Surfing How To - 52 Year Old Learning an Air Reverse - part 1
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- čas přidán 2. 07. 2024
- I'm 52 and trying to learn an Air Reverse. I feel like I know exactly what I need to do, but executing is where I fail. Years of bad muscle memory. I want to take you on this journey of learning and pulling an air reverse. Hopefully if you are at the same level as me and wanting to learn, we can learn it together. If not, there are things I will cover in the learning process which I feel will help your every day surfing. And at minimum, help you to avoid the same pitfalls I have fallen into which ultimately will help you later to pull this air.
#learninganairreverse #howtosurf #airreverse - Sport
Great video ! I learnt airs later in life too. I started landing back side air reverses at around 30i years old but I did not start to land frontside air reverses until I was around 39 years old. Now I’m 41 and I can land a few every session if the waves dictate . It’s a long but super satisfying journey. So don’t give up.
I found the the biggest help was to learn chop hops first ( I know some people hate them) but they help.
Next, the good air wind is 50% of the battle ,it makes it so much easier.
Make a conscious effort to stay right over your board.
Start with backside sir reverses first, they are way easier as you don’t have to rotate as hard.
Lastly just try as many as you can in every session , even if you feel your wasting waves.
Keep it up and enjoy the journey !👍
People laugh at me for being 36 and constantly bouncing around trying chop hops and stuff but I've always known it was the gateway maneuver to air reverses so I'm loving this comment 🤙🏽
Can you do air revs now dude? That was the best advice I've heard on doing them and you say you can't do them lol. Cheers bro, good video
Not yet. The hard part is I am surfing so many different boards and some of them probably not best for doing errors or not safe. So I haven't had a lot of opportunities. I think I have to commit some degree of time and just try to do errors and forego doing any videos other than a part two air video. I will be 54 in about 2 months so I will get on it. That way I can do a 53-year-old still trying to do airs video and if I can't pull it I'll have to do a 54-year-old about to give up on air's video. Lol
Great video. Love the detailed breakdown of the steps. You’re an inspiration that age knows no limits. Hope you land one soon!
I'm almost 57, and learned them in my 40's sort of. I pretty much accidentally pull 2 or 3 a month. There was one Saturday where I almost pulled 3 nose pick air reverses. What I noticed is I "wasn't sliding my front foot forward." The next day, I had another opportunity. I did the same thing, slid my front foot forward, and nailed an "in the flats nose pick." I never pulled another one of those again. As far as regular air reverses, they were kinda flukish, and the last one I pulled was at Uppers at 47 years old. I have never pulled another one. This is a good video. Like you, I snapped my tibia out of my leg, ripped my foot out of socket, but feck it, I still want to pull another in my 50's. A young kid passed in my town, and I made a promise that I'd pull one for him... I'd always asked him how to do it. I still haven't... This is a good motivational video for older guys, and it's cool that you are addressing "our" issues.
I meant to do an update, "53 and still at it", LOL. it may have to be a 54 year old version now. :( I have pulled a number of straight airs but nothing lofty. Anyways, thanks for the feedback and comment.
Love it. Favorite new surfing channel, keep it up!
appreciate it brotha. Just need to get part 2 out now. LOL
I would say “break a leg” but you’ve already mastered that. I recently considered doing an air (60 years old) while I was in the air and still attached to my board. My board’s life and my ankles thought better of it before landing.
Can’t wait to see the progression Thomye
where is part 2? Can't wait!!!
i haven't made any progress so I feel bad about posting a video about that. also, I've been testing so many different boards, it's been hard to focus on airs especially when I'm not on a regular consistent board. but will definitely work on it before i'm 54, LOL
nice analysis ,watching thousand of tuturials and you got it on point :D
This is awesome Thom!
Impressive! I have hope😁
Great Video. Give us "the old guys" a light of hope for progressive surfing :D
Great video loves this can’t wait to get in the water and practice
One on the best tech explanation ever heard. Good job!!
