Toeside frontside 540

The toeside frontside 540 is a trick that may seem complicated at first sight but it is actually quite simple to do with the right technique. However, this trick requires to know how to do the 360 Toeside and 360 Toeside to jibe because the rotation is exactly the same.

  Wing foiler : Malo,GONG team rider, Stunt FSP Pro, Droid UPE Aramid, HM85 mast, front wing Ypra Surf-Freestyle and a Freestyle stab.  

First of all, since the trick is on Toeside, you will have to get yourself in that position with the back foot in the strap. Once that’s done, you’re going to try to get as much speed as possible.

Now that you’ve created the right conditions, we’ll be able to tackle the technique. The particularity of this trick is that you are going to start it with reversed hands. To do this, you will let go of your back hand to grab the front handle. As soon as you grab the handle, you’ll let go of your front hand to grab the back handle. Be careful when passing your hand underneath your front arm (former back arm). If you pass it over you would be performing another type of trick. Let’s not skip steps. It is normal that at the beginning you can’t grab the last handle. So you may as well take the low power handle of your wing. This way you will get less ripped off and the rotation will be less violent.

Keep your base speed

Now that you have your hands crossed, there is a good chance that you will get pulled out slightly and go downwind. To alleviate this problem, try to keep your base speed in opposition to the wing. In addition, you can bend your front arm (formerly your back arm) slightly so that the wing has less grip on the wind. Now you have your hands crossed and you are ready to launch.

You will first choose a section that interests you like some chop, a wave or a bump. Indeed, throwing this trick on a small ramp will help you to have a better pop, go higher and have more time for rotation. Once you have a section in sight, you’ll drop down slightly to gain some speed. If you throw this trick too close to the wind, you will get off balance in the air and miss the rotation. As soon as you’re on the section, you’ll blast off with your pop.

The rotation

That’s it, if all went well, you’re in the air. That’s when you’re going to engage the rotation. So you’re going to do exactly like a 360 Toeside. You’re going to push into your back foot as soon as you take off while staying well above your board. Pushing into this foot will initiate the rotation.

Once your board has rotated 180 degrees, you will gradually unclip your hands by bringing your back hand in front of you. As you uncross your hands, you can pull back on the wing a little to get some support and make it easier to turn. As you do this, try to keep your front hand level. Basically, it shouldn’t go up or down too much, it should only move horizontally. After doing a half turn in the air, you will bring your front hand closer to your head while looking at where you plan to land. Looking at your landing spot will help you continue the rotation.

The rotation on the water

If you have followed all the steps correctly you should be close to landing. You’ve done a complete turn on yourself and you have the wing in front of you. So you’ll have to be prepared to bounce. As soon as you land, you’re going to do the last part of the rotation on the water. You will need to push in your back hand to turn the wing. Try to angle the wing as if you were doing a 360 Toeside to jibe. It should be slightly open. Opening it a little bit will bring the wind in and give you the power to do the last 180. On the other hand, if you put too much angle on it, you will get it ripped off and you won’t turn. On the other hand, if you don’t angle it enough and it goes against you, you’ll be pummeled by the wing. So you have to put it up in umbrella position but still with a small angle upwards. While you are pushing in your back hand, you can also bring your front hand slightly towards you. This way, the wing will not hit the water during the rotation.  Normally, after you have pushed well into your back hand while keeping the wing at the right angle, you should have done the 180. As you progress, the rotation will get cleaner and cleaner. Eventually you will have the perfect timing and the perfect wing angle so that the board barely touches the water and goes back. This trick is really top notch in terms of feel. By doing it facing the waves, you will go high, and by doing it in the waves you will take off again directly. Now you know how to do the toeside frontside 540.  

Malo Guénolé