Frontflips

Why do I see so little of these? I think they look absolutely dirty but haven't really seen too many people throwin em...

Ive heard the landings are really hard to spot, thus making it a fairly dangerous and difficult trick. Go to the post today that says "39 year old bag". Its of a 39 year old dude that stomps 11 or 12 inverts and spins. Among those being a heel frontflip

The landing is rough. I do them almost every time I ride just because I don't want to lose them, but it's far from my favorite trick. You are in the air for what feels like a long time and it's an abrupt landing that can really rock you.

they make my face hurt

I throw multiple front flips every time I ride. I think they are just as easy to land as tantrums. I've never really ever had the feeling like you guys mentioned saying its a touch abrupt landing.

Whats the learning curve like on this trick? I have hs backrolls, R2R, crow, and ts frontrolls. Would it be realistic to start trying these, I think they look tight...

Yea Zach I saw that video and thats what made me think of it.

The most common problem is having it turn into a frantram, half front flip, half tantrum, it helps to grab nose as it forces you to lead with your front shoulder. As noted above it's not an easy landing to spot

I just don't get it though, like the raley is a hard trick too, I have heard tons of stories of people wrecking and getting knocked out, but you still see people doing it. How is that different from the frontflip? It looks so sick.

raleys arent hard tricks by any means. you just have to get over the fact you could get seriously rocked. i struggled learning hs frontflips for a long time but once i figured them out they are one of my favorite tricks to throw. also dont think the landings are very difficult on the body. you will land in the flats when you do these(wake to wake would be about impossible because you have to rail into the wake so hard) youll most likely land on your tail which will lessen the impact.

if ur talking about ts frontflips, ive never seen anyone in person throw them only a few pros on videos. that is a sick trick!!

Frontflips are my go to trick. I love taking them huge and the landings are never really painful. Like Alan said ^ you land on your tail so it really softens the landings.

I agree with Alan. I didn't find it hard to land the trick but I did find it hard to not 'fear' the trick and get it consistent. Leaving early is the biggest mistake I make. Since it is blind landing, you can't see the water until the very end and have to trust what you felt on take off. I feel the boot, I go for the landing. If I don't feel the boot, I lay it and go for the butt landing... otherwise you can jam your back knee trying to land one w/o much air.

IMO, you have wait and trust that you will 'kicked' over. If you wait on the take off, you will get the boot you need... hold on and land it! I find a hard fast cut makes me go early an no boot. I medium aggressive cut gets the speed I need and allows me feel the wake and get the boot.

-Uj

Jessie, a front flip doesn't have a blind landing, but I think I get what you're saying as far as the landing being harder to spot.

I quit doing these a long time ago because mine started turning into a frantrum and that is something I won't tolerate, but I plan on relearning them next year I guess (I'm not as hardcore anymore and my season has been over for a few weeks now). This trick IMO, depending on who's doing it, could possibly be the only invert that sometimes looks better without a grab. I'm reminded of Rusty in Underestimated (I think) where he does a few just raley edging into it and cranking monster fronts way out in the flats - legitimate tail over tip. Very good looking trick.

I've been wanting to try these for a while now, but I hear they can be high risk for injury if you come up short. And I'm sure the first ones I'll come up short before I get a feel for the rotation. Go for it??

I think people get too caught up in thinking they need to learn a mobe or a 7. Back in the day a front flip was part of the natural progression of basic inverts. Now after people learn a backroll or a crow they think they should be doing roll to blind or crow mobe. A lot of tricks get passed over.

Agreed! I still think nose grab front to fakies look awesome.

The HS front flip was the first trick I taught myself. Ever since I learned the tantrum after that I haven't been able to do the front flip, although in the last while I haven't really tried. Next year I guess now that my season's over.

"...I just don't get it though, like the raley is a hard trick too...but you still see people doing it. How is that different from the frontflip?..."

--> because everyone wants to see "that superman" thingy! (especially the chicas...and for some, that's all that matters)

good point Travis. I think a lot of older tricks that used to get some much recognition just don't cut it anymore. I know it's a more advanced trick, but I wanna see some more Line cutters like Shapiro and Byerly used to do.

Eric's point is dead on. I have seen way too many people who could care less about how many degrees you can spin or how stylish you are, but if you can throw a raley, you are the God of Wakeboarding.

Mark, you say that as if it's not true. It doesn't get anymore fresh than a huge backside layout.

