Now that the project is coming to a close I feel that it is necessary to summarize the experiences and highs and lows of the project. When I first started this project I had been trying to land air reverse for the past few years and this has been something that I have wanted to do since I first started surfing. The first week of the project the waves were too small to surf a shortboard, so I got some practice on a longboard. I didn’t get any opportunities to try the trick. The second week offered more swell and size to surf my shortboard and try this trick. I had some really close attempts but was struggling to ride out after I landed the trick. Unfortunately I ended up cutting up my feet pretty bad on my last wave of the session and had to stay out of the water for a while to let those cuts heal up. Week 3 had some waves but I was out of the water for a few days, so I missed the best part of the swell but got some waves later in the week. I got some of the best waves week three but the wind was blowing in the wrong direction to help me land this trick. The fourth week offered some quality waves and decent wind conditions to give me more opportunities to try this trick. I was landing hard on my left ankle (which is my injured one) and was starting to get a little worried that I might re-injure it. The final week of the project I landed really bad on my left ankle and actually re-injured it. I will be out of the water for a few weeks now and probably have to do some physical therapy to help strengthen it up so I can prevent re-injuring it. Unfortunately I didn’t reach my success criteria for this project, but I have learned a whole bunch along the way that has helped me get closer to landing it than ever before. Inquiry QuestionsI used Diigo to collect my research for the inquiry questions, also I answered individual questions each week while I was working on the project.
The Diigo Link can be found here 20% project Inquiry Questions:
Inquiry Questions:
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Looking into what sports would help me get back into the game and land this trick, two sports come to mind:
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What Kind of fins would help me land this trick?
Learning pretty much everything I can about this trick, I now know that I will need a fin that can get me a lot of speed and drive. There are several fins that I was looking at that would help me get more speed and drive out of my boards, but the honeycomb EA has enough rake and foil to get me the speed I need and the drive up the wave to get out of the water and into the air.
Right now I'm using Julian Wilson's JW-1 on my shortboard. The fin was designed to work in most conditions but it does get loose in parts of the wave where I need to drive down the line to hit the end section. Unfortunately I cannot afford new fins, So the JW-1 will have to do. |
The south swells are coming in! The water is warming up, less coursework from some of my education classes which allowed me to get more time in the water to practice my air reverse. My brother just finished volunteering at the lab in UCSD, so he has been surfing with me and giving me pointers while we surf. The progress toward landing an air reverse is still slow. I had a few attempts this past week but still have the same problem of spinning around after I land. The closest I got was on a chest high wave out a D-Street in Encinitas. This wave had a little face and a nice soft closeout section that I was able to hit with a lot of speed. Then once I was in the air I managed to spin all the way around and land on top of my board. I lost my balance when I was trying to spin my board around. This last week I kept landing hard on my left ankle (which is my injured one) almost re-injured when I landed hard out in front of the wave (the flats). I didn’t use the whitewash or the lip of the wave to cushion the landing, so all of my weight and momentum was centered on my bad ankle. I heard a little pop and felt some sensation when I landed hard, but fortunately there wasn’t much pain. I need to be careful how high I go in the aire and how/where I land my airs to try to not re-injure my weak ankle. I wanted to research where my body should be to help me land and ride out, and also research how I can prevent injuring my ankle. |
Research Into Inquire Questions:
How should I position my body to land an air reverse?
After watching countless hours of surf videos and how-to videos of professional surfers explaining how to land an air reverse, I now know a good method for me to be able to stay on top of my board when I land and how to position my body. I need to keep most of my weight over my front foot when I launch off the lip and then spin my front shoulder to get my body in the right position to land this trick. When I land I need to have my weight distributed over my front foot and transition the weight to my back foot when I spin around. Here are some of the surf and how-to videos that I watched to help answer this question. | |
How can I try this trick without re-injuring my ankle?
I talked with some of my friends who have had similar problems with their ankles and asked them what they did to not re-injure their weak ankles. The thing that was suggested was to get myself an ankle brace, so that was the first thing that I did. I looked around online and in the local pharmacy to see if there was one in particular that would work best while I was in the water surfing. The Element sport brace seemed to be the best around but it was also the most expensive. So I did what all poor college students do, and I bought a cheap one from the local CVS. |
My foot is still a little cut up but I scored some really good waves over the last week. I took my gopro out and wanted to give it a try to see if I could get some video of my sessions. The video that I posted was a wave that I missed while I was surfing out at a secret spot (well there was actually three waves before that one that all looked the same, this was the last wave of the set and I will forever regret missing those waves). I got to try only one air while I was out there and unfortunately the wind blew my board out from under my feet while I was in the air. Going to try to get out there and get some more waves to land this trick! | Sweet Right lo-quality from Malt 45 on Vimeo. |
Inquire Question: What conditions would be best for an air reverse?
