.

Ok, so you’ve stomped all that, now its time to do your backroll. To set up for a backroll you need to start five feet outside the wake (yes that close) in comfortable position to clear both wakes. Come in with a strong progressive edge starting with a slow turn, and edging harder as you approach the wake. The key is to have your hardest edge at the top of the wake. It is not like a tantrum or a massive jump where your charge at the wake as hard as you can. The Key is to float in, and dig that strong progressive edge all the way to the top. Let me emphasize that again, progressive edge all the way to the top!

As you approach and release off the wake your board should be going in an upwards motion away from the boat. Your push up the wake is with your hips; point your front hip to the sky while keeping all your core muscles strong. This will lead your rotation as you release off the wake. Your eyes should be looking up over your lead shoulder which causes your head to initiate the rotation. Think Up and Away.

While you are in the air your eyes should be open looking directly at the boat, and your handle should be held in close to your abdomen with both hands to keep you rotating. When you are landing it is important to look again for the boat, and keep the handle into your hips.

Below are some common problems and solutions to help you while you are learning your backroll:

Rotation is too slow:

-Handle is away from your body.

Rotation speed is controlled by the proximity of the handle to your body. The closer the handle is the faster you will spin.

Under rotating:

- Not riding to the top of the wake.

Make sure that you edge to the top of the wake before starting the rotation. Sometimes it is good to do a few wake jumps before trying the backroll. It should be the same edge. Concentrate on holding your handle close to your hips as you land your jumps.

Spinning 180:

- Poor handle position.

You should have two hands on the handle with the handle in front of your belly button.

Once you’ve perfected your backroll, it is an excellent foundation for steezier tricks like roll to revert and half cab rolls. Eventually you can take your backroll to super tech tricks like mobius, roll to blind and KGBs.