The Super Flip

Ross Champion Gives Personal Watercraft Illustrated his IFWA-Winning Trick’s Play-by-Play

Text by Ross Champion

Photography by Ludo Mouveau

Progression is an essential part of any healthy sport, and the last few years of freeriding have seen lots of progression. Joe Kenney pushed the sport to new heights (literally) with amazingly huge aerials, the likes of which are rarely seen today with his absence from the competitions. Taylor Curtis is constantly pushing the limits of power surfing a SuperJet. Jerry Brandon and Mike Serlin seriously take style and amplitude to another level. But, the real technical innovation has come from the French.

Eric Fornay was the first to do lots of the inverted variations, (can-can flip, no-handed flip, etc.) that are becoming commonplace at the top level of freeriding today. Gil Beurnier perfected the no-handed flip, and Romain Stampers does barrel roll re-entries effortlessly. Of course, the one that has pushed the sport the most the last several years is the French three-time World Champion, Pierre Maixent. Most notably, his one-handed can-can flips and other one-handed, one-footed variations have caused everyone in professional freeriding to raise his game in order to even be considered in the same league as Pierre.

Pierre was the biggest inspiration and help in my working toward the Super Flip. We both knew that his one-handed, single-foot flips – while still completely insane to watch – were beginning to become routine to fans and judges. The Super Flip seemed, to both of us, like the next logical step in the evolution of tricks in our sport. During our marathon 36-hour drive to Morocco from Bordeaux, we spent most of the trip talking about ski setup and how to do the trick. By the time I flew back home, I had a good understanding of how I was going to do it and it became a matter of making it happen.

Before one can even think about doing a Super Flip, the SuperJet needs to be properly set up. The first step is to find a way to limit the pole so that you do not extend too far away from the ski. I use a shorter Blowsion limiting rope that I attach to a carabiner on the dash. Second is a system that stops your forearms so you can control your rotation and get back in to the tray before landing. Thanks to EJ Bezley at BrapStrap, I have a quick release system that allows me to put the stops up when I am about to do a Super Flip and then move them to a safer, more out of the way position when riding normally. This system should be available for sale through Blowsion some time before the end of the year.

Once the ski is properly set up (pole limited, wrist stops up), the actual trick is not all that hard. I set up for the flip much like I would a normal flip, except for a few key differences. My feet are together at the back of the tray – not in the foot holds – and to compensate for the slower rotation of the Super Flip, I initiate the flip a little harder than I normally would.

Once the ski is clear of the top of the wave, I kick the tray away from me with both feet and begin to extend my body. The ski rotates quickly at first, but slows as my forearms hit the stops; this allows me to extend farther away from the ski as the ski's rotation stalls out. 

When I am ready to get back to the tray and finish the rotation, I simply pull myself up and around like I am trying to swing over the bar. This movement starts the second half of the rotation and puts me back in the tray of the ski. It is critical that this part is timed well because there is no effective way to slow your rotation to avoid a flat landing once pulling myself back to the tray. When done correctly, I will land nose first and ride away cleanly.

Technically, I would say the trick is on par with a no-handed roll as far as difficulty goes. I am not recommending that anyone try this, because it is quite dangerous. But, I do expect (and hope) that most of the top guys will start doing the Super Flip and variations on it very soon. The hardest part is actually committing to the first one. I was fortunate enough to have a good friend, Derek Gleason, out there to push me on the first day I tried and pulled the trick. His feedback and support was essential in getting me to fully commit to it.