Landing/Riding BLIND

spicychalupa69 · Criminal Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 72 City: Woodbury

Hey guys. I have been able to land Ts and HS 180s (BS and FS) for a while. I can throw heelside 3s once in a while (they dont always go as planned) haha, but the other day it occured to me that i wanted to start riding blind. So i concentrated on 180s for the session and then trying Bs 180s to blind....didnt work out to well, so i resorted to simply doing surface 1s to blinds....still didnt work out well. When i try riding blind it feels like the boat is pulling the tail of my board around (which is logical) but i try to counter it and it doesnt work. If any of you guys have any tips on doing so, or how to ride blind or land blind well they would be greatly appreciated. I want to learn how to ride blind so damn bad so i can expand my list of inverts and spins! thanks in advance guys.

DunDunDun · Posted: Sep 15, 2005 3:07 pm Post subject:

i would never try to ride blind, man what if you like were cutting and there was a buoy in your path. youd be screwed

natxbrotha · Criminal Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 68

i've heard that slowing the boat down to like 16mph or somewhere in that range and just doing a surface blind 180 and riding blind from there to learn how to stear it will help... i believe you would start in the middle of the wakes, then move to the outside.... the slower speed will definitely help with the falls as well. way more forgiving. this is one thing i need to start working on so i dont tick tock out of tricks on the landing anymore.

spicychalupa69 · Criminal Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 72 City: Woodbury

Yeah i heard that too man, and i was actually going 15 today and then just doin a slide on the wake and turning blind but once i got the rotation, i would ride away for just like a second and get pulled over again. Then i tried ollies and it was even worst. Well any more advice would be greatly appreciated. So keep it comin! thanks in advance

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

spicychalupa69, try leaning over your edge more. Your edge is what will keep your tail from being pulled around. That and keep the handle to the middle of your back or even close to your lead hip.

wakedude83 · Posted: Sep 16, 2005 6:29 am Post subject:

This is an interesting issue. There are not many people out there who can just hold the handle behind their back and ride. Shawn Watson and Ben Greenwood can't even ride blind. When you land, you have to either slide back out or grab the handle before you untwist. The only way to ride blind is to have really big fins on your board. Leaning over your edge more is just going to make you untwist. You can stop being frustrated now. The only reason you saw pros doing it was because a few years ago they used bigger fins.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

wakedude83, you have no idea what you're talking about. I've got a friend on a finless premiere who would ride around blind all the time. I have it on video at home. I've done it for 5-10 seconds before also. It's not that hard.

QNev · Posted: Sep 16, 2005 6:59 am Post subject:

I tried riding blind just behind the boat between the wakes. Just keep a lot of pressure on your back foot (switch) and keep it out there. Keep the handle tight to your hip once in blind.
Good luck

J_DOGG · Posted: Sep 16, 2005 7:20 am Post subject:

IMO - to practice riding BLIND you should work on riding cuffed first.....

Riding switch next to the wake pull hard on the handle like you are going to wrap up but don't, push the handle to your back so you can reach around your back and grab it with the back hand. It's usually best to do this close to the wake where you will have the easiest time to generating enough slack to get the handle behind you.

Lean over your toes when you go for the grab with the back hand while the front hand on the handle as well.
Keeping both hands on the handle at all times you should be able to cut out and drift back into the wake for as long as you please.

Doing this is what gave me the ability to land my HS BS 180's all stinky and BLIND with one hand!!!

spicychalupa69 · Criminal Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 72 City: Woodbury

Thanks for all the input so far guys and J_DOGG, i know exactly what you are saying about holding on with both hands cuz thats the thing that would help me not to rotate around completely, but once i let go with my lead hand there i went I guess the title of this topic is a little off. i dont really wanna ride around the lake blind, i just want to be able to do it long enough so that i can land blind and pass the handle of unrwap myself. Like i said, i can throw a handful of inverts and inverts to reverts, i just want to throw them blind, it looks so damn cool and can broaden your horizon on the water! thanks guys

bradb · Outlaw Joined: 09 Jan 2004 Posts: 204 City: Parksville

All good advice so far. To recap:
-Slow the boat down.
-Work on riding cuffed.
-keep the board on edge (toe side edging away from the wake)
-Keep the handle as close in to the back (and as far around to your front hip) as you can.
And one more that might help:
Most people find that landing blind it helps to look away from the boat to shore and really get over your toes (even bend forward at the waist a bit). Head up!
Practise riding around like that until it feels natural, and soon you will stop getting pulled over landing blind.
don't forget to learn it switch too.
B

spicychalupa69 · Criminal Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 72 City: Woodbury

bradb, Thanks for your input, im pretty sure that i understand what to do now and how to get comfortable when doin it. I should hit the water again tomorrow or sunday. I will let you guys know how it went, and if it goes well perhaps ill throw some 1s to blind or tannys to blind! thanks guys

Thomas P. · Addict Joined: 16 Feb 2003 Posts: 717

i have posted this on other topics before but here goes:

there are 2 things that must be done to stick a blind landing and ride away without sliding out or untwisting.

