Arcs
K ick Carve Turns
Skate
Reef
Gear
Non Google Sponsors
The kick carve combines a wheelie with a turn. It's an old school "tic tac" done with speed. It has a really surfy feel to it. It can be done at full speed. If you ride a big board, you can't do without it. When I ride my 54 Classic, I couldn't even go around a sidewalk corner without it.
The kick carve has a different feel from a kick turn. A kick turn is a pivot move, mostly swinging on the wheels as a pivot point. There's not much carve to a kick turn. In a kick carve, I ride along in a wheelie while I'm turning on the wheels, at the same time swinging the board. There was an old trick called the "g turn" that was like this. Usually skateboarders rode those wheelie turns on the nose. If you've seen a g turn, think of a kick carve as a g turn from the tail. If you want another reference point, rent a longboard surfing videotape, and see how surfers draw out their turns so they seem unhurried, almost in slow motion. On the big 54 inch board in many of these pictures, that's the turning feel I go for in a kick carve.
Toeside kick carve turn
This kick carve in the toeside direction simulates the most basic turn in longboarding, the bottom turn done while facing the wave. Sometimes this will be called a frontside bottom turn, indicating the bottom turn a regular foot surfer will do on a frontside wave, a wave breaking to the right.
I go for a certain feel in a kick carve. I think it should be drawn out, so the board swings around a little faster than the rear wheels would turn the board without any nose pivot. What that means is, the turn radius is just a little tighter than a carving turn on all four wheels. That way there's a nice carving feel to the turn, but it's not bogged down by the front wheels restricting the radius of the turn. The kick carve is nice because you can start to turn at one radius, then if something gets in the way or you misjudge, it's easy to whip the board around and get out of trouble. This would not be possible if all four wheels were on the ground. The kick carve give you more options and flexibility in your turns. Master the tail carves first, then add the extra swing of the board and carve on two wheels of the kick carve.
Heelside pre-turn
Like the toeside tail carve, when initiating the turn, my weight is on the front foot, in the middle of the board. Notice there are a full two feet of nose in front to walk on later, after a setup turn. In this case, I put my back arm across my body to wind up. In a moment I will throw my arm to the outside to lead the turn.
The board is actually weighted on the heelside at this point. There's a bit of a pre-turn to heelside. When I swing into my toeside kick carve, the subtle rail to rail motion will make the turn all the more defined. Also, it's a good way to control speed and improve consistency to always turn, rail to rail, big turns or small, to keep the s patterns going.
My back arm swings back, which helps rotate my shoulders into the turn. My weight drops back fully onto the tail. The toe is placed on the right side of the stringer. Sometimes my toe actually hangs off so it can drag on the ground as a pivot point. I also use a pad on the bottom of the tail of my board as a skid guard, so I can grind the tail without wearing it down. Unlike a street board, you probably want to preserve the tail of a wooden classic type board.
The turn ends as I shift my weight forward and drop the front wheels.
Arm styling
In frames two and three of this turn, my arms are held extended in the "beach ball" shape, where you think of holding a giant beach ball. This is a basic styling, that's in contrast to "floppy arms", which is an arm styling a lot of surfers use to the point of sloppiness. That's ok, sometimes you might want to look sloppy, as kind of a "hang loose" attitude pose. But the beach ball idea is very balanced and therefore functional, and wont look too bad, or sloppy. I think it shows control but still looks pretty relaxed.
You can also think of your arms are like a balance pole held by a tightrope walker, in a level position, parallel to the ground. Try to see what your arms are doing by looking at the shadow you cast on the sidewalk.
I hold my arms up as much as possible with the lat muscles of my back, so as not to tire out my arms. This is a neat trick to know about arm styling that's not always obvious from watching other skaters or surfers. You may agree that although my arms are extended, they still look relaxed. This is because the back is doing most of the work of holding them up.
Toeside kick carve turn downhill
This toeside kick carve turn is performed going down a mild hill. It's a way to turn back uphill and stop the board. This sequence is part of the Waves project and is a tribute to the kickout, which is the ending to a surfing ride.
The turn starts from the tail stance. The stance is pretty narrow, less than shoulder width, making it easy to swing the board a full 180. I turn a bit to heelside to open up a little space on the pathway to kick carve into.
Windup
My shoulders are rotated counter clockwise to wind up. My right arm is reached leftward across my body. My knees are bent. My head stays facing right a bit. These motions are the coiling setup to the kick carve. Uncoiling will swing the heavy board around and back uphill.
The weight is shifted all at once to the back foot, which is on the tip of the tail, or hanging off. My shoulders unwind rapidly and firmly and initiate the kick carve. The nose lifts up in a wheelie and swings around. The tail doesn't exactly pivot, but moves around in a small half circle. This turn actually rotated quite slowly. When the wheelie is balanced, a slow, smooth kick carve is possible.
Check
The kick carve is finished by pointing the board directly uphill. There is some "checking," or counter rotation. In other words, my shoulders rotate in the opposite direction of the turn an eighth turn or so. This helps push the board the last bit as well as keeping control of the rotation.
