Crow Mobe

So you think you’re ready for your first mobe? If you answered yes, then you’re in luck, because we’ve got a killer crow mobe instructional lined up for you. Why break your mobe barrier with the crow mobe, you ask? The answer is simple: because you don’t have to pass the handle in the air, and we know how consistent your scarecrows are these days — or at least they should be if you’re thinking about taking them to mobe.

Before we hit the water, let’s dive straight into some mobe mechanics. Every trick can be broken down into smaller pieces. In every 360 flip, there’s a base invert and a 360 that are blended together. In the crow mobe’s case, it’s a toeside front roll with a toeside frontside 360.

Let’s separate the flip from the spin for a moment. The toeside frontside 360 is comprised of five tricks total. If we include the straight-airs involved in the takeoffs and landings, we are left with this chronological list: a toeside wake jump, a toeside frontside 180, a switch heelside wake jump, a switch heelside backside 180, and the goal trick, a toeside frontside 360.

Now that you understand all of the takeoff and landing positions inside of this 360, let’s start blending the flip into it. If you add the lateral flipping direction of the toeside front roll to each of those 180s and edging positions, you are left with this list: toeside front roll, scarecrow, switch heelside front flip, switch heelside front flip to blind, and finally, the crow mobe.

Visualizing all of the tricks in this list from a first-person perspective will help you grasp the physics and, in turn, expedite the learning process. Take that list of ten tricks, write them all down on paper, and check off all of the ones you’ve landed before. Now, we know what you’re thinking — we’re not suggesting that you learn a switch front to blind before you start trying your crow mobes. But at least you can see how all of these tricks overlap, and the remaining unchecked tricks in your list will highlight your weaknesses, giving you a starting point.

How To: Land Your First Mobe | Words: Brandon Judd | Photos: Bill Doster

Flatten It Out

Fortunately for you, we’ve looped in Jeff Langley for some stylish, technically sound visual aids and firsthand crow mobe experience. This trick is so consistent for Jeff that when we shot these photos, he did at least 30 in a row without falling so we could show it to you at every angle. So if you’re looking for someone’s crow mobe to mimic, Jeff’s your guy.

One major prerequisite to the crow mobe is preparing your scarecrow with a flatter, less “flippy” axis. This allows you to add more spinning rotation without unintentionally overrotating the flip. The more spin you add, the less upside down you need to flip, leaving your body more horizontal in the air — similar to how Jeff is positioned in this photo. Jeff points out, “To do this, you have to change the way you initiate your flip. Instead of taking your head and shoulders over the nose of your board across the wake, roll your back shoulder toward the boat and rotate your head around the handle.”

One way to confirm that your crow is flat enough to take to mobe is to add a front hand grab to it, preferably melon or nose. “This axis change is also going to help you grab it if you roll into the crow rather than flip end over end into the crow. I try not to flip until I get to my peak in the air. Waiting to flip allows me to get the grab on the way up, instead of initiating the flip at the wake and chasing the grab all the way through the rotation,” says Jeff. “It can be the hardest thing to learn how to grab your inverts, but if you think about initiating the flip with your lower body and waiting to flip until you get the grab, it will be more controlled and efficient.”

How To: Land Your First Mobe | Words: Brandon Judd | Photos: Bill Doster

Know the Tempo

Now that your scarecrow is adequately flattened out, let’s talk about how and when to add that last 180. The tempo is more of a scarecrow plus a switch heelside backside 180, than it is a toeside front roll with a toeside frontside 360. The key is to find the rhythm in this trick. When it’s done correctly, you should feel a distinct pause point as you spot the water just before the landing. “Nothing changes from scarecrow to crow mobe until the crow is finished. It is at that point that you know if you are going to add the backside 180 or stop at crow,” says Jeff. “If the takeoff felt good, then start to rotate your back hip around toward the boat, and push the handle behind you to get into the blind position.”

Implementing this is easier said than done, but if you learn to recognize this pause point in the tempo, then you’ll gain enough confidence to start giving these a go. Jeff says, “Like with most tricks, the tempo is a lot slower than most of us think — especially as the wakes get bigger and bigger. It’s natural to think that if you have to add a 180 to a trick, then you have to spin earlier or faster, but it is really the opposite. You have to wait later, allowing for more pop and more time to spin. It is a daily struggle for all of us, beginner to pro. The more control you have of your tempo, the faster you are going to learn new tricks.”

