What shall we properly call you? Photo: Quiksilver
Let’s talk airs in surfing. More specifically rotations.
As a sport, as an industry, we need to get on the same page as to what they are, how to name them, how to call them from the announcer’s booth, and yes, even how to do them. Anyone who has been following the quest for the almighty 720, and arguments as to whether it’s been done or not and by whom knows how far off we are within the sport in coming to a consensus.
Take the Quiksilver Pro as our point of reference. As the conditions shifted in Round 5, we saw a change from closeout barrels to an all out aerial attack. We can hold passionate arguments for or against one-maneuver waves and their scoring for another time.
In Round 5, on his third attempt at the maneuver, Felipe Toledo landed a massive 540 to post Heat 4’s highest score. He attempted four, nearly landed three, but he only surfed away from one. During the heat, the announcers called it a reverse or a 360 (“spinning his board 360”).
In Heat 4, Julian Wilson scored his highest wave with an alley-oop 180. I’m a big fan of Julian. He has an uncanny ability to launch huge airs and can spin with the best of them. His second highest scoring wave was a beautiful frontside 360.
First of all, let’s get the rotation call correct. Not just the announcers but universally across surfing. And can we establish that not every 360 is or needs to be called an air reverse? But I suppose before we do that we need to agree on what actually is a 360—on how to call all rotations.
So for us in surfing, what is a 360? What is a 540? How about a 720 for that matter? This is where the disagreements are the strongest. It’s where we need to come to a consensus, a universal understanding in the surfing world as to what airs are and how we call them. This is also where much bigger names across the surf, skateboard, and snowboard worlds continue a good natured yet passionate debate.
Here’s the thing: in surfing we’re not just moving forward down the line and launching a straight air like on a skateboard street course or in snowboard slopestyle. As surfers, we’re carving up the face of the wave to launch. Even if you cheat and don’t go completely vertical before taking to the air, you’re still carving up that wall.
Airing on a wave is most akin to a skateboard vert ramp. You go up one way, and if you don’t turn, you go back down the same way you went up–backwards. Better yet, think of it like a snowboard halfpipe.
A snowboarder first has to carve up a wall to do an air. Nobody starts counting spins from the downhill direction they’re facing when dropping in at the top of the pipe. It’s the same thing on a wave. You carve up the wave, and have to turn 180 to come back down. Every time. Air or not.
Because we’re not launching until we’ve carved up that wave face, when you spin 180/540/900 (one day?), you’re always going to be facing towards shore again. When you spin 360/720, you’re going to be landing backwards, facing back up the wave, your fins pointed towards shore. If your momentum spins you an additional 180 after you’ve hit the water, that’s a revert. It’d be a huge step if we can agree on that. And if we’re able to agree on that, let’s continue to call a 360-revert an air reverse.
So by that notion, a 540-revert would be 540 in the air plus an additional 180 in the water (whether you revert on the wave face, on top of a close-out, or foam). It’s not a 720 as it has been called in web clips this year. Likewise, a 360 in the air and spinning 180 back towards shore is also not a 720. Sorry to burst your bubble.
It’s not always easy to call or identify a rotation in real time. Just look to Julian Wilson’s alley-oop spins. He has a very unique movement. He blocks his initial rotation, transferring that energy skywards, launching higher than most everyone else. It’s called “stuffing it.” On top of this, for an alley-oop, he’s hitting a true vertical position before airing, and it often seems he’s spun more than the same rotation for a frontside air.
Confusing it further, there’s even more uniqueness to the way Julian does his alley-oops. Look back in the Heat Review to his first wave of Round 5. He does this a lot: as Julian sets his alley-oop rotation, he brings his knees up into his body, and his board either remains vertical, or often tweaks the opposite direction. It’s not quite a rewind, but it almost looks like his board is facing down the line instead of vertical. At real speed, this gives the impression he launched not by carving up the wave, but an ollie as he’s moving down the line, and people mistakenly call this 180-degree rotation a 360.
A 720 spin is within the realm of possibility for surfing. It will happen soon, as surfers learn better mechanics for spinning, or launch an unholy amount of air. For the time being, however, lets call airs properly.