Awesome channel! Great explanation. Much appreciated
Pushing progression!!! LET’S GO!!!💪🙌💯
This guy is amazing.
Hi Thom,
I write you to thank you for the great work you do with your videos; they are really inspiring!
I’m a 40 years old surfer from Spain who started surfing almost 30 years back. Unfortunately, as I live four hours driving from the nearest beach break my level is really low (intermediate level at best!! I can catch almost any wave, do the take-off and surfing the wall with the ability to do two to three decent turns at best). I have spent a lot years surfing exclusively 5 to 10 days per year with an odd feeling like being always “stuck in the middle of the current” (didn’t have the right boards, didn’t have any more experienced friend to learn from, didn’t have any real improvement) Nevertheless I never gave up and always kept surfing a big part of me.
Couple years ago (heading to my forties) a sad feeling invaded me, of having only few good years of surfing ahead; that is when I came across with your videos which I found really useful. How to get speed, turns,… The way you break-down each manoeuvre into smaller parts really helps me to focus on small bits at a time and improve my surfing. Also your tips like stiff your legs, or looking below your palm face when doing back-side turns really help me a lot (these are like chants that I repeat constantly to myself when surfing).
It also helped me a lot to try new gear, move away from a single board that you surf until it breaks, and change surfboards frequently. Now I have the 7’0 Sunday, a 6’0 Hypto Krypto and a 5’4 mini-simmons softie (which is super fun). I tried the average joe (replica) before but found it too clumsy under my feet. I wondered why you haven’t post any video on the Tomo Evo (guess that you haven’t surfed it, but wonder why). This is a board that has really caught my eye and hope to get as second-hand.
Watching your aerial attempts at 52 made me think that maybe in 10 years-time I could be close to surf half as good as you do!
Best
thanks for the great comment. I really appreciate it. Keep at it and hopefully you can move closer to the beach. :) That or maybe they will build a wave pool near you..
I haven't surfed the EVO because it is hard to find and hard to spend the money on. Everyone tells me it is a great board so I want to try it someday but with so many new boards coming out, it is hard to spend money on old boards. But if I ever get the chance, I most certainly will give my opinion of it.
Anyways, keep it up. I'll try and post more how to videos. As I surf, and even when I think I can't learn any more, I find out little things that I do that I can improve. Backside bottom turns are my biggest weakness and I have discovered my biggest issue. Correcting it though is the bigger issue, hard to change bad habits. :(
the three boards you have seems like a very good quiver. I need to really consider the hypto too. soon I hope. Thanks again for the comment. It motivates me to put out more videos.
cheers
thank you! great info!
Look forward to that mashup video!
cheering you on from a 54yr old. I had my share of injuries from trying to do airs now I just like carving lol. Hope you stick one good luck.
yessss another video!!!
super cool⚡⚡
Great video ! I'm also learning it and these tips will help for sure. Good luck on this journey :) I hope you'll make it !
ditto. with no injuries for the both of us. :)
I recommend ur channel to anyone who'll listen
I am Turning 50 this year…. Im gonna make it my goal to land one before then👍
Let's Go!!!! I have been slacking cuz I keep changing boards. I got to go back to the Mashup or FT and stick with that for 3 months. I was thinking about getting 1 full hour at Waco of only left air waves. that is 60 waves and splitting the cost and time with one other goofy footer. We would get 30 each. It would be expensive but I'm certain I can stick a reverse. Then I can try applying that in the ocean. it is so hard to get the opportunities in the ocean. Or maybe my technique is just that bad. :(
Your stoking my 44 laps round the sun my friend
go Thomye's cat 🤙
Hey just now watching this video (have also subscribed). As its been several months I wondered how things were going with your air game! I'm 36 from the UK I surf every day if there's waves and I often spend a whole session laughing and not landing. I can make straight airs most surfs but never landed a rotation. Appreciate the vid hope its going well.