How To: Land Your First Mobe | Words: Brandon Judd | Photos: Bill Doster

Stick the Landing

Toeside Frontside 360 / Crow Mobe Landing comparison: 

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Your consistent, successful execution of this trick will greatly depend on your ability to impact the water in the blind landing position. After the initial impact, you can ride it out blind, get cuffed or pass the handle — whatever suits you. But it is important that you do impact the water in the blind position. To save you from some nasty back edges, the crow mobe should NOT be the first trick that you learn to land blind in.

The best way to check if your toeside blind landing position is ready for the crow mobe impact is to take a look at your toeside frontside 360 landing. Jeff says, “The toeside 360 has the exact same landing as the crow mobe, and has a lot of the same mechanics throughout the trick. If you do your toeside 360 correctly, you will naturally start to unwind the first 180 by the peak of the trick, spot your landing, and wait to drop slowly into the second 180 on the way down. This will prevent you from slipping out and landing on your butt in most cases. Making it very slow, smooth and controlled will help you become more aware of where you are versus where you need to be in the rotation to get the perfect landing. This blind landing is a huge stepping-stone for a lot of other tricks besides the crow mobe, so learn it! And learn it switch too!”

Now that your crow mobe mechanics are prepped, it’s time to take this to the water. To review: Make sure that your crows are flat and your toeside frontside 360 blind landings are solid. Then, if your scarecrow feels lofty and the pause point feels right, drop into the late switch heelside backside 180 on the way down, impacting the water in the blind position, and continue edging away from the wake to claim your first mobe!

The post Learn Your First Mobe — Crow Mobe appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.

Keep ‘Em Separated

We all know you’re champing at the bit to land your first 540, but before you get too ahead of yourself here, let’s talk about your 360s. Yeah, maybe you can land them, but if your technique isn’t sound, then those flaws can creep into your 540 — significantly lengthening the learning process and leaving them inconsistent at best.

To be clear, we’re assuming that you’ve already landed either a heelside frontside 360, a toeside frontside 360 or both, and that you are comfortable enough with them to start attempting frontside 540s. If that’s the case, let’s take a quick look at your frontside 360s. You should be able to land your heelside frontside 360 easily, landing one-handed, with your eyes looking back toward the wake. You should not be landing two-handed with your eyes looking back at the boat. This will blur the line between the 360 and the 540, reinforcing your tendency to overrotate the 540 when you start trying them. Likewise, this principle should be applied to your toeside frontside 360s. To keep the 360 and 540 distinct, you should land your 360s blind, with one hand on the handle at impact. You may get cuffed or pass the handle only after the initial impact.

This is an important distinction because these frontside 540s have different breaks in momentum than your 360s do. When you are learning these 540s, you can’t think of them like a 360 plus a 180. They don’t function that way. Instead, their tempo is more like a 180 plus a 360. This is why an experienced rider will usually stop at 180 if the takeoff doesn’t feel right.

A few other prerequisites that are nice to have in your bag of tricks — but are not required — are grabbed and switch-stance variations of both 360s. These will give you complete control over the rotation and additional dexterity for the handle pass.

Heelside Frontside 540 with Jimmy LaRiche

As we just discussed, the tempo of a frontside 540 is a 180 plus a 360. So in the heelside frontside 540’s case, it would be a heelside frontside 180 plus a switch toeside backside 360. That’s the tricky part. You’ve probably never really thought about learning a switch toeside backside 360 before — but don’t worry, you won’t need to do this wake to wake yet. Ideally, though, you should experience it at some level — surface slide, ollie, one-wake or inside-out.

To break the ice, begin with a simple surface slide and start in the switch cuffed position. The key is to travel laterally across the middle of the wakes when you practice this slide. Be sure to overexaggerate, continuing your traveling direction over your toes when you finish. Jimmy LaRiche says, “Practicing these surface drills really helps you get the feel for the mechanics of the spin before you take it wake to wake.”

Pitching over onto your toes will make or break your landing. Whether you realize it or not, when you push off of the wake for a 180, you actually pitch your weight over in the air in anticipation of landing on your switch toeside edge. To practice pitching over onto your toes for the landing, Jimmy points out, “If you can do big 180s into the flats — or even a little past the wake — and land over your toes, then 540s should come easy.”

