Ole from Blind

Ole from Blind

Here is one harking back to them good old days of Shinn, Tobias et al, and the Ole. Not seen a grand deal now unless you’ve seen those peddlers of surfboard techniques. Cracking name to boot this clever little matador’s flip of the wrist can compose any blind landing with the kite up high. Just popping to blind and spinning with style below your bar and kite will have the crowd going wild.
Ole is a pertinent description of passing of the bar over head from one side of your body to the other, to allow a blind landing to continue a toe side at the same time remains hooked.
Ideally, you will need great hopes of success of a half decent blind and some calm water to execute this technique. So let us get things started.

Pic A
Let’s presume that you could successfully pop and ride blind hooked, the idea is to look at the diversity between the Ole blind and your run off the mill variant. You can see that the surfer has her kite positioned around 11 o’clock, front hand centered on the bar has popped up, twirl her 180, pushed the bar against her and normally setting to land the nose of the board first. However, notice that she is very upright, almost standing over the board with just her head moving back and down. The focus here is that you need to land with your weight over the flat board so that you could maneuver the board downward and towards the kite. This way the lines will not be so tensed and the chance to complete the Ole. You will edge off from the kite if you land on an edge and if you turn your shoulders down making the lines tensed and doing the Ole somehow unstable.

Pic B
The Surfer has landed nose first but flat on her board, that is to say without edge. Her weight is on her front foot (left foot), and she is still standing upright with the bar still pushed away. To get to this position, you will need to pop a bit harder than normal and aim to turn a bit further, landing gently slightly downwind. This landing position is a must as already pointed out. From here, the surfer can actually weigh her heels and turn the board downward towards the kite, making sure to maintain her weight on her left foot.

Pic C
Now with more stability and heading down towards the kite, the surfer should prepare for the next move while she still has some drive and focus. The surfer pulls her hand across and front of her face to the other side. With relative slack lines the bar and all pass her visage without incident – Ole.

Pic D
As the surfer moves her hand across, she follows it with her head, then shoulders and eventually her lower body until she is facing the right direction. Now, all she needs to accomplish is to get the board moving ahead, which is easily done by putting her weight over her back foot ( the right one), which will slide her left foot forward.

Best Tips
Compared to all moves, this technique entails a definite amount of trial and error, as you’ll be trying to adjust something you can already do. However, if there is one part to concentrate on, it is the landing on the board and then turning the board downwind before even having the thought of pushing the bar across to the other side. So pop, land, carve then push, sorry Ole.
We have broken the Ole down into two phases for sequential purpose, the actual popping to blind and then the defining Ole.

Summary of the Trick

Sequence 1

1. With the kite set at 11 o’clock and hand centered on the bar, pop up hard for an early blind.
2. Let go your rear hand and push the bar away.
3. Move your had downward and around, and lift your back leg up aiming to rotate the board further than your normal blind.
4. As you turn, extend your front leg and maintain your back foot raised and chest up.
5. This all leads to a pleasant nose first landing.
6. As you land with nose first, keep your weight on your new rear foot and stand up.
7.  Wait temporarily and then consider the heel of your back foot to carve the board down towards the kite and get all the tension off the lines.
8. Now you’re ready for the Ole!

NOW SHEET IN THE BAR TO GET SOME FORWARD POWER FROM THE KITE!

Sequence 2

1. Once you have landed and still has some momentum, weigh your heels and carve the board more downwind.
2. With the tension off the lines and your weight steady on your new rear foot, push the bar upwind.
3. Now with enough room between your face and the bar, pull the bar across the other side
4. And follow it with your head
5. Then your shoulders, and then your hips.
6. With the bar positioned “where it should be” and your body facing the right direction, pull the bar in to get some forward power from the kite.
7. To slide the board around, you must first move your hips and put your weight onto your present front foot.
8. Once you stand on this foot, push your other foot forward and slide the board through the wind.
9. Gracefully ride off into the sunset.

Usual Problems
Landing on an edge and then riding blind! Uncertainly spending time pushing yourself to do this will take a bit of encouragement to undo what you have worked hard for. Try to pop a little harder and plan to land pointing slightly downward. With the board already moving the way you want, this way you will be less likely to edge it. To accomplish this, try to begin further off the wind and pop a little earlier without turning so far across the wind.
Catching your heel side edge and burying the nose of the board as you Ole! We have an effective remedy for this one, the reason is simply you are trying to spin into the Ole from your initial pop. So plan first that you must land blind, and then momentarily wait for a bit until you gain stability and could move with your weight back on the board before doing the Ole.

Keystones
1. Pop hard and early
2. Turn fast
3. Land
4. Carve on heels
5. Ole

Here is the Ole from Blind in reality: