Lessons
25.Throwing the fins out
26.Chop Hop
27.Grab Rail Turns
28.Carving Reverse
29.Off the lip Reverse
30.Backside Reverse
31.Backside Tuberiding
32.Frontside Air
33.Backside Air
34.Air Grabs
35.Alley Oop
36.Frontside Air Reverse
37.Backside Air Reverse
38.Superman Air
39.Rodeo Flip

33. Backside Air

The most important ingredient to being able to pull backside airs is wind. Without the correct wind direction they are extremely difficult to launch and even harder to land.

The wind you are looking for is a cross onshore wind that is blowing into the wave. So if you are a Regular foot you want the wind to be blowing cross/on into the lefts and if you are Goofy you want it to blow into the rights.

Whenever you get these conditions try and bust backside airs on every wave you take off on, you might be in a situation where you get these kind of conditions all the time at you local break which is great for backside airs but might not be so good for other moves. Some people might hardly ever see these conditions so really have to make the most of them when they do occur.

A great area on the wave to bust a backside air, like with frontside airs is when there is a section of wave peeling towards you. You don’t want the section to be too fat but it’s also no good if its too steep and dumping, but you do need it to be more on the steep side of things than fat.

As you bottom turn to punt off the section your board needs to leave the lip of the wave at about a 45 degree angle. As you get to the lip the majority of your weight will be fully on your back foot from your bottom turn but as you launch out the lip you need to transfer that weight onto your front foot. As with any air or big manoeuvre, confidence is the key. As soon as you get out the lip you already want to be spotting your landing. If you feel the need to grab your rail then do it, it will help stabilise yourself over your board in the air. Like with a frontside air you need to be centered over your board especially as your coming down to land.
As you touch down you need to take a touch of that weight off your front foot so that you weight is more evenly distributed. Keep your arms spread and your knees bent so you can stabilise yourself and not get thrown off by any bumps in the wave.

Like with Frontside airs it might be worth spending some time just working on launching out the wave rather than trying to stick it straight away, you need to get that feeling down of launching out the lip on your backhand. Once you know the feeling its time to really concentrate on staying over your board and in control.