1) Look in the opposite direction of travel. this is the direction the tail of your board points at when landing, usually close to 180 degrees from the boat. this closes your front shoulder off to the boat. the second your lead shoulder opens even slightly, you will untwist and slide out. this is the misunderstood step. people assume that getting on your edge will fix this, but if your still facing the boat or shore perpendicular to the boats path, you will untwist just the same.

2) stick your hips out toward the handle and boat a little bit to prevent getting pulled over onto your heels.

as long as you land with your head, chest and shoulders completely closed to the boat facing behind you, and your hips pushed out a little toward the handle, you can stomp the crap out of all your future blind/ wrapped landings.

wakedude83 · Posted: Sep 16, 2005 4:45 pm Post subject:

Wakebrad, I am not trying to be a jerk but I am calling you on this. There are plenty of pros that cannot ride blind (with one hand on the handle, behind the back). Just listen to me on this one. Trust me, I think i know how to ride my wakeboard pretty well, and I cannot ride blind for more than 10 seconds, and neither can alot of big names. This is not always due to skill, but it can be caused by the board you ride as well. I know what I am talking about.

EDIT: I am not saying that your friend didn't ride around blind. I challenge anyone with no fins to go and try to ride blind (with one hand). Not many will pull it off for longer than 10 seconds.

Brandon Lee · Addict Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 532 City: Atlanta

wakedude83, obviously you have no idea what you are talking about. Yes you usually do land blind with slack in the rope but its not aboslutely necessary. You can ride blind as long as you want to if you keep your shoulders over your toes and your not looking forward. The fin situation doesn't matter either.

bizzuck · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 593

wakedude83 what kind of Bubb Rubbing idiot are you? there are tons of people that can stand out in the flats, do an ollie bs 180 and ride blind all day. hell, there are plenty of people who can land a t2b and ride blind all day. if you think you can ride your wakeboard pretty well then you should know that riding blind isnt that hard. you dont have a single clue what you're talking about. i can ride blind all day and im not all that good. and i have seen plenty of people ride blind. you may be able to ride your wakeboard "pretty well" but you are an idiot.

spicychalupa69 · Criminal Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 72 City: Woodbury

Well then bizzuck, if you claim that you can ride blind all day hahaha, any tips man!?

bizzuck · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 593

wakedude83 · Posted: Sep 17, 2005 7:44 pm Post subject:

Ok you guys win. I don't know what I am talking about.

YELLOWMOBIUS · Addict Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 776 City: da region

yea hes a really sucky wakeboarder he wasnt in alliance wake or anything he should honestly just quit

bizzuck · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 593

wakedude83 you're right, you dont know what you're talking about.

Yellowplenty of people are in alliance all the time.

YELLOWMOBIUS · Addict Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 776 City: da region

sweet are they riding blind in the pictures to

bizzuck · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 593

yeah, some of them are.

Jim M · Wakeboarder.com Freak Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 2933

As long as you commit to keeping weight outside your toeside edge, I dont think it matters what kind of center fin you have.

spicychalupa69 · Criminal Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 72 City: Woodbury

Brandon Lee · Addict Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 532 City: Atlanta

He means that your fin set-up really is irrelevant to riding blind, so long as you are over your toeside edge

Thomas P. · Addict Joined: 16 Feb 2003 Posts: 717

for the record, just keepin your weight over your toes will still make you untwist to the boat, you must look opposite to the boat with your hips further out toward to boat then the rest of your body. then weight on your toe edge will stick you in that blind/wrapped position.

spicychalupa69 · Criminal Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 72 City: Woodbury

Thomas P., what do you mean by your hips further out toward the boat? ive been tryin all the things these folks have told me and ive gotten a little bit better, but still havent managed to ride more than 4 or 5 seconds blind.

Turnocity · Newbie Joined: 21 May 2005 Posts: 40

riding blind is really easy. the way i learned it is i would cut out heelside into the flats. then do a backside ollie 180. this make you pass the handle, then you just hold it there and ride blind. like they all said though, keep your sholder leaned over your toes, so the board stays on edge.

Thomas P. · Addict Joined: 16 Feb 2003 Posts: 717

push your hips further toward the nose of your board, this helps prevent the boat from pulling you over.

bizzuck · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 593

spicychalupa69 · Criminal Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 72 City: Woodbury

bizzuck, i think i got it! haha, im goin out today guys, so ill let you know how it went, if any progress at all

Tyler~Moore · Posted: Sep 27, 2005 1:33 pm Post subject:

i ride a substance finless and can ride blind all day...I cant land any tricks blind, but i can pull the handle to my back hand behind my back and ride...I rode with both hands on the handle behind my back...let go with my front hand and grabbed back on whe i started to spin. slowly let go longer and long til now i can just ride...

|}addyFatSac|{s · Newbie Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 7 City: Saint Petersburg

He said "Bubb Rubbing"

ty540 · Addict Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 603

So far the advice has been good (with some notable exceptions...), but there is one other thing that will really help you out--handle position. If your arm is straight and relaxed it will act just like an extension of the rope. This will pull your back shoulder around, which you don't want. Instead, as you land hold your arm really close and tight to the small of your back. This will cause the rope to pull you from your hand, which will be closer to your front hip, and will thus not pull you back around toward the boat. Think about locking your arm in that position and you should find it much easier. When you put everything together correctly it's pretty much effortless.