When you’re ready to take the 540 wake to wake, “Make sure you hold onto the handle with two hands all the way up the wake. You’ll also want to make sure you have completely left the wake before you start spinning; otherwise the rope will pull you out the front,” says Jimmy. “Once you are in the air and you’ve pitched over properly, you’ll want to spin a little faster than you did on your 360, and make sure when you come around to absorb the landing with your legs and keep your chest toward the shore.”

Toeside Frontside 540 with Shane Bonifay

Like with your heelside 540, the tempo of the toeside 540 should be broken into two parts: a toeside frontside 180 and a switch heelside backside 360. Practicing these pieces individually in a lower-risk environment will noticeably expedite the learning process.

The easiest way to get a few switch backside 360s under your belt is to first practice some inside-out switch backside 360s at slow surface sliding speeds. Start with an inside-out handle pass backside 180 that immediately flows into another 180 on the surface without pause. Then start landing later and later into the trick — impact at 270 and slide the remaining 90 degrees, and so on — and you’ll be landing inside-out switch heelside backside 360s before you know it.

Once that rotation feels comfortable, it’s time to try some toeside 540s wake to wake. Shane Bonifay says, “The mind-set I’m in during my approach is to make sure I’m coming into the wake with a smooth edge. Not too aggressive or wild, just smooth and progressive to keep the handle pass consistent. If you are jerking the rope around while edging in, the handle will get yanked around when you try to pass it.”

At the wake, stand tall by bringing your hips forward and pushing all of the bend out of your legs. Keep two hands on the handle all the way through your takeoff, and avoid the tendency to start spinning too early. Shane says, “Don’t think toeside 540; think big, clean toeside 180 followed by a handle pass and — bam! — 540.” Once you reach 180 at the apex of the trick, continue that momentum into the handle pass. At this point it should feel just like your inside-out switch heelside backside 180s. After you pass the handle, the trick should come around naturally. Shane says, “Spot your landing when you come around and before you know it, you’re landing and riding away from your first toeside 540.”

Grab It Like You Mean It with Josh Twelker

Once your frontside 540s are consistent and comfortable, it’s time to start grabbing them. For this section, we decided to bring in of one of our favorite 540 grabbers, Josh Twelker, and let him enlighten you on the mechanics of grabbing your board properly. “Before trying to grab on a 540, you should practice the grab on a 180 and 360,” says Josh. “Once it becomes instinctive, and you have found the most comfortable way to grab your board, it should naturally carry over to your 540.”

Sometimes riders can get a little anxious and unintentionally alter their axis. To avoid this, Josh says, “I like to tell people to bring the grab to you. Do this by bringing your knees into your chest rather than breaking at the waist to reach for the grab. Don’t rush it either. Rushing the spin can oftentimes throw off your axis, making the grab hard to get. Think: Pop first, then grab, then complete your rotation on the way down.”

To keep it all proper, Josh explains, “Grabbing properly means avoiding what is easy. Grabbing the corners or around the boot might be easier, but is definitely not as legit. Concentrate on keeping your hand either in between your feet or in the center of the tip or tail. It makes the trick look so much cleaner. Once you are comfortable grabbing the board in the right place, try adding some creativity by poking it out.”

Once you can grab it properly, switching up the timing of the grab can dramatically affect the look and style of the trick. Josh says, “Grabbing late, after the handle pass, is definitely a cool variation, but it can be much harder than early grabs. The key to getting a good late grab and poke is to advance your hips and body toward the boat. This creates some slack in the line, making it easier to get the late grab right after the first 360.”

Armed with all of this knowledge, you should be able to take to the water and produce the most legit 540s on the lake. Get to it!

The post Take your 360 to a 540 appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.

Toeside Frontside 540 with Shane Bonifay

Like with your heelside 540, the tempo of the toeside 540 should be broken into two parts: a toeside frontside 180 and a switch heelside backside 360. Practicing these pieces individually in a lower-risk environment will noticeably expedite the learning process.

The easiest way to get a few switch backside 360s under your belt is to first practice some inside-out switch backside 360s at slow surface sliding speeds. Start with an inside-out handle pass backside 180 that immediately flows into another 180 on the surface without pause. Then start landing later and later into the trick — impact at 270 and slide the remaining 90 degrees, and so on — and you’ll be landing inside-out switch heelside backside 360s before you know it.