I read up on this for about 2 months before I tried it. I have never taken a hard fall on this and landed my 3rd attempt, but I could see how it would be a bad fall if something went wrong. If I don't commit, I seem to throw a frantrum.

i tried some this summer, all i can say is that they feel weird at first, i felt like i didnt do anything right, and then just smacked the water. But when i watched the footage of myself, if was a textbook front, i just underrotated it half way through and landed on my side. By the way this is one of my favorite looking tricks also, right up next to Murray's blind judges.

i'd say 98% of the time when you are trying these youre going to land on your back or butt. the landings really arent that harsh. wear some under armor to protect your nuggets and youll be fine.

What's a frantrum ?

a two handed tantrum

personally the hs fronts have been hard on my knees this year (last year was all good thought). sprained my right mcl on one this june, and hyperextended my left knee on one in july. it's a fun trick though, and i'll continue to do them. it's definitely a thrilling move to do.

Why dont more pros throw them then ?

Nick, they don't score well in contest, you will see front mobes (front flip inverted 360) and front mobes 5's on the tour, they score well.

I think I understand it all now lol thanks

Ben Greenwood has the best looking heel front ever. I like doing indy heel fronts. Its an akward trick. You have to make sure you dont frantrum or it just looks dumb.

Greenwood has one of the very few legitimate indy front to blinds. That move is so impressive because doing it correctly requires a very late bs 180 given that initiating the blind rotation early would turn it into a frantrum. I can remember seeing Byerly & Co. do HUGE front flips behind boats with no tower or weight.

I have to say the coolest looking Front I've ever seen has to go to Randy Harris. I believe he does one in Retrospect where he comes off the wake and almost immediately grabs and turns frontside 180 (just like most people do front to fakies) but then pulls it back regular at the last second. I had to rewind that about 10x.

Yea nose and mute fronts are pretty easy. Indy is the hard grab because the rope wants to pull you to frantrum. Benny g's fronts in drive are textbook perfect.

frantrum = combining the words front flip/tantrum. it's a trick that is not quite over the nose of the board like a legit front flip but not quite a squared to the wake back flip like a tanny. A hybrid of the two. Not necessarily ugly IMO, but a little sloppy...kind of like grabbing tindy.

I think this is a fairly dangerous trick and common to come down and hurt your front knee as a legit front flip often lands tail heavy and then comes down hard on the nose. I would imagine that danger factor keeps a lot of people (including me) from learning it.

BCH... you crack me up... You afraid of hurting your knees? Dude, your dub hits make my knees hurt just watching! That one you hit at Bullard's this summer crushed you! I think you are now 1 inch shorter than you were in the spring!!!

just so everyone knows... BCH kills it...

I forgot I was gonna post this video here, Its Dean Lavelle, he thros some HS fronts in it i dunno its pretty cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRhF2lLr3io

Deans fronts are a little different. Out the back a little maybe.

Those are frantrums.

So I have been doing HS fronts for over 10 yeas, the problem is, they seem to come and go! It seems like some years I have them on lock and then others they are hit and miss. This year I started out having them very consistant, but towards the end of the season I kinda lost them again. I'm not sure whats going on?

As an example, here is a video of 2 HS Fronts from a couple of years ago, one went well, the other did not:

http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3035239420103314895Xaztfd

Maybe you guys can see what I am doing different between the 2? These were back to back attempts. The one with the wreck was actually my first try, then I got back up and did it again and landed. So whats the difference?

I know I do mine more front flip style then kart wheel. What style do you think looks better?

Later,
jjakober

Yea the first one that you landed looked really good, definitely how they are supposed to look.

It looks to me like instead of lifting your front foot up right after the lip and initiating the rest of the rotation of the flip with your body you're waiting for the pop too long and stalling it while kind of cocking your board funny. I'm not sure, just my take on it.

Your right shoulder opened up right before you hit the wake. Kartwheel style looks the best in my opinion. But that first one was a legit front flip. When I do mine I gradually pull the handle to my left hip. When I hit the wake I pull it almost past my left hip to make sure to not frantrum. Close my right shoulder grab indy and look behind my left shoulder.

(Message edited by eyekahn on October 17, 2008)

JJ - Not that I can do them, but I agree with Nick. Every time I see somebody do this trick their front need is sucked up and their upper body is flipping over before the board. You initiate the flip and it looks almost like your front leg is boned out and the nose of the board points down to the water first.