Flat Spin

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At the 1997 Worlds Corran Addison turned up with a boat that would flat spin on a green wave! 'Bloody hell' said the rest of the world and they changed the scoring system so he couldn't win, nowadays this move hardly scores a thing!

Anyway, to do one you need a nice wave, bigger the better! Whilst surfing you may feel the boat 'release' from the wave and slip around a bit, this is when the hull has started to 'plane' and is the state you need to get to, to spin your boat. Normally you will need to create some speed on the wave, by getting to the top and surfing down the face, when you have speed, you will need to start a reverse sweep stroke (remember those?) As you bring the blade towards the front of the boat, you will need to move your weight forward slightly and force the back of your boat round to the front. DO NOT edge your boat into the turn! or the edge will cut into the wave and you will carve off to the eddy. You will actually have to lift the hip on the same side that you are reverse sweeping on. Don't for get to use your body, look around your shoulder the direction you are spinning in.
Once you are facing backwards you will have to swap to a forward sweep on the other side and move your weight to the back of the boat.

YOU have to get the weight OFF the section of boat you want to slide across the wave!

When the wave is not too fast and or you are just getting the hang of things, it is a good idea to practice just spinning 180 degrees, then stop, feel where you are on the wave. You will probably feel the boat slip back on the wave then pick up speed as it slides down again, this is when you should go for the next 180 degrees.

When you have mastered spinning, knowing when you should or should not go for it, you will soon develop a full 360 spin, especially in modern boats.

See Clean Spin