Once that rotation feels comfortable, it’s time to try some toeside 540s wake to wake. Shane Bonifay says, “The mind-set I’m in during my approach is to make sure I’m coming into the wake with a smooth edge. Not too aggressive or wild, just smooth and progressive to keep the handle pass consistent. If you are jerking the rope around while edging in, the handle will get yanked around when you try to pass it.”

At the wake, stand tall by bringing your hips forward and pushing all of the bend out of your legs. Keep two hands on the handle all the way through your takeoff, and avoid the tendency to start spinning too early. Shane says, “Don’t think toeside 540; think big, clean toeside 180 followed by a handle pass and — bam! — 540.” Once you reach 180 at the apex of the trick, continue that momentum into the handle pass. At this point it should feel just like your inside-out switch heelside backside 180s. After you pass the handle, the trick should come around naturally. Shane says, “Spot your landing when you come around and before you know it, you’re landing and riding away from your first toeside 540.”

Click to view the images below:

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Here they are! These are the best of the best. The Top 10 photos that graced the pages of WAKEBOARDING magazine in 2014. A huge thanks to the incredibly talented group of photographers and riders that created them. After all, it’s what really brings us back to the magazine every issue. Check ’em out!

In no particular order.

The post Top 10: Photos of 2014! appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.

Toeside Back Roll with Shaun Murray

When walking, its human nature to lean in the direction that we want to travel. This can really mess with your toeside edge if you give in to the natural inclination to crouch forward and lean toward the wake during your approach. Remember, the only thing you have to lean against is the rope. If you lean against the rope while pointing the nose of the board at the wake in a tall, hips-forward, twisted position, you will have enough leverage for this load-and-release base invert.

With that said, there are a few steps to get you prepped for the wake-to-wake version. Sometimes, it can be a challenge just to get yourself upside down. “Many students I’ve coached have a hard time getting their feet out from underneath them — no matter how much they want it,” Shaun Murray says. “I’ve used a one-handed, one-wake, short-rope and slow-speed to get them … inverted.”

For this drill, pump up and down the wake in a tall, one-handed edging position with a rhythm of three consecutive pumps to feel the right lift from the wake. On the third pump, load it up by edging all the way through the wake and allow the board to carry you up into the flip in a tall, hips-forward edging position.

“Do your absolute best while trying any new trick — especially these — to keep your eyes in the game,” Murray says. “Knowing where to look can help you continue to move in the proper direction of your trick rather than stalling it out.”

Taking it wake to wake requires a long coast with a late edge and little extra patience at the wake. “I remember thinking that the best attempts for me were when I kept cutting all the way to the top, especially if I pushed my hips into my back arm — which was still on the handle until the peak of the flip,” Murray says.

Keep looking through the flip until you spot the landing. Murray recalls his experience landing his first toeside back roll: “I was so pumped when I first landed it because I saw the landing so clearly and knew I could do it again.”

The post Learn Your First Invert appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.

Tantrum with Adam Errington

Lucky for you, this flip is pretty simple — the edge, however, can be a little more complex. Once you figure out the trip-style edge at the wake, the rest is easy if you have a strong back flip. “A tantrum is one of the most basic inverts to learn, and in my opinion, it’s the one with the least amount of effort,” Adam Errington says.

In order to learn this trip at the wake, there are a few drills that will help you learn quickly with low impact and less risk of injury. The first are backside re-entry ollies — where you ride three-fourths of the way up the wake on your heels, ollie off of your toes and land back on the face of the wake or near the trough. This resembles the edge change required at the wake to “trip” you into the flip.

Once you have your backside re-entries dialed in, practice one-handed, one-wake tantrum attempts to get a feel for the tripping pop at the wake. On your first few attempts, let go of the rope completely just before you hit the wake. This will build your confidence and decrease your reliance on the rope. This invert does not require any line tension to function, so resist the urge to pull on the rope to gain stability.

When it’s time to take your attempts wake to wake, Adam says to “come into the wake with a crouched position and a more aggressive approach than you would on a normal wake-to-wake jump — this is because you will lose momentum at takeoff. As you near the bottom of the wake, take your back hand off the handle and square up your chest and shoulders as you simultaneously begin to stand up out of your crouched position.”

This is where the re-entry ollie practice really comes into play. Be sure to stand completely tall and push with your legs to take full advantage of the wake’s energy.

“Getting this timing down is hard, but that what all the drills are for,” Adam says.

