Aerial Blunts                                       

By:Jacob Selander

Now comes one of the funnest moves - Getting aerial in a kayak. Keep in mind that it takes the right combination of boat, wave and practice to get aerial with consistency.

Modern spud boats are designed to bounce on a wave, so instead of describing how to bounce I’ll describe how to use that bounce to your advantage to throw big aerial moves.

Once you’ve established a front surf on your favorite bouncy wave, work your way to the top. At the top, give a couple strokes to get some momentum down the wave face- as you’re moving down the wave, hope the boat.

I like to give one small hop to get it started and throw the move on the next hop, but whatever gets your boat in the air will work. (Remember- timing in this next part is KEY!)

When the boat starts to lift off the water, start edging the boat in the direction you’re blunting in. I’ll even throw my whole body off to the side and look at the center of my paddle shaft to make sure the boat will get as vertical as possible.

As you’re edging and the boat is peaking to the height of the bounce, finish off the move by throwing your feet underneath you just as in a regular carving blunt.

Only this time- if the bounce is big enough- the bow will clear the water and you’ll land in a back surf on the wave.

With more and more practice getting aerial, it’s fun to see how vertical you can get, and then start going past vertical into the upside- down realm. That’s got to be one of the coolest feelings, being upside- down in a kayak above a wave looking down at the water…