Now its over, done, fineto! Your a passenger now. Go with it and if you have enough momentum, you will go all the way round and land, probably nose first and quite safely. When you open your eyes again, you will still be looking out to sea!

That's it! As you get better and start choosing better waves, you will not need trim and will not be pulling back so much, indeed you don't want to rotate, you want to get the height first. But that's for later, next weekend. Now just concentrate on that first rotation and pull with all you've got. Different engine setups will need different techniques, a stock engine will need a faster approach speed, and a full freestyle spec ski may not need full power.

One thing..... don't let go. Don't ever let go. You can land quite safely upside down from a great height if you have both feet in and both hands on, it doesn't hurt. If you are separated from the ski, then it can land anywhere and thats dangerous.

 

To try and help emphasise this throwing your head back, I've found a couple of short Videos.

 

No disrespect to this first lad, it was his first effort and good on him for trying, but you can clearly see there is no effort to throw his head and body back and hence no rotation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_AkQBjip4U

 

The second clip is of the mighty Macc himself - sorry Macc. He's going for a double backy, but look at his body, there's no throwing back of his body to give him enough rotation and look closely at the wave, he's hit it too early, its too far out and not steep enough. That's why there is so much forward movement of the ski and not enough height which would give time for the rotation, a bit like a long jumper versus a high jumper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeY6T9aXKlQ&feature=player_embedded

Backflip............

What can one say, it is the mother of all stunts, whether its a simple straight flip, or a variation from a one-hander to one hand & one foot, right through to the incredible Superflip.

But lets keep out feet on the ground, or at least in the ski! The FNT and this site is aimed at budding freeriders, not pros.

 

I cannot say enough times that the feeling, the exhilaration, the buzz of landing a backflip is incredible and addictive - and it is so easy to do!

You don't need massive power or lightweight hulls, but you do need the right frame of mind - balls and commitment.

I am going to try and concentrate here on you completing your first backflip. You're a fairly experienced rider in the sea, confident with nose stabs and maybe getting there with a barrel roll, certainly you're regularly get some serious big air and comfortable in a good sized sea.

So you've waited for the right day, the waves are clean with good wave faces and importantly are well spaced, approx 8 seconds at least. This spacing is important as it will allow you to choose your wave and have time to straighten up to it, and approach in a controlled way. I guess a 4 to 5 foot wave face, that's the ramp you will hit, is ideal, in hopefully not too shallow water. There's someone else out with you right? Just in case...

You're looking then waiting for that wave to appear. Don't force it, it will come... there will be a gap, enough time to focus on the wave and approach it comfortably, and then you'll just know... know that you have to commit 100% and be confident that its natural physics that makes it all happen safely.

The wave itself is the key. It needs to be reasonably sized, in truth probably slightly bigger that you'd like to start with. Crucially, it needs to be vertical, close to breaking but not yet white water. It is the "verticalness" which makes it all happen. As you go up, you are going to be pulling backwards. If the wave is not straight enough, it will never work, at least not at this stage. The best way to describe this wave is the sort of wave that you would normally turn around in front of because there's nothing you can do off it - you can't jump it normally because its too vertical - the only thing you can do is a backflip!

So there it is, "that" wave looms up in front of you and you know its time. You vision will narrow down to dead ahead, everything will go quiet around you but fortunately you haven't got time for your palms to go sweaty, they're gripping too hard!!!

 

Go to it, not too fast, just as you normally would. Approach it dead square on, not sideways or twisting. As you reach the base of this splendid monster, give it full gas - nail it.

 

You will start accelerating up the wave, as you hit the top and start flying, throw your head back and let your body follow it, throw yourself backwards in an arch for all your worth. If you have trim on your ski use it now.

 

Try and roll your head back so far you can lick your a#$e. This is the key, arch your body back, leading with the head and everything will follow, honestly!