Post Your First 3

Last year I began trying to pull my first surface 3. I had some success; I was able to spin my Trick Boardz Mojo, Scotts Trick Boardz Free Style, and an Inland Surfer Yellow. However I wasn’t able to stay with the wake. Heck I spun about a 720 on the Free Style.

I just issued a friendly challenge to Malibu Sue to see who could pull a 3 first. Sue doesn’t have any one local to push her skills, she’s teaching others to wakesurf, so I’m offering to provide remote peer support and pressure in return for the same.

So here the deal; report your progress, tricks, and successes. If you’re an old hand and can pull a 3 in your sleep just offer support and advice.

Here’s one of my late 2006 season attempts.

The problem I had and that I see most commonly is putting too much effort into it. The first 1/2 of the trick does itself.

Here's how I would describe it. Approach the wake like you were going to do a railslide (without counter-rotating your body) I like to hit the lip as square as possible. As you approach the lip try to relax (and don't do ANY type of spin) until you feel the water start to push you back.(In other words let the wake do most the work). Once you feel the push backward all you do is simply bring your board around 180 with your weight never shifting from the back foot.

(in the pic you have all your weight on your front foot)

Ed -another thing I use to do was shift my weight to my front foot (then try to shift it back real quick) like in your picture when it's suppose to be on the back foot the whole time

Here's a 4000 word explanation of how I do mine.

even though I could stand to gain a few style points by not bending over, my weight is primarily centered towards my back foot the entire rotation. (you can actually see the tension on my back leg in the 2nd pic)

I made several attempts on an IS Yellow today, really just a few. The first attempt wasn’t too bad, but as usual I lost the wake. My second a tempt was just awful, I slammed my leg somewhere on the board, it smarted but not anything that would stop me from riding. On my third attempt the board felt kind of funny, kind of loose and I fell off like I slipped on a banana peel. I gave it one more shot but again my board was riding funny, I thought that maybe I was getting tired.

On the second attempt I apparently slammed my shin on one of the fins. I didn’t notice that the fin was gone until the boat was coming to pick me up. I’m taking the Mighty Centurion and my boards to the “Crush the Ice for Life” Ice Breaker at Sylvan Lake, near New Rome, Indiana next Saturday so I’d better order replacement fins. I’ll work more on my three next weekend.

My shin after some recovery.


What’s left of the fin.

owww

I replaced the broken fin and worked on my 3s today. I came close a few times. About half of the time I had too much weight on the nose and dove the nose down. Looks like I need to keep the weight on the back as Sean recommends.

The Billmeister is now the Threemeister! Congrats Bill!

No pic, but I just landed my first 3 of the season. I thought it would come on the yellow loogy or the walzer, but oddly enough it happened on the blue lake. I'll have to do it again this week and get some pics up!

Heres a video of a 3 from last year.

http://s100.photobucket.com/albums/m33/02gda/?action=view&current=Landlock-360.flv

I don't know if my technique is quite right, there aren't many people around here who surf.

Are you guys taking your fins off for 3s?

You only take your fins out for rotations greater than 2880 I would venture a guess than no one is removing their fins to perform a 360.

We did a discussion on throwing a surface 3, here:

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3713

These pictures might help folks. This is frontside dragging a hand to intiate the rotation - IMO the easiest way to learn a surface 3. Pay careful attention to James' body position, he's upright, bending slightly at the knees, but not OVER at the waist.

thanks I'll try that next time I'm out there. I've been having trouble doing tricks when surfing.

I'm spinning pretty reliably on both an IS Yellow. I haven't been able to catch the wake after the spin so I tried an IS Blue. I have no trouble spinning the Blue but I'm still not catching the wake. One of my friends says that I’m not going fast enough when I start the spin.

I'll keep at it. Oh, I'm using stock fins on both the Blue and Yellow.

Here are some pictures from todays attempts.

Ed? Look for the boat - you'll surf where you look. If you've ever watched wakeboarding videos, in virtually every trick they emphasize where to look and where to place your head.

Bring your head around and I'll bet'cha start landing them.

Feels like I'm close. I'll give it a try.

Ed.
I have been trying my first 3 this week and i am in the same boat. I get about 270 around and the wash runs over the board and I loose the wake.

I had my wife taking video but she's not good at it. She did not get the board in almost any shot. I should of just hooked up my camera mount.

I have only tried it on the Blue this week. When I go out tomorrow I will try the yellow and see if i can spin that around.

Good luck.

Great advice and pics, Jeff. Thanks!