Frontside Aerial Grab

This is how you grab the rail during an aerial

When riding waves, one hand is free, so you can try to grab the rail of the board when doing aerials. When riding frontside (the body is facing the wave), the front hand is free and can grab the rail on the heel side when jumping. The closest possible grip is between the two foot positions, or more precisely behind the front foot.

To do this, bend your knees strongly after jumping and bend forward to get the rail as close as possible. You should hold the rail briefly, which proves your skill – the longer you hold it, the cooler it is. Let go for the landing, straighten your knees and raise your upper body.

This position is called a melon grab. A whole range of names for different grip positions on the board (nose, tail, slob, crail, melon, stalefish, mute, indy, seatbelt and more) come from other board sports such as snowboarding and skateboarding.

This tutorial shows the melon grab and the slob grab, where the hand grabs the rail on the toeside between the forward foot position and the nose.

Waves Frontside Aerial Grab Level ★★★★ Rider: Clement Roseyro Text: Jürgen Schall Photos/Videos: Duotone DE

back to 'Frontside Aerial Grab'