haven't landed one yet. I feel like i'm getting closer but since I also swap boards all the time, been difficult to commit to learning airs. I am currently testing a Sharpeye Inferno FT in dark arts and that thing has insane pop. I think after I get done with this video, I will try and spend a day or two just doing airs to update people. I'm 53 now so i thought it would be funny and appropriate to update my progress. I've been compiling all my air attempts so that I have more footage and can focus on myself vs pros and what I think is the proper technique. Anyways, hopefully I'm get this done soon. BTW, since you are in the UK, have you surfed Bristol? does that thing have an air session? I am going to do a Waco Tx BSR session in March. I'm hoping I get some consistent opportunities then.
@Thomye Surfs be very interested to see a vid on the FT. I've been looking at them but I've just bought a neckbeard 3 so can't really for out £1200 for another board right now but it looks sick. Apparently the durability of them means the board can potentially last like 5 years. Not been up to Bristol yet it's a couple hours from me but will head there in Feb. They just have a barrel wave and a wave for turns but no specific air sections as far as I'm aware. I think your right the key is consistency like you get in a wave pool so you can try over and over again. I think a lot of my problem is I never commit to doing airs unless it's an end section so I'm missing a lot of opportunities. I struggle to pop off the lip of a wave that's still reeling I tend to hit it at the end when there's a section coming towards me
@@rich7017 board prices are ridiculous. regarding durability, not sure any of it is true. I think the board can keeps it's flex better than a PU or Epoxy board but in terms of durability, it acts much like a Firewire LFT. I have pressures on the deck and recently almost put my elbow through it. I'm guessing it would have been twice as bad if it were a PU but it isn't like a Helium or Timbertech. Those boards are durable. 2x as much in my opinion. but timbertech is moot, that board is just too heavy and not made for performance. Helium is good though. those things are super durable. I just wish they made a non Kelly performance board. something more like the 72 or FT.
Lucky, Im 41 and I finally caught three waves standing up after 7 months of persistance. As a women with short arms paddling is what I struggle with in surfing. Everyone says start with a 10 ft longboard, yeah if youre a guy. I can paddle a shortboard easily but its harder to pop up on, Ill be glad if I ever reach your skill level in surfing.
I can relate, when I started surfing, I was in 8th grade. I could not make it down to the beach holding my board, too wide. Paddling was difficult too. also, my daughter started when she was 10 so she had a tough time with the wavestorm. I think a nice narrow custom board is what you need to get. a scaled down mid-length or longboard. so instead of a 9' longboard, maybe 8' and instead of 23" wide maybe 21" or maybe 7' x 20".
🤟🏾👍🏼
Surfing Keeps us young 🤙🏾🔥🔥🔥. What size boards are good for airs? I got a 5’10 and 5’11. Are these too big?
Hehe… I was hoping you were doing it on the mashup - 😎every day mate 👍🏼
yeah, sorry. just got soloshot fixed so hoping very soon. This past sunday was blown out so I passed on surfing. All i need is probably 1 more day of footage. :)
@@ThomyeSurfs yeeeew 🤙🏽
Best way to learn is get down the skatepark and try to ollie off small transitions. Also you're not quite right about the extended front leg, that's a consequence of unweighting and moving weight forward to get the board up level, kind of like when you jump and slide your front foot forward when doing an ollie on a skateboard. If you just stiffen your front leg without that won't do anything.
Finally get yourself an orthopedic surgeon on speed dial. Anyone over 25 doing airs is going to get injured. I used to try, with a vert skateboarding background getting air and staying over the board was easy. The hard part was just that millisecond on landing not bogging a rail or breaking an ankle. Decided it wasn't worth the pain and pressure dings.
