Skimboarding Tricks: Backside (BS) 180

How To Do A Backside (BS) 180 Trick Tips

Also known as Backside Ollie 180 or Backside 180 Air. A backside 180 is where you pop the board out of the water and rotate it and your body 180 degrees. Backside in this case means that your back foot is going to rotate in the direction of your back.

To do a Backside 180, begin by turning your shoulders slightly in the opposite direction that you are going to spin. This is a wind up. Bend your knees to get ready to pop. Pop the board and unwind your shoulders. Bring the board with you as you turn backside. As you’re turning, stayed centered over the board just like for an ollie. Complete the rotation and prepare to land. Land softly, absorbing the landing with your legs by bending your knees. Land riding switch or fakie and skim away.

Tips

Foot Placement 
Get your back foot as far back as you can. It will help you scoop the back part of the board around.

Flat 180s
Practice doing flat backside 180s without popping out of the water. You’ll want to have these down and get the feel before you start popping them.

Bend your knees
Remember to bend your knees to help you get some pop out of the water. It will also help you keep your balance better as well as help with the landing.

Rotate your hips
Rotation at the hips will help drive the board around.

Get your ollies down
Obviously if you can’t Ollie, you won’t be able to pop the board out of the water and you will be doing a flat backside 180. So make sure you have a solid, controlled ollie before trying this trick.

Practice riding switch
Knowing how to ride switch can really help on the landing.

Rotate your head
One thing that a lot of people struggle with is getting the upper part of their body to rotate when they are first learning the backside 180. If this is a problem, practice leading with your head. Rotate your head towards your back shoulder and then the rest of the way around (remember to rotate your hips as well). Your shoulder will follow as well as the rest of your body. This does leave you a little blind on the landing, but the exaggerated head turn should help you get the feel of the rotation. Eventually you’ll want to probably look down so you can see your landing. You can begin to make this adjustment by looking at the back of your board and following it around…again…not the front but the back of the board. Eventually you just start to do backside 180s and not even think about where you’re looking.

Complete the rotation 
It’s actually quite difficult to completely rotate the board 180 degrees while in the air. If you watch close, most people only get the board around between 100-120 degrees in the air and then finish the rotation on the water.