I have been trying to learn the 360 for about the past 5 weekends and so far all I have done is perfect the face/backplant. It seems like I either sucessfully land the board or pass the handle but never both. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Learn to use the technique of pulling the handle around your body to spin. Don't try to wind up your upper body to throw a spin. It's not like snowboarding, it's controlled by pulling the handle. <BR> <BR>Assuming you're spinning HS/FS - When you pop off the wake (as you pop) the first thing you have to do is pull the handle into your back hip with BOTH hands (pull hard). This advances your body towards the handle/boat so the handle will be close to you when you reach for it with the other hand. If you don't do this, you will never get the handle into your other hand (without crashing). But once you make the handle pass (180 degrees through the trick) the rope tension will pull you around, which finishes the last 180 for you. Also as you pull the handle into your back hip, turn your head and look in the direction you want to spin. This will help you rotate and spot the landing. Do a clean handle pass, the handle pass will make you do a 360. <BR> <BR>I found that a trampoline helped alot. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by jarrod on June 02, 2004)

never give up!

i think j-rod did an excellent job of explaining it. i want to emphasize the pulling of the handle, and turning the head in the direction of the spin. if you do both of these (and it takes a few attempts before you put them both together) the rotation should be just fine. next, is the handle pass. practice it on a trampoline or just on the ground. tie your rope or handle to a stationary object, jump, and do a 360 with the handle pass. practice on dry land goes a long way. also, make sure to start the rotation after you are in the air...otherwise you will be off axis and the landing will be difficult.

hey guys, thanks for all the advice. I think that not pulling the handle to start my spin is probably my main problem. I am also trying to talk my dad into letting me add some weight to our boat(he can be kinda stubborn about such things) so hopefully that will help me get more air and give me more time to spin. I was also wondering how hard it was to do a backroll for tall guys? I am 6'7 230 lbs so i am not sure that i was really built for inverts.

Watch any footage of Jason Buffalow. He stomps big Tantrums and Scarecrows. He's a big boy and he rips. For basic inverts, you'll be fine.