There are many conditions that effect the wave size and shape. First of all where you surf can effect the wave height, surface texture and shape of the wave. For example blacks beach has a underwater canyon that amplifies the waves and focuses the way that it breaks to make a much heavier wave that is peaky and perfect! Wave Size - This is all based on personal preference, I prefer waves to be around 5'-8' and a little smaller when I'm trying airs. Wind - From the several videos that I have watched, the wind is the best when its slightly on-shore or side-shore coming right at you. If the wind is too strong in any direction it will blow the board out from under my feet. Beach - A beach break is usually the best option for trying airs because you can get a lot of waves and they usually have a good end section. |
Inquiry Question: What exercises would help condition me to land this trick?
There was a small south swell that came through this weekend. I was able to get the tail end of the swell and try a few air reverses. It was about 3-4 feet and good conditions for trying to get up in the air. I was riding my 6’0” fish that is designed to go faster in smaller waves and make it through flat sections. I got a bunch of waves on that board and was getting ready to go in because all the little grommies (kids) were on their way out. I saw this nice little wave on its way to me, so I paddled for it and got into it. Started pumping and building up speed to hit the end section. I launched off the section and got a few feet above the lip, and started to rotate in the air. When I looked down I saw a little grommie was right where I wanted to land, so I kicked my board out from under me to avoid landing on him. The board started squirming and flipping through the air. I ended landing on the side and fin of my board and cut up my foot pretty good. Guess I’m out of the water for a while… |
Research into Inquiry Questions:
What board would work best for competing this trick?
Board 1: AJW O.G. POTATO LAUNCHER This board was designed for Rob brown to surf in G-land. it works for 8' barrels and 4' chop. It was designed to get speed and hold its rail in the wave. something like this would work very well when the waves got a little bigger around here. I could get a lot of speed and hit the end section to get into the air. Board 2: CHANNEL ISLANDS #4 This board was shaped for dane reynolds. it was the fourth attempt to create him a board that would work well in smaller conditions. This board would work well for me to get speed when the waves are a little smaller and mushy. Board 3: CHANNEL ISLANDS WEIRDO RIPPER This board was designed for yadin nicol to surf while he is in SOUTHERN california for the lowers pro contest. This board works well for smaller beach breaks and waves with a little face to put it on edge. of the three boards, this board would be the board i would buy. |
Inquire Question: How fast should I be going to get into the air?
After doing extensive research (talking with my friends who compete and surf for a living) the more speed I can get, the better! I do not need to have a bunch of speed, but if I want to do an air that looks good from the beach I either need to have a lot of speed to stay in the air for a while, or need to hit the section later to pop out in front of the wave instead of going above the lip. I have tried both and when I have a lot of speed, getting above the lip isn't very hard but landing has been a big issue for me. When I try to hit the lip late and rotate, I always seem to separate from my board. |
Progress: The waves have been smaller the past week, I had a few fun sessions early in the week but the waves didn't offer an opportunity to try this trick. Then when later in the week the size was too small to shortboard, so I got out on the longboard for a few hours.
Inquiry Question: Is this trick (air reverse) still considered a technical trick? I wanted to look into this trick and see if it was something that was viable to do during contests and heats. I wanted to get some insight into what the pro’s felt about that trick and if the guys on the WSL (world surfing league) attempt this trick during contests to get the scores they need to make the heat. My research led me to this video, Death of the air reverse by Stab Magazine. I found that most pro’s don’t view the trick as very technical. Judges that score the pro’s on the WSL don’t give too many points for this trick unless its done on the appropriate part of the wave and with a combination of other tricks. Its a little disheartening when all of my heros rag on how easy it is to do this trick and how they have little respect for other who can do it. |
For my 20% project I wanted to learn how to do an air reverse. I have been surfing for 15+ years and have been trying to learn this trick forever. I want to learn how to do this. I think it will help me when I compete and also want to do this for personal gain. Learning Target - land an air reverse and ride out I plan on learning this by talking with my friends, coaches, youtube videos and websites (surfing, surfer, etc.) Success Criteria - landing an air reverse and riding out (preferably on camera). | Inquire Questions:
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Blog by Sean Malter (the better Sean)
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