Inside Out 180's

After you get your Surface 180's down learn to ride switch. Take one whole 30-minute set and just ride switch. Learn to cross the wakes both ways and small jumps. It's going to feel like your starting all over again and you're going to hate it. But trust me on this one; You'll be glad you did to avoid catching edges later because you weren't comfortable switch.

Once you've gained some control switch and you can do basic wake jumps both ways lets do what I call the necessary 4.

These 4 180's are the base of every take off and landing you will ever do or dream of doing on a board.

Make sure you have these base 180's down from outside the wake to inside first. The 4 are:

1. Toeside 180
2. Switch Toeside 180 or Toeside Half Cab
3. Heelside 180
4. Switch Heelside 180 or Half Cab

I usually have people try Inside to out before they try wake to wake to get used to the landing, minimizing the chance of bad falls.

When your attempting these from inside to out, think in 45 degrees lines.
What I mean by this is pick 2 spots that are 45 degrees from the boats path. This is your line of travel. When your edging to the wake your lead hipbone should be pointing directly down this line. You want to stay in this position until you come off the wake and peak out.

Here's the key;
Don't turn on the way up. As long as you.re going up you have maximum tension on the line. If you try and rotate with all this tension the line will get pulled away from you. If you wait until you're on the way down then the line will be slack and you can rotate your 180 easily. Now to successfully land this, simply replace the lead hip with the other hip. Your board will always follow your hips. But unfortunately your hips don't always follow your board.

On your toeside and switch toeside you can keep both hands on the whole time. On the Heel side and switch Heel side you should let go with the trailing hand on landing. So if your landing right foot forward let go with your left hand.

If you take your other hand and rotate it downward. (Thumb Down) and push the handle toward your back pocket. This will help you keep your hip on that 45-degree line.

Once you get these down. Try them wake-to-wake. Yes, I mean all 4!!

If you take the time and learn this stuff you'll learn all those cool inverts you want a lot easier. Believe me I've been through all the pain since 92 so you don't have to.

Hesitation Leads to Pain,
Dave Briscoe
www.thewakeboardcoach.com