This is awesome man and very inspirational! I lived life way too fast in my teens and especially my twenties. Did a lot of power lifting and endurance running and am paying the price for it now in my late 30's. Whether it be my back, my knee, or my shoulder, something is getting injured every 6 months or so. Whats your secret?
just keep surfing. I have hurt myself a few times but I realized that most injuries heal and although it might be good to rest and heal, the consequences of resting at my age is worse then the consequences of exacerbating the injury, if that makes sense. at 52, if I don't move it, I lose it.
I don't stretch, probably should. I don't do anything out side of surfing except deep knee bends in the morning to loosen up the joints. I may start lifting but back when I did that in my 20's, I noticed my surfing went south. I stopped surfing for 2 years to see how strong I could get. Then decided I liked surfing more. I also met my wife which meant trying to look bigger wasn't as important. :)
I try and surf 3x a week for 2 to 3 hrs per session. I make myself paddle, no sitting around. Also intermittent fast which seems to help everything.
@@ThomyeSurfs I've actually started a stretching routine and I do feel that it helps me quite a bit. I stopped all physical activity for a year when covid first hit and that is when my body started falling apart so I totally get your "move it or lose it" comment. We ended up moving to the beach full time last year and I surf every chance I get (beach is 100 yards from my house). East coast waves are hit or miss though but I paddle out at least 3 or 4 times a week (unless there is great surf and I'll surf everyday) and we get in a surf vacation a few times a year also. We've got a PR trip planned this december for 10 days so lets hope this past year of nonstop injuries is just a temporary annoyance. Who knows, maybe I'll be up for airs by then lol. Thanks!
@@Ibanezmusic1 if you keep that schedule, i'm certain airs are just around the corner. Hope you score PR. I am headed to Kauai tomorrow. it is expected to be 8 to 12 epic, LOL. I don't even know what that means, I have never seen epic as a surfline forecast before. The only bad part is, it is nota surf trip so no board. I need to make nice with a local surf shop ASAP. Yew!!
@@ThomyeSurfs let us know if that’s actually 8-12 feet….or if it’s 8-12 feet Hawaiian.
Dude I remember gettin psyched about this vid as I was at about the same level. Any updates? I got a few under my belt now and honestly think it's way easier to pop em off an incoming crumbly section rather than from behind the corner pocket like your first attempt at 0:14. What I realised is that you can kinda "cheat" and start rotating down and off the incoming section as it pushes you whereas from behind you have way more rotation to cover and kinda feels like the rotation lags for an extra second. Hopefully what I said makes sense haha looking forward to the next installments!
Also, the absolute key for me was to think about going through the lip and that forced me to hit it as I was still decompressing thus accelerating on the way up. Before I was basically hittin in neutral position and had wasted all my pop potential extending out the bottom too soon. 📝😅
@@mattiapedrani4471 yo, so funny you commented this. just this weekend, i made a similar discovery. when i look at all my airs over the last 2 years, i am always out the back. I knew I needed to rotate and get some weight on the back heels but that all i was thinking, getting on my heals but like you say, in neutral. This weekend, I kid you not, I basically did the same thing but pushed my back foot/heel into the wave, like I was trying to heel kick a heavy bag. that motion, i think created a little ramp with water that pushed me out into the flats (foam) instead of up and out the back.
aside from that, i just spent the last year just building bad muscle memory. Hoping this small discover gets me over the hump. I have pulled a tone of little straight airs but no reverses, on close one but out the back. literally spun it about 220 degrees and stomp it back on the back of the wave. so technically not a make. I also think I am punting too much which makes it scary to even try and land. Anyways, thanks for the tips. I'll apply it all and and hopefully this is the year. Definitely not getting any younger, LOL.
Good luck on the journey. 53 in Sept. I’ll stick to my 80s Pottz wannabe style.
LOL. but the first air I ever saw was Pottz. Can't remember the movie but I want to say the music was the Cult "wild child".
