Your first real air! Approach the kicker on your heelside edge with moderate speed and flattening off right before going upon the ramp. As you go up the ramp, you should only have your lead hand on the handle. Keep your center of gravity low by slightly bending your knees. Spot your landing, bent your kness to absorb the impact and ride away.
The most common mistake.
- Is cutting hard toward the kicker
- Not flattening off right before it. This results in a crash, as it is not possible to hold an edge on an obstacle, only on the water.
- Too much weight on the front foot causes the nose of the board to drop and rider to crash. Avoid this by keeping most of your weight on the back foot. A 60–40% weight distribution.
- Using both hands. This is not necessarily a mistake, but it is a bad habit. And will most likely throw you off balance.
Here is some more information:
Source: Aarhus Watersports Complex (AWC) · AWC Tutorial - How to make a Straight Air (EN)
Key tips
- Light to Medium edge into the kicker. Flatten out at the base
- Stay low at the top of the ramp, by slightly crouching.
- Land on a flat board with your kness bent and most weight on you backfoot.
- Look at the far side of the landing, not at the lip
- Only one hand on the handle while riding any obstacle