Once you’ve got the takeoff correct, it’s pretty simple from there. Push your chest up, keep your eyes open and spot your landing. This is where your trampoline training will really pay off.

Click here to learn a TOESIDE BACK ROLL——>

The post Learn Your First Invert appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.

Progressive Heelside Back Roll with Shawn Watson

The key to learning this flip is figuring out the correct pop. The heelside back roll is a load-and-release-style invert. This means that the flip’s function is dependent on line tension. To learn how the physics work, it is best to break it up into a series of small steps in a low-impact environment. “It was more trial and error for me when learning,” Shawn Watson says. “First, I tried inside outs to get the rotation, then I went to a 60-foot rope length to land it and then gradually lengthened my rope out to the normal riding length.”

When you begin your wake-to-wake attempts, keep your approach short and progressive. This means that you will have to edge into the wake exponentially by forcing yourself to save your hardest lean against the rope for when you are edging through wake in a tall edging position. “When starting the approach, I think of using a 1-10 edging scale into the wake,” Watson says. “I’m going to be at a 1 on my initial approach and gradually building up my lean so that I’m edging my hardest at about a 6 as I’m going off the top of the wake.”

This edge will only function properly if you stand fully tall at the wake. In order to get good pop, keep your hips pushed forward and your shoulders back against the rope the entire time you edge through the wake.

“I think about edging all the way through the top of the wake and rotating the tip of my board away from the wake and up into the sky,” Watson says. “As I leave the wake, I look over my shoulder up into the sky and keep looking that way until I spot the wake. I then let go of my back hand to stop my rotation and land down the back side of the wake for a nice soft landing.”

Keep in mind that there is a natural 90-degree frontside rotation inherent in this invert. To avoid slipping out over your heels on landing, simply cancel out the accidental frontside rotation by pushing the handle out toward the flats a bit when you spot the water.

Click here to learn a TANTRUM!——>

The post Learn Your First Invert appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.

How To: Land Your First Invert | Words: Brandon Judd | Photos: Bill Doster

Flip Out

There are few moments in life that are quite like riding away from your first flip on a wakeboard. For those of you who have passed that milestone, you know what we’re talking about. For those of you who have not yet experienced this euphoria, keep reading — we will give you the tools you need to land your first invert.

Some of you may think that this doesn’t apply to you because you have already landed your first invert, but this does not exclude you. You may be doing your invert in a way that impedes your progression to more complicated inverts, or you may not be able to land all three of the inverts that we will cover, so take notes.

To start off, we asked around and had a few pro riders tell us which invert they landed first and asked them to assist us in our quest to guide you through each base invert. In this article, we walk you through the basic learning process of a heelside back roll, a tantrum and a toeside back roll.

Before you hit the water, be sure that you are comfortable upside down. This will greatly accelerate the learning process. Spend some time on the trampoline getting comfortable with each flip — preferably with the assistance of a trained spotter. To mimic the feeling of each trick on the water, tie a rope and handle to a stable stationary object, such as the trunk of a tree. Each trick may not function on the trampoline exactly like they will behind the boat, but it will help you gain crucial air awareness that will come in handy midair when troubleshooting the flip.

Ideally, you should be able to properly execute the goal invert with frontside and backside 180s and switch stance — each with and without the rope. So, for example, if a tantrum is the goal trick, you should be able to do a simple back flip with and without the rope, a switch tantrum with and without the rope, a tantrum to blind and a tantrum to fakie with and without the rope. Once you have this dialed in, you will be able to recognize and combat any unintentional frontside or backside rotation when attempting your first flip behind the boat.

Click here to learn a HEELSIDE BACK ROLL——>

The post Learn Your First Invert appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.

The gorgeous and fun Amanda Lewis was crowned the Rockstar Energy Drink Ms. Transworld Wakeboarding 2013 presented by Supra Boats, and Transworld Wakeboarding Staff Photographer Bill Doster was behind the lens for her cover shoot in front of a Supra SA350 at an active mining pit in Tampa, Florida.

Read more »Supra Boats Behind The Scenes Video Miss TransWorld Wakeboarding 2013 appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.

Here they are, in no particular order, the Top 20 photos published this year in the pages of TransWorld Wakeboarding Magazine. A special thanks to all the photographers, riders, chase boat drivers and helping hands that made these shots possible. Sit back and enjoy what is one of the most difficult and hard working crafts in our sport today.

The post Best of: The Top 20 Photos of 2013! appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.