What’s up shredders? I heard you wanted to learn frontside flips. A frontside flip is a beautiful combination of an ollie frontside 180 and a kickflip. Since you need pieces to make a puzzle, you are going to want to have both front 180s and kickflips dialed before you take on the frontside flip.

The two most common ways to frontside flip are inside out and in the flats. Some will say one is easier than the other but I think there are benefits to doing either one. Inside out will help you pop higher out of the water, but you will also have more lateral motion that can complicate the maneuver. So we’ll go with the flats for this one…

Frame 1: At this point I’ve got my feet set up just like I would for a flats kickflip, but with my front foot a few inches further back. This let’s the nose come up and in front a little bit easier. Make a mellow relaxed cut about 8 feet outside the wake with both hands on the rope. It might be easier to start trying this trick while still on a bit of an edge. Bend down a little bit to get ready to ollie and as you start to pop, turn your head and shoulders frontside and let go of the rope with your back hand.

Frame 2: As you bring the nose up, push the tail with your back heel in a more exaggerated motion than you would for a normal ollie 180. At the same time drag out a flick with your front foot following the nose around with the frontside spin.

Frame 3: Follow through with the flick of your front foot and make sure your back foot is out of the way enough to let the board rotate under you. Keep an eye on your skate and visualize where your skate is going to be when it’s time to stomp ‘er down.

Frame 4: As you place your feet back on to the gritty, be sure your body is over the skate in a stable position so you can ride it out, no matter what. At this point in the move a lot of people tend to land with a lot of weight on the front since it’s their natural back foot, but try to land with more weight on your new back foot as you are about to land.

Frame 5: As your weight sandwiches the board with the water, bend your knees to absorb the impact and keep the rope in close.

Frame 6-7: Ride that sucker out… Bonus points if you stay riding switch for a bit, tic tacs don’t look as good.

Not pictured (but required): Smile up at your boys in the boat and maybe even throw ’em a shaka. Enjoy it.

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