Video:
Landing Blind - MPEG Video File (2.1 mb)

Pre-Requisites: You need to have strong heelside jumps, the ability to land switch and be good at ollies (bunny-hops).

How To: There are several steps you want to take when learning to land blind. First, you want to learn how to ride blind. To ride in the blind position you should be switchstance with your rear hand wrapped around your back and holding the handle. Your head and upper body should face away from the boat, NOT out sideways looking into the flats. You should be looking at the trail the boat is making. You want to lean in exactly the opposite direction from which the handle is pulling. So if you are close to the wake, you should be leaning almost exactly backwards away from the boat. If you are way out in the flats you should be leaning a little more towards the flats. Since most blind tricks are wake to wake, you should get used to looking at the trail the boat is making. Body position is everything, so get really comfortable riding blind.

OK, now you are ready to try to stick a trick blind. The easiest way to do this is to do a heelside backside 180. Try to do it with a bunnyhop first. To spin blind just pull the handle towards your lead hip. Don't jump the wake right away. Just do an ollie backside 180.

Once you are comfortable with the ollie backside 180, try to do one from the inside-out. In other words, start in the middle of the wakes and jump from the inside of the wakes out to the flats area. If you have good timing, you can actually jump from the inside of the wake and still land on the 2nd wake (see the second backside 180 in the video).

Finally, try to do a wake-to-wake backside 180. The trick to landing blind is do the jump first, then turn it blind late. This forces you to use your lead hand to spin you. You want to get used to spinning blind late because that will help you mimic the landing on other tricks you will want to learn such as tantrum to blinds, backside 540's, etc. These all have late blind landings.

Pro Tips: Why do I keep landing with to much weight on my heels? Why do I keep getting yanked onto my back? These things happen for various reasons. The most common is upper body and face placement. If you are falling onto your back, you probably aren't leaning away from the boat. You need to be looking completely backwards. If you look out into the flats you will get yanked onto your heels or butt.

Why do I pass the handle immediately after landing? Same problem as the first question. You aren't looking back away from the boat enough. This problem isn't as bad though. Most likely you look away from the boat when you land, but then you turn your head and upperbody after landing and it causees you to pass the handle.

Just remember that the key to landing blind is body position. As long as your upper body and head are facing away from the rope and boat, you will be fine. If done properly, landing blind should be as easy as landing normal. When I do a tantrum to blind, I don't feel like the rope wants to yank me on to my back or unspin me AT ALL. It feels like a natural position. Even when I land blind out in the flats, as long as I have the right body positioning, it doesn't feel like it wants to yank me on my back at all.

It took me a while to learn how to land blind in the flats. I thought you really had to muscle it. I was very wrong. You just have to find the right body positioning. Once you can land with your weight leaning against the boat and rope, landing blind anywhere is easy.

Landing blind takes a lot of practice. Every time I get up, I jump from the inside of the wakes and do a backside 180 out. This helps me stay comfortable with landing blind and it's a really cool feeling. I probably like landing blind better than doing anything else on a wakeboard.

Mike McLin is sponsored by Malibu, Reef and Performance Ski and Surf.

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