Mastering the Invert: Bodyboarding's Ultimate Manoeuvre Explained

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Video Transcript: Invert Airs have been one of my favourite moves for a long, long time. The reason is that hitting the lip, getting projection, and boosting out into the air is one of my favourite things. I've been bodyboarding for over 30 years now and trying to perfect this move, so hopefully, I can share some secrets to help you do it too. An Invert Air is basically hitting the lip on your bodyboard and going upside down, so kind of like doing a Barrel Roll or an Air Roll halfway around and then coming back the way that you came. If anyone can remember the old BMX days, there used to be a manoeuvre called a Tabletop Air. It's the same thing; they kind of go upside down like that on their side. That's where the bodyboard manoeuvre came from, but we call it an Invert Air. The difference between an Invert Air and a normal Air is that with an Invert Air, you go upside down and arc your weight out into the flats in front of the wave. With a normal Air, which is also known as an 'Eppo Air' and sometimes known as a 'Flying Squirrel Air,' you kind of go a long ways and fly over the section and then land and then ride out with it. My top tip for nailing a really, really silky smooth Invert Air is something that I'll tell you a bit later on in the video, towards the end. It's a game-changer that I feel sets your 'Invert Air' from normal to advanced. The stepping stone to learning the invert air is to learn how to do a manoeuvre called the 'Air Roll.' We've already done a KZbin video about 'How to do an Air Roll.' You can watch that here! I'd highly recommend learning that move first because, in my opinion, it's a bit easier, but the dynamics are the same. You need to learn to hit the lip as it's pitching, go upside down in both manoeuvres, and land in a very similar way as well. So, I definitely learned the air roll first and then lead on to the invert air as a secondary manoeuvre, and it's a beautiful way to progress. There are a few guys on this planet that have absolutely nailed inverts, and they actually do them in different ways. The first one that springs to mind is Mitch Rawlings. His style of doing inverts is second to none; he kind of kicks his legs, flies in a beautiful arc, and lands so smoothly. And then a more gymnastic approach is Jeff Hubbard, and him busting an inverter again, it's mega tweaked and super stylish but slightly different from Mitch Rawlings. If you can combine Mitch Rawlings and Jeff Hubbard into one smooth invert hairstyle, you're absolutely killing it. The reason that I love doing inverts is that I believe is because most of the time I surf a wedge wave. Wedge wave characteristics are that there's loads of power in the peak, you fly along the shoulder, and you generally hit an end bowl. Other than wedge waves, if you've got a real nice tubing bowling wave, you can decide not to get barrelled and instead bottom turn around the barrel, come up, and launch out of that kind of mouth of the barrel section, which is an amazing section to do inverts. Yeah, bear all those things in mind; it's going to help you bust out. You're flying down the line, you've hit the lip, you've got air, now you need to land it. There are a few critical things you need to know. The first thing is you need to hit the lip and keep your eyes open and look for the point that you're going to land. In the perfect world, you'll be landing as the lip explodes and bounces up, so you've got a nice foamy landing. That's in the perfect world, but what happens a lot of the time, due to the nature of the air, is you'll come off the lip and come out in front of the wave, and you're landing in the flats. Whether you're landing on the foam or you're landing on the flats, it's really important to get yourself braced for that landing. Some riders, Jeff Hubbard again, I know he puts his elbows in like this and braces himself that way. Eppo used to always pull his hands up to the front of his board and brace himself that way. I personally find if I keep my hands in the prone position, I hold on tight, so I really, really focus on taking a good grip on my board so that then when I land, my hands don't come off and I don't headbutt my board. The key to landing them is getting the nose of the board pointed towards the shore as you land, so try not to land kind of wonky. Some of the Aussies and also Bjorn's story, actually locally to me, do really nice inverts as well. As you go up, you kind of tweak back in the direction that you've come from, which is really cool. But then from there, you still have to get the nose back towards the beach so that you can land nice and smoothly. My top tip for this manoeuvre, my secret sauce, is definitely hitting the lip, throwing your inside leg upside down, and the best way to do that is by getting your left hip and throwing it up by kicking your leg up in the air. Okay, now if you kick your fin up in the air, that makes your legs split like that, but if you arc like that, it means that you fly like that, and you generally have a much better chance of landing the air. But also, the air looks like 10 times more stylish. Yeah, take that one and use it for sure. Hope you found those tips useful. If you did, please subscribe to the channel, give this video a like, and if you've got any comments, whack them below. We'd love to hear from you. Visit our website at www.bodyboard-holidays.com, and we look forward to getting barrelled with you soon.

[@LearnOnlineVideo]

Loving these new vids fellas! Amazing work 🎥👌

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Appreciate it, plenty more to come!

[@welshbodyboardclub3400]

Great tips as always. Will share with the club

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Awesome thank you!

[@severnbrand]

Love this! ♥

[@bodyboard_holidays]

😬

[@JohnnygSawyer]

Sweet Tips & Tricks! Now I need to find a pre 80's Redline MK BMX Bike so I can work on Table Tops 😅

[@bodyboard_holidays]

😂 You've got this!

[@nadhiroussama9731]

Very practice , nice tips ❤

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Glad you like them!

[@NewquayactivitycentreCoUk]

Super useful to nail the flight path 🙏🏼

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Redtail_News]

Will start kicking out my leg 👍

[@bodyboard_holidays]

💪

[@britishbodyboarding1387]

Love this ❤

[@bodyboard_holidays]

✌

[@raku5219]

Sweet move! Wondering about not buckling the board practicing this. What kind of tech makes the most difference for a board's life? Mesh? One stringer enough or two/three needed. I don't have a stack of boards like someone in the biz and they are so expensive. What's ideal for this kind of high end performance? Thank you for your insights.

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Thanks for reaching out and for asking this great question. If you are looking to perform manoeuvres such as the Invert Air you would would certainly be looking to get a board within the "Pro Model" bracket. When it comes to technical features such as mesh and stringers this can be down to personal preference and governed by variables such as water temperature and types of waves ridden. Many riders go through the process of trying different boards to find exactly what works for them. As a rule of thumb though, we would say that a NRG+ or PP core is a minimum requirement if looking to master tricks such as the invert Air and a Surlyn slick on the bottom of the board. It is then that you would consider your personal preference of mesh or no mesh and how many stringers to have if any. We hope this helps! 👌

[@Pucksndeep6]

Love you guys 🤟🤟

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Thanks! We love you too! ❤

[@britishlongboardunion5215]

Sick

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Thanks!

[@biskitbodyboarding]

Nice 🎉

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed watching it. 😁

[@steviewinx7371]

I've been working on this move. My problem is the timing of the head movement. I'm doing it to much like an air roll. Once I leave the lip I can't stop myself from doing a roll. I think I need to orient my head in the correct direction the moment right before leaving the lip.

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Your body will always follow your head so make sure you look where you want to go. Hope the video helps ✌

[@rmzn77]

Best wishes for your KZbin channel.Your video is very informative, Hey bro I am your big fan I always follow your videos on youtube. Are you looking for a professional KZbin thumbnail designer at a low price?

[@bodyboard_holidays]

Thank you so much 🙂

[@jackt8587]

✅ Promo_SM