FINALLY got the body varial

(lksamm) · (lksamm) **Join Date: Jun 2004** 09-23-2010, 5:23 PM

I've been working on this trick since seeing Josh Slegh land it in a video like 4 years ago (main difference is, Josh does it 2 feet higher and with a method grab!) Regardless, I'm pretty stoked. Been able to land several since. Just thought I'd share my personal triumph.

surfdad 09-23-2010, 5:58 PM

Congratulations!

(jdjjamesz) · (jdjjamesz) **Join Date: Mar 2008** 09-23-2010, 6:03 PM

sick..

(liljohn) · (liljohn) **Join Date: May 2007** 09-23-2010, 7:44 PM

Way to go Mark !

(StanleyWheelhouse)

It's dead because legendary surfer Mark Sher just killed it. Hopefully the fine citizens of lake Samm will return his face to him.

(islander033) · (islander033) **Join Date: May 2008** 09-23-2010, 7:43 PM

sweet

(wofrankwo) · (wofrankwo) **Join Date: Jul 2009** 09-23-2010, 8:11 PM

thats really cool looking stuff mark!!

and thanks for sharing!

(ragboy) · (ragboy) **Join Date: Aug 2007** 09-23-2010, 10:50 PM

Shazam! That's pretty cool Mark. You know, you actually look normal after you pull the varial. ;-)

Still can't believe you do all of that backside. You da man.

(BlairJ) · (BlairJ) **Join Date: Jun 2010** 09-24-2010, 7:36 AM

Very cool trick. Seeing it landed jogged my memory of the Sleigh clip you mentioned.

(lksamm) · (lksamm) **Join Date: Jun 2004** 09-24-2010, 8:45 AM

Josh was sooooo far ahead of everyone. Watching him ride backside inspired me to do the same.

(tonyv420) · (tonyv420) **Join Date: Jul 2007** 09-24-2010, 9:29 AM

watching you ride backside inspired me! I can only dream of landing one of those. Tried sooo many times, and havent came close. But now that I have a vid to help, I'm hoping some day...............................................

(lksamm) · (lksamm) **Join Date: Jun 2004** 09-24-2010, 9:58 AM

One of the keys is to spend A LOT of time riding switch. This way, when you do land it, you are comfortable on the board and can make any corrections.

(timmyb) · (timmyb) **Join Date: Apr 2007** 09-24-2010, 10:22 AM

That was awesome! Congrats!

(tuneman) · (tuneman) **Join Date: Mar 2002** 09-24-2010, 12:59 PM

Very nice, Mark!

(hawaj) · (hawaj) **Join Date: Aug 2005** 09-25-2010, 8:38 PM

Great Mark! Do you have link to that Josh Sleigh video?

(lksamm) · (lksamm) **Join Date: Jun 2004** 09-27-2010, 9:58 AM

This isn't the vid I was thinking of, but it has some great footage of Josh and he does the varial several times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNtHh...layer_embedded

(ragboy) · (ragboy) **Join Date: Aug 2007** 09-27-2010, 10:32 AM

Dude, towards the end, on that big ol board, he does a shuvit, then 180 to switch, that was cool. Embedded for convenience. And then pretty much pulls off an air 360, backside, damn.

(lksamm) · (lksamm) **Join Date: Jun 2004** 09-27-2010, 1:39 PM

Did you notice that he was wearing shoes on the arial 3? He had velcro on the board and the shoes grip it. That's how the board stayed with him.

(ragboy) · (ragboy) **Join Date: Aug 2007** 09-27-2010, 2:44 PM

I didn't notice, but I went back and watched. That makes sense, with that big old board, I was AMAZED how well he pulled it around. I have seen that trick attempted by James and Chase, and it is about my favorite to see, its amazing. Chase attempted it at the NWOpen but it was more of a air reverse, that he rotated farther. I am sure Chase has done even better, but so far, the best one I have seen was by James, in this video:

Go to 11:40. James go up and pretty much goes up and lands back on the wave without having to rotate after on the surface. I can't wait to see them performing that completely in the air.

I know that James uses very soft astrodeck traction, and then on top of that, he waxes his traction thoroughly. He needs a ton of traction to pull that stuff off.

Anyway, great stuff. Too funny, booties and velcro. Will the new IS flyboy come with velcro traction and a special set of booties? ;-)

surfdad 09-27-2010, 3:19 PM

That was the Shawk Board Gear system. I don't know if those folks are still around. They were out of Santa Cruz, as I remember. Watching all those old vids of Josh and he's still amazing!

(ragboy) · (ragboy) **Join Date: Aug 2007** 09-27-2010, 3:27 PM

Yeah, no kidding. Out of curiousity Jeff, what kind of Wax does james use, we keep warm/tropical sticky bumps on the boat, but I was just curious if he found one that worked best on traction.

surfdad 09-27-2010, 3:42 PM

We have Sharkbait surfwax on the boat, I believe Tropical, and Cold and James used Bubble Gum, surf wax - Tropical back in Minnesota for the WWSC. I'm not sure that he has a stated preference. I believe the Sharkbait is the most used, however.

(duramat) · (duramat) **Join Date: Feb 2008** 09-27-2010, 9:38 PM

Mark, THATS AWESOME. I cant tell ya how easy you make your HS action look. I watch your vids to see how your doing it, someday I hope to be as good as you

Is that on a Swallow or Sweet?

(lksamm) · (lksamm) **Join Date: Jun 2004** 09-28-2010, 9:12 AM

Hey Matt, thanks for the props! I'm riding the carbon Sweet Spot. It's been a great board for me for 2 years.

(smedman) · (smedman) **Join Date: Feb 2006** 09-30-2010, 7:44 AM

Nice vid Mark, very smooth! Congrats!!

(notsobueno) · (notsobueno) **Join Date: Dec 2004** 09-30-2010, 9:16 PM

Very nicely done. Congrats Mark.