Chop hop to aerial

[Nisurfer]

Hi all,

I present me quickly, 30 years old, practice surf since some years, and i think with really good level, i can snap, re-entry etc..with lot of power, even in small waves.

My question is for really advanced surfers that know how to aerial cleanly.

I can do chop hop at the end of the wave, or backside ollie 180 even backside ollie 360, at any surf session, i do this easily, i have a past of skater. But, when it's time to aerial, i don't really understand the mechanic. I would like to know if i need to apply the same mechanic than a backside ollie 180 at the end of the wave but on the lip? I have done this sometimes and it works but i don't punt with regularity. I need someone that can help me.

Thanks a lot.

[waikikikichan]

Isn't a Backside Ollie 360 an Aerial ? The whole board has to come out of the water to complete the 360, so that in it self is an aerial. But are you talking about straight airs without any spin ?

[Nisurfer]

I think i have explain bad, i want to say that i can chop hop or backside ollie at the end of the wave just after the whitewash, in the flat. I can do this in the shoulder of the wave to. The whole board is out of the water, and i don't fall, but not off the lip. I do more a backside ollie 270 and i finish it in reverse, and i do this easily, but i don't know if i need to apply the same principe of this "ollie" but on the lip? It's important to know that i train in weak waves. Maybe i need to put more more effort to pump like hell into the lip to really carry the board and myself above? Finally an aerial is a ollie or chop hop on the lip?

[Lebowski]

The first thing I will say is that I can't do aerials, nor do I particularly try to do them.

I would say that a 'chop hop' as you call it is like a skateboard ollie on flat ground, whereas an aerial is like launching off the top of a vert ramp. Totally different. I wouldn't worry about trying to ollie at the lip. I don't think that's how it's done.

I personally would concentrate on lauching your body (and board) from the lip and landing/falling behind the wave to begin with. This is relatively easy and you can get some great height in a punchy wave. After that I would try and work on ways of keeping it within the wave, looking for lips that are about to break and using them to launch you forward instead of off the back of the wave.

If you're trying to learn in slop, it will be much harder. Its much easier to launch yourself on a grunty wave.