How to 360 with Matt Rockhold
Posted on July 26, 2009 - Filed Under Shortboarding, Surftech Boards | By Surf Commission
Matt “Rocky” Rockhold is one of surfing’s most “Freak-uent Flyers”. Working with Xanadu for more than ten years, things started to get costly for both rider and shaper. With every air attempt, his boards were quickly disintegrating. Here Rocky enlightens us on how to stomp a 360 air without stomping your foot through your board.“Why would I sacrifice good waves on shitty boards when I don’t have to.” – Rocky
Rocky, what advise do you have for a surfer wanting to learn to land airs?
It’s all about practice. The key is committing to the air and staying over your board. And if you can’t afford to buy a new board every two months, you need to be on a Tuflite. Before I was riding Tuflites I was “demoing” a lot of boards. The decks of my boards looked like the craters on the moon after about a week.
What do you think is the best surfboard construction for doing airs?
Tuflite is hand’s down. I ride my Tuflite boards everyday and probably do 50 airs a day. Why would I ride a board if it doesn’t perform right? Why would I sacrifice good waves on shitty boards when I don’t have to. That’s why I ride these boards, they perform well and they hold up. Who wouldn’t want a board that works insane, lasts forever and when you do finally need a new one, you know it’s gonna work just as good as the last one.
How to 360 like Rocky
Air 101
Walk us through a frontside air 360 from take-off to landing.
Step 1 – You need to get as much speed as you can down the line. Usually I know if I’m gonna do a 360 or not before I hit the lip.
Step 2 – You need to do a steeper bottom turn so you hit the lip more vertical and time your take-off so when the lip throws, you pop off it and into the air.
Step 3 – As you leave the lip and your tail releases, kick your tail out so it rotates around toward the flats, and make sure that you stay on top of your board the entire time.
Step 4 – Try to really get that tail around in the air, then just stomp your landing and look for the next section.
Step 5 – When you land, make sure to absorb the landing by bending your knees. A few years a go I broke my leg and dislocated my ankle on a straight legged landing.
Oh, and you don’t have to be 6’4” and 205 lbs to ride my models. We built them in five different sizes so everyone can ramp out on ‘em!
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