Learn how to add the classic gyroll to your daily bag of bodyboarding tricks.
The gyroll is a bodyboarding maneuver invented by Mike Stewart. The Hawaiian pulled it out for the first time in 1983.
Stewart, who pioneered many of the sport's fundamental tricks, had been experimenting with ambitious combination-axis moves when the gyroll came to life.
"I have never liked landing backward. They've always needed to be functional moves for me, landing in the direction to continue riding," Mike Stewart once revealed.
"Everyone got something from someone else at that time, though - a spin here, a roll there. That's how it progressed. Everyone was a contributor."
The gyroll is an acrobatic tweaked variation of the air roll spin (ARS). It looks like an ARS but, instead of performing a reverse spin, the bodyboarder does a forward flip.
Ideally, you'll need a barreling wave with a good section down the line. Before going for the gyroll, make sure you master the backflip and the ARS.
Gyroll 101
Here's how to perform a gyroll:
- Find a punchy ramp;
- Get some speed and hit the lip;
- Project your body as high and as far in front of the wave as possible;
- Slide your body across the bodyboard to get your legs and fins to hang off the side;
- Change the direction of the board to the opposite side of an ARS;
- Land the gyroll tail or rail first;
- Move your body back into the normal prone position keeping the board flat and planing on the wave;
- Resume riding;
As with any other air maneuver, the gyroll could potentially be dangerous and cause severe injuries.
Make sure you're not surfing alone, and avoid landing it on rocky ocean floors and punishing shore breaks.