HOW TO PLAY The Air Screw
ROLL WITHOUT GETTING YOUR HAIR WET BY JIMMY BLAKENEY
The air screw involves launching off the face of a wave, rotating your kayak on its long axis one full rotation, and landing back in a front surf—which is easier said than done.
As wave surfing moved to the forefront of freestyle kayaking a few years ago, the air screw became a sort of holy grail; everyone knew it was possible, but no one had prov- en it. In 2001 rumours about people landing the full rotation air screw started circulat- ing and in late 2002 I managed to pull off a full rotation while the cameras were rolling. Since that first documented air screw the number of successful landings has been increasing at an exponential rate.
So, how does one do an air screw?
Start high on a big green wave so you can accelerate down the face of it. Just as you start to drop down the face, push down with your legs to do a pre-hop to free the boat from the water. Do this as high as possible on the wave. It’s not a jerky or exaggerated movement, but rather a subtle motion that frees the boat from the surface and allows it to drop down the face with lots of speed so you can get a BIG hop!
As the boat is about to touch down on the wave, lift your left knee, rotate your torso to the left and have your paddle almost parallel to the left side of the boat. This is the crucial set-up position; left knee up, torso rotated left and paddle along the left side of the boat (assuming here that you will rotate to the left), all while dropping down onto the face of the wave with your weight centered over your boat.
You should still be high on the face of the wave (no more than halfway down) when your right edge hits the water. When it does, push your right bow edge down so it sinks into the face of the wave. Your body is now wound up and ready to go, your boat’s right edge is in the face of the wave and the speed you generated as you fell down the wave is going to cause the boat to jump out of the water. You’re ready for take off!
As the boat jumps off the water, try to lift your hips as high as possible to maximize the height gained from the bounce. At the same time, reach under the left side of the boat with your left paddle blade. If you do this, you’ll end up inverted with the boat above you, still pointed upstream, with your paddle now perpendicu- lar to your boat. You thrust your hips as high as pos- sible using the edge bounce, and rotate everything around your paddle.
Your body weight should be slightly back of centre, but don’t throw your weight to the back deck or reach toward the stern with your paddle.
From the inverted position, reach forward and across your boat with your right paddle blade. This motion is very similar to a forward sweep roll. You are trying to bring your boat back un- derneath you, like during a roll, except you’re in the air. Your goal is to land pointing straight upstream—if you land sideways, you’ve done a pan-am, which is another cool move, but not the one we’re trying to do here.
The higher you bounce the more likely you are to come all the way around and land fac- ing forward. Remember, you want to land on the green wave, as if you never stopped front surfing… that’s when you know you’ve screwed it up tight.
Jimmy Blakeney is a former U.S. freestyle na- tional champion and is profiled in the new film Wet-House.
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