@@ThomyeSurfs I think that’s the video where Brad Gerlach describes Pottz’ surfing as “hairy” 🦍
47 yr old here. Had straight airs forever but can not rotate. Even when I grab and try to rotate. Did you learn a tailslide into reverse prior to trying air reverse?
No. I thought about starting with a club sandwich or possibly a nose pick to reverse. The more I try the more I realize I'm just not committing to the rotation. I got to focus on my back arm and having that thrown in front of me and kept in front of me throughout the rotation.
Well…. I saw this ages ago. Did you succeed or at least get close? Frontside tail slide 360? I’m approaching 50 as well, dying to know what’s possible
i have gotten closer but for me, repetition is the biggest issue. I get close but then don't get another chance for 2 months. I think anything is possible at our age but it is a matter of breaking bad muscle memory and repetition.
It's been 6 months since this was posted, have you made any progress?
i'm been posting on instagram. i'll try and put all the little clips together and post it soon. I feel like I am getting closer.
how is your soloshot now?
new one. a buddy of mine sold me his that he only used a few times
Whooo how did you break your leg surfing? The air reverse looks like a f/s 180 on a skateboard. All the same body postures and sequences.
Broke my leg on a top turn where my foot got stuck on the board and did an elevator drop from 5ft. when I landed, I was pointing toward shore but my board was literally turn around with my foot on it. The second time, I was just in a glassy thin barrel. I think something hit my leg but not sure. that one was really bad. I should do a video where I show the xray, it would freak people out. haha
@@ThomyeSurfs dang! I had to read that several times to try to imagine that. Sounds horrible. I’ve taken my fins across my legs here in Hawaii several times on bigger days on wipeouts. Bonked my leg off the lava rock “reef” once going backwards coming off the lip backside on an overhead day. We just had a 16 year old girl die here, knee high day, board hit her in the head. Well, you’re still surfing!! 🤙🤙
@@mikeuptegrove OMG. So sad about the little girl. That is what scares me about SUP's in the water with surfers at Bolsa. wouldn't take much to hurt someone really bad. I have been lucky overall I think. I had board go through my face once too. That one was fun. Funny thing the very first time I went to emergency, my wife came all worried. The 2nd time, she came but not worried. Their third time, she asked if she needed to come and then just met me at the hospital. Talk about desensitized. LOL
Do you wear sunscreen in the water?
LOL. I should. not always.
How’d you break your leg surfing?
1st time doing an off the lip where the tail got away from me and spun the board. with the board stuck to my foot, i did an air dop about 4' but my foot was completely twisted around. That only broke on the fibula near my angle. was still able to walk out. The second time, just in a barrel. I think something hit me, fish, seal, stingray. I was just standing there and then I heard a pop, broke my leg in two place. the Tibia broke, my fibula at that point could not support my weight so it snapped too. The Tibia broke about 3" above the ankle and my fibula broke 2" from my knee. was in a cast a very long time.
@@ThomyeSurfs yikes man glad to see you’re still surfing.
Has it happened?
Sadly, no. :( haha, not a reverse. I need to go to waco and do the air wave for 5 hours. haha
@@ThomyeSurfs Me too.
Lol don't be too critical of yourself. Bolsa chica is not the ideal spot to learn to do airs. Kolohe was born into the lowers line up and was able to surf a perfect rampy wave since he learned to surf. The right wave, age, weight and athleticism are huge prerequisites. Theres no one busting airs at doheny! 🤣
but that would be a sight to see. 😁 Full rotations at Doheny, wonder if Italo could do it. haha (most likely)
Cats rule .......
Lol. I was going to say it was a P licking P but kept it g rated
I’m 53
Can you teach me 😃
Once I stomp one myself, I'd be more than happy to. LOL right now it's all hearsay. :( although I'm certain I know the steps, it has been really difficult to break old muscle memory. As the saying goes, can't each an old dog new tricks. Although maybe that is different with old surfers.
One on the best tech explanation ever heard. Good job!!