How To Bust An Invert On A Bodyboard

5 top tips

1. Pick a wave that will make you fly! Steep powerful and punchy waves are 100% the waves you want to be selected for this trick! Wedges are an ideal choice!
2. Make sure your bottom turn is up to scratch. Without a clean, well-versed bottom turn, performing and landing a good invert is going to be near impossible. Your bottom turn is what will make you fly.
3. Practise the inverted movement out of the sea. One way to get used to the bizarre yet super cool feeling of flying through the air upside down with a bodyboard in your hands is by practising out of the water. You can do this either on the beach or at home. Another great way is to practise on a trampoline, which adds the element of landing into the mix.
4. Watch invert guru Mitch Rawlins. This guy’s inverts are the best on the planet. Watch and learn.
5. Practise, fly, flop and practise again. This is a HARD trick, and it’s very unlikely you will do it on your first attempt. Practise the above and most of all have fun!

How to do an invert on a bodyboard with Rob Barber – Bodyboard Holidays Projecting of the lip of a wave, tweaking upside down and flying through the air into the flats is definitely one of bodyboarding’s coolest tricks. It will gain you some serious respect in and out of the water. Inverts are also one of competitive bodyboarding’s highest scoring manoeuvres and will see you sail through your heats if you bust them out on waves varying in size and strength. The show-stopping invert is Bodyboard holiday’s head coach, Rob Barber’s, favourite manoeuvre! Without fail, his eyes light up when a guest on a coaching weekend or bodyboard holiday, specifically askes about practising and nailing this trick. Wave selection is going to play the most vital part of performing this trick.  You want to look for a wave that is going to give you plenty of speed from take off. Ideally a wedge or a wave with a steep face. Dropping into the wave, you’re going to be focused on a powerful bottom turn. A solid bottom turn will drive you out of the pocket and send you towards the air section or the lip of the wave with as much speed as possible. You’re now trimming down the wave at speed. Looking, leaning and lunging towards the section of the lip (the crest of a breaking wave) that you’re aiming to launch off from. It’s important that you look to launch your invert (or any aerial) from a section of the lip that is pitching (just about to break – check video @ 0.40). If you hit the lip too early you’ll simply fly off the back of the wave instead of outwards in front of it. You don’t want to take your eye off your chosen section. Picking the part of the lip that you want to hit is something you need in your sights from the moment you’ve taken off and bottom turned. Once you have hit lip just as it’s pitching, you can expect to be launched upwards and outwards, with the full force of the speed generated behind you, making you airborne.  Now it’s time to get inverted! By tweaking your bodyboard and body into an inverted position (meaning the underside or slick of your bodyboard will be facing straight up towards the sky) your back arched, leading arm out stretched and your legs split (check video @ 0.50). Although you are now upside down and flying through the sky, your eyes should be open and your head should be looking down at where you intend on landing. To land, you need to twist your body back around to a trimming position (although still airborne at this stage) pulling your board back underneath you and bracing yourself for the impact of landing either in the flats or back on the wave (check video @ 1.11).