Skimboarding Tricks: Frontside (FS) 180

How To Do A Frontside (FS) 180 Trick Tips 

A frontside 180 is where you pop the board out of the water and rotate it and your body 180 degrees. Frontside in this case means that your front foot is going to rotate in the direction of your back. The first 90 degrees, you will be facing the way you are going.

To do a frontside 180, bend your knees and wind up by twisting your shoulders in the opposite direction that you will be rotating. Pop the board while unwinding your shoulders and continue to turn them until they have rotated 180 degrees frontside. The momentum from unwinding your shoulders will help you rotate. Use your feet to help guide the board around. When you pop it should be like a normal ollie, unwind and turn your feet with the board. 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. Be careful as it will be much harder to maintain control now that you’re in switch stance.

Tips

Flat 180s
You will also want to practice flat frontside 180s as well. It is important that you get a good feel for the frontside rotation. Frontside for most people is usually a bit tougher than backside. For some reason, backside rotations seem a little more natural.

 Get your ollies down
To begin with, you’re going to want to have your ollies down.

Practice riding switch 
Being able to comfortably ride switch can really help on the landing.

Complete the rotation
When you’re first landing these, don’t stress it too much if you’re not rotating a full and clean 180 degrees. You can come up a little short and under rotated and still be okay, just finish the rotation on the water.

Wind up
If you’re having trouble rotating a full 180 degrees, twist your shoulders more and unwind faster. Pop harder to get more air time.

Face Forward
It might help to position your shoulders facing forward instead of winding up if you are having trouble with the rotation. If you start it out this way, your body is pretty much already halfway there.