By James Balzer
First of all, I’ve never fallen in my life, but if you’re going to fall, I guess this is the way to do it.

You have to fall different for different tricks so we’ll go through them all. If you are crashing on a wake-to-wake trick, you have to make a lot noise and scream right before you fall. No, it’s true. It lets all the air out of your gut before you fall so you don’t get the wind knocked out of you. If you are going to crash on a rail, don’t let go of the handle. It will pull you off the rail and you can land happily in the pool below.

One rule that’s for any crash behind a boat or a ski is this. Don’t be in a rush to get back above water. The wake will smash you in the face if you come up to soon. I like to come up slow because if you do that the wakeskate won’t hit you in the face either. If you have a face like mine you want to keep it beautiful.

Fetal position is always good for all crashes in general. The more bent your knees are the less chances you have of blowing them out. When you land straight legged you really have a chance of messing things up. But if you can’t avoid it and you are going land straight legged or if you are going to step off the back of your wakeskate, make sure to let go of the handle. You’ll still do the splits, but this way you’ll save your knees. You may pull your groin but it’s better than somebody else pulling it, right?

There are a few general crashing styles. You can crash like George. He has the best crashing technique out of everyone. He jumps off his board when he knows he is going to crash and does sweet tuck and roll dive techniques. Or you can “not crash” like Nick and Reed. Laybacks, although very entertaining and good, can be strenuous on the rotator cuff in your shoulders. Basically laybacks are only good for contests and photo shoots.

Hopefully this helps you out, because I was just kidding about never falling myself. In fact, I think crashing is good for our sport. It’s the most gnarly thing we have. If we didn’t crash it would just be a bunch of water ballet.

0807115916_MG_1407

Image 2 of 12