FREESTYLE’S TOUGHEST MOVES
T H IS FE A T U RE IS DE D I C A T ED TO EV E R Y O NE WHO HA S E V ER WA N T ED THE CO O L E ST MO V E S , T HE HI G H E ST S C O R E , T HE MO ST BA D - A SS RI D E , T HE LO U D E ST AP P L A U S E , T H E WI N K
F R OM T H A T C U T E G I R L ( O R G U Y ) I N T H E E D D Y,
OR SIMP LY T HE SA T I S F A C T I O N OF KN OWI N G Y OU JU S T N A I L ED ONE OF FR E E S T Y LE KAYA K I N G ’S TO U G H E S T T RICK S . WE KN OW YOU WA NT TH E SE WO N D E R F U L T HI NG S . SO WE PI C K ED THE BR A I NS OF TO D AY ’S BE S T B O A T E RS TO SH OW YOU HOW TO GE T ‘ EM.
Airscrew Clean Blunt
WITH BEN MARR PHOTOS PATRICK CAMBLIN
The wave won’t do you any favors on this trick. As with most combo wave moves, however, a well-defined shoulder helps, the steeper the better. Once you can do snappy hull-to-hull airscrews on small waves, you are ready to tackle this combo.
These steps outline a left airscrew to left clean blunt.
[1] Get high on the wave.
[2] Start down the wave, put in a paddle stroke and bounce. Tilt the boat with your hips to land on your right edge.
[3] As you land, start rotating your shoulders to the left so your paddle is in line with your boat. Keep the boat on edge and look down at the water—this will start your rotation.
[4] As your boat releases, keep looking down at the water between your arms. Fix your eyes on this spot until the moment just before you go upside down.
[5] Okay, here’s the key to a snappy airscrew and landing flat and ready for the next trick: Right before you go inverted, look over your left shoulder and PUNCH out with your right hand.
[6] Use your right paddle blade as a rud- der to keep your boat straight for the landing.
[7] Tighten up your right side abdominal muscles as if you’re trying to touch your left elbow to your right knee. Put this magazine down and do that now. Feel that? This is what will finish your rotation and get you ready for the landing.
[8] Touch down. Now, in one quick motion let go of the rudder, rotate to the left and smoothly transfer your weight from your right edge to your left. Initiating this release is the hardest part because you won’t feel like you have a good enough bounce to throw a clean blunt.
[9] Pop up and hit the water with your feet as you throw your arms away from your body. Be really aggres- sive—even if you have no bounce, throw your arms into the trick and look downstream. You may wipe out or just flat spin 180, or you might throw a stylin’ clean blunt.
Ben Marr traveled to China for a month last year to shoot for the new River Roots film, Frontier (available March 18). He is competing in the invitation-only Whitewater Grand Prix in Quebec this May.
DIGITAL EXTRA: Click here to watch a video demonstrating this move.
30 RAPID EARLY SUMMER 2011
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