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Waves
W ave 1
Toeside set up turn, kick-stall, walk, nose ride, kickout
Complete simulated wave routine for a 100 yard hill
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These pages break down the Wave routines. Each maneuver will be explained and its relationship to surfing may be mentioned.
This Wave takes place on a normal width road sloping gently downhill. There are some sections with very smooth pavement, like a tennis court. The speed goes up when you hit these sections.
It's good discipline to mark off about 100 yards of hill, using landmarks or cones or backpacks. Try to do the routine in the time it takes to skate that distance. Of course, if you're practicing to surf at Malibu or a long point break, you can pace off 300 yards or more.
In surfing terms, I'm thinking of this wave as a left. The setup turn is a cutback right, toward the curl. Then a kickstall will follow, directing the board left again and down the line. A walk is then easily performed.
Setup turn part one
To set up the walk to the nose, a toeside kick carve turn is executed. The plan is to take off some speed, set the board on a straight path downhill, and walk.
I get my weight back onto the tail to get a nice "teeter totter" point to stand on where swinging the board will be easy. I lead the turn with my back arm, pressing it clockwise. The toeside kick carve turn is executed.
I lift the nose up in a wheelie and swing it around. This turn should accelerate as the board is being directed from across the hill to straight downhill. In other words the board is going down the "fall line."
I drop the nose after the turn is completed at about 90 degrees. At this point, if you're thinking about walking up, you want to assess if you're going the right speed. This is a good time to pump or even push if you have lost speed, or stall if you have gained speed.
Set up part two: the turning kickstall
Next is a kick stall that turns quickly to heelside and skids the tail, taking off a lot of speed. From a narrow stance, right on the tail, I wheelie and turn left at the same time to "kickstall" the board.
In this case, I decide I want to slow down a little more before walking. If I were surfing, I'd be trying to get the board real close to the curl by stalling, as the wall sets up. The walk can then procede comfortably on a nice long wall and shoulder.
I shift my front foot back a little bit. The stance becomes a narrow one, right on the tail. I wheelie and turn heelside at the same time to "kickstall" the board. This is not a turn uphill. You don't want to slow down too much. The tail drags for just a moment.
Use variations in terrain to change speed
It's sometimes creative and useful to use a change in the surface terrain to decide when to do a certain maneuver. Surfers and snowboarders would do the same thing, picking bumps to help initiate maneuvers. On the surface here on the volleyball courts, the stall occurs on the rough area between courts. I want to land the board and take one cross step right as the board hits the smooth surface. The board will then accelerate.
Walk and hang five
From the cross stance off the kickstall I walk up the board, taking three more steps to wind up in a hang five. The knees are bent to keep the weight back.
The first cross step is held for a bit. The pause on the cross step is done for two reasons. One is because the cross step takes the weight off the tail, so the looseness of the board settles down. In surfing the weight placement forward off the tail would cause the board to trim or accelerate.
Reason number two is for style, to look cool and in control, to show that riding cross stance is no problem. Being able to ride in a cross stance smooths out the walk and quiets down the tendency to rush or stumble through cross steps.
Two more steps are taken, leading to another pause in a cross stance.
On the second cross stance, I adjust my front (crossed) foot slightly to get it right on the trucks. Now the back foot can be brought forward.
With my right foot crossed on the front trucks, on the nose but not the tip, I uncross and step my left foot onto the tip in a hang five. The last step is not weighted. The foot hangs off the tip but the weight is all on the ball of the back foot which is right over the front truck.
I bend down low with my seat back, as if seated, my front foot hanging over the nose. It's important to keep your weight back and low. You don't want to nose wheelie here, you want to go fast and do a solid five. You want to keep your speed up in a smooth ride. This simulates trimming along the steep wall of a wave near the curl, which would enable a surfer to place all his weight on the tip in this way.
Tip ride
The tip ride is done with the weight as far up on the nose as possible without actually putting the board into a nose wheelie. The board has a very loose feel and can be swung back and forth behind the skater.
You can see how close to the tip I am in this shot. It's a challenge to do this without tipping forward. My feet are very close together with my back heel just behind the balance point of the front wheels.
In surfing nose riding, the nose sideslips. You can't do this on a regular longskate, unless someone makes one with side wheels or casters. Being way far forward has a very "loose" feel that is something like the crazy feeling of being on the tip of a surfboard. The tail can be swung behind you.
Backpedal
At the end of the space I marked out, I want to begin maneuvering to end the "wave". If I were surfing I'd want to end the ride while there was still something left of the wave to lend a smooth exit.
First I half shuffle the back foot onto the front truck to stabilize the board. I then walk back on my board four steps.
I extend my arms out for balance and walk backwards while looking straight ahead. The steps are done by feel and not by looking.
Getting close to the tail it's important to cross your leg behind you pretty tightly. You want to conserve space and give yourself some room on the tail. This is less important in surfing since you have a bigger board to work with, but you still need to avoid stepping too far and digging the tail in on your backpedal.
The last step puts me in a narrow stance on the tail. I'm now ready to kick out of the ride.
Heelside kickout
I plan on ending the ride by turning 180 degrees and heading back uphill to stop the ride smoothly and with style. This simulates a kickout in surfing.
To prepare for the kickout I get down low. Since this is to be a heelside turn, I will widen my stance a little. Toeside I could probably keep a very narrow stance. I wind up my shoulders clockwise to get some preparation energy for the swinging of the heavy board against the force of going downhill.
I let go of the windup with my shoulders, throwing my front hand back counterclockwise and my weight back and down onto the tail.
The board wheelies and comes around, ending up pointing up the hill.
Since you're going downhill at a good clip and have to turn all the way back uphill, kicking out is a good place to practice turning real hard. In this turn, it took much more swing and rotation to bring it all the way around uphill than it did bringing it downhill in the setup turn. The kickout goes against the force of gravity and speed, while the setup turn into the fall line is assisted by gravity and speed.
As a last surfing style touch I drop down on one knee, heading uphill. This simulates dropping back down onto the surfboard after a complete kickout, heading out to sea in a paddle or knee paddle position. It's a way of showing that the "wave" has ended smoothly. At this point I will stop imagining I'm at Malibu I pick up my board and walk back up the hill.
