Help me land a backflip

[Sanderwouters]

I've attempted the backflip about 20 times, can't land it. No coaching where I ski so i'd like to get some advice here.

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Sander

[Onside135]

It seems you are falling down at the completion. Try not to fall at the end. You're welcome...

[MattP]

You need to think about edging though the wake on your front foot. Right now you are letting up before the wake and starting the flip with your back foot. This will make you land on your back foot and slip out.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

How you land is determined by how you take off. You have your arms way out and almost all your weight on your back foot. You want handle close and ALL your weight on the front foot.

 

Best flip coaching on the planet

[skispray]

When @eleeski posts do everything he says. He's basically a saint when it comes to helping trickers. @MattP is right, your weight is too far over your back foot, beginning in your glide and then it stays that way through your cut and off the wakes. It helped me a lot to stand completely on my front foot when initiating the turn in and then keeping my body over that front foot all the way up through the top of the wake. I have a tendency to initiate the flip off my back foot so I have to exaggerate it a lot. Although you have your weight back in the video it looks like you are being patient off the wakes so if you have your weight further forward it should clean things up quickly.

[Chet]

Landing the first flip is so cool. It took me about 100 try’s for my first one so I love that your giving it a go. Mike Ferraro is my dear friend and one of the best trick coaches you will ever meet. He applied simple rules to learning the back side version of the trick. Bruce gave you great advice but right before I made my first one back in the day Mike said try not to go down while your trying to go up. Right before the wake your getting pretty compressed. Even though the rope and boat do the work staying solid might give you that little bump you need from the line as you turn away.

Making you first flip is great but how you make it and how you learn it makes all the other flips come easier. You want to take off on a tight line and land on one as well. Good luck!

[eleeski]

First, thanks @skispray for the kind words. Note that my input is a product of many different sources. Including @Chet . He is the MAN for slalom coaching but when you go remember to bring your trick ski. My brother Stan got trick coaching from Chet and came back skiing better with some great insights to pass on to me. And Kevin's videos and understanding of the fundamentals are spot on. There are a few other coaches that can really help. Go for some in person coaching - it works.

 

As far as the video analysis, you are a bit back on the ski. You are also letting up at the wake instead of attacking it. You need to push your legs straighter to a lever position at the base of the wake. Also keep the ski turning toward the back so you take off with a much stronger cut to back. Ride the wake and the ski all the way up to a nice high arc before you pull your legs over. Spot the landing with a smooth pull so you land on the front foot without too much load on the rope. Try to find the inside edge to carve the landing back into the wake (or the next trick).

 

There's a lot going on so it will take a few tries - so don't give up. Have fun with it.

 

Eric

[dchristman]

It may sound similar to @Onside135 's advice of "try not to fall at the end", but the key bit of advice that @Chet gave me going on 30 years ago (I swear I'm not that old!) is to make sure you keep a hold of the handle when you land. It may seem obvious, but from years of just throwing one at the end of my practice sets with no real expectation of skiing away, I was just letting go of the handle. I started riding them away shortly thereafter.