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Kayak / Freestyle Tricks / Air Wheel |
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Video Clips
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General Overview – Also known as an Air Wave Wheel, this is a river running move where you can do a wave wheel/cartwheel in the air. The Air Wheel can be done going over a wave crest or launching off of the shoulder of a wave. Prep - You need a steep wave, lots of downstream speed, complete body and mind commitment, the ability to do a flat water cartwheel, ability to do cartwheels in holes will help to, and good edge control. How To - Step 1 – This is going to be an Air Wheel going to the left, so left edge dropped, and through out this trick you are going to want to keep you body weight over the boat and centered. You want to create a lot of downstream speed by paddling hard forward, towards the crest of the wave with a last big launching stroke at the crest. This moves starts out the same way as the kickflip but you don’t rotate around your backdeck. Instead you throw your bow down then tuck your knees to your stomach, which will get you vertical. If you don’t tuck your knees in you will be doing a kickflip. At this point you are going to want to take a really big back stroke on the same side as the dropped edge. This means the left edge is dropped and you take a back stroke with your left blade. Step 2 - As you are looking at the wave your stern will be pointing at the sky, this is where you are going to rotate your body around to be able to finish the move. Your going to want to lead with your head as you’re rotating around, this is the same motion as a cartwheel (this is why it is really helpful if you can cartwheel in a hole or on flatwater) Finishing - As you are finishing the rotation you will be near the water, you can either land upright or get fancy and cartwheel out of it. But if you are landing you’re going to need a little brace at the end to be able to stop you momentum from flipping you over. There you go you just did an Air Wave Wheel! Common Mistakes - Not dropping the edge at the beginning, not throwing your bow down then tucking to your stomach, and not rotating your body around, these are all common mistakes that will slow you down for nailing the trick. General Tips - Keep your shoulders close to keep them safe. Be comfortable on your edges, balance is key to good edge control. Get a good stroke and spin around fast that makes it look cleaner. And, of course, have fun messing around with this trick. Adding Style – A couple ways to add some style would be instead of rotating around you do a Blunt in the air and land backwards, also you can cartwheel out of it, or even do the trick backwards. Similar Tricks - Blunt, Cartwheels, Pan-Am, Back Blunt off the wave, or McNasty off the wave. Tricks to Try Next- Blunt, Pan-Am, Wave Wheel, Macho Move, Backstab. Have you got another way to do this trick or any suggestions for other paddlers? Please let us know and contribute to Niftytricks. Please report all problems to Webmaster | Copyright 2001-2006 NiftyTricks Media | All Rights Reserved |
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