Sunday 25 August 2019
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Mc Nasty / Pistol Flip

ICF Definition

At least 150° horizontal angle rotation or half a barrel roll flowing into a front aerial loop or space godzilla.

Value is 160 points

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The McNasty is one of those tricks that’s fun on both waves and holes. It has the potential to get you more air than any other trick in a hole that’s too shallow to plug your loop hard. It also allows you to do a front loop on a wave starting from a back surf!

It’s always exciting to throw, because you get to drop your upstream edge, and risk a major wathunk.  The Mcnasty is also one of the most bang-for-your-buck tricks to learn, due to the fact that you can throw it on almost every kind of spot. Many people think that you need a big wave or perfect hole to learn a Mcnasty, but it’s actually possible to stick this trick on just about any tiny, flushy wave or hole once you dial it in.

To decide which technique to do, you need to focus on the speed of the water in whichever wave or hole you’re playing with. Really fast holes (like Hell Hole or Rock Island) will do better with the wave technique, even though there’s lots of foam. So try them both and see which works best in each feature you visit as you freestyle your way around the world.


How to do the Mc Nasty (in a hole)

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1. Set up by getting into a back blast. This is key. You need to get all the way down into the trough backwards with your stern upstream of the seam.

There are many ways to do this. You may find if you spin backwards at the top of the foam, you’ll probably catch your stern before you start the trick. So try starting sideways in the trough, reach back for a reverse sweep in the foam, and push/pry your butt upstream into a back blast.

If you can get your stern to blast high up the green you will find it will help you get more more pop later in the trick.

2. LOOK, REACH, PULL. Your brain’s going to stop working temporarily when you first try this (trust me) so try simply remember LOOK, REACH, PULL! What that means is LOOK over your right shoulder, REACH your left blade all the way to your bow (forward sweep position–or even slightly cross bow), and slowly start to PULL on that left blade to get your boat to spin right.

3. Keep your body forward or neutral. Once the stern goes to about 1:00 (if directly upstream is 12 o’clock) SLOWLY lift your left knee  to engage your right edge as you pull hard and “squirt / wind” your bow down. Don’t drop too much edge too fast–instead SLOWLY pull and edge.

WATHUNK!!! You either lifted too much knee or stopped pulling. Enjoy being upside-down in the hole, roll-up, and try again.

You need to be patient here, keep your stroke in until your shoulders square with upstream.

4. As you achieve the perfect balance of pulling on that left blade and lifting your left knee, start to stand-up and JUMP as you square your shoulders to back upstream.

5. Jump with your hands and body, then tuck hard to flip the boat, and finish on the back deck with a loop stroke to finish in a front loop.


Top Tips

Really reach that blade way up to your feet so that you don’t run out of sweep to pull-on when you still need it.

Looking ahead of the trick from the start will help.

Let the boat spin past a back surf before you start to pull hard or drop any edge at all. If you drop too much edge to fast you’ll fall on your head.

Don’t stand up until you’re mostly facing upstream.

Pull SLOWLY to stay in control.



How to do the Mc Nasty (on a wave aka Pistol Flip)


1. Get to the top of the wave, and spin to backwards, so you build up a little upstream speed down the face of the wave in a back surf.

2. Reach your left blade up to your bow and do small forward sweep as you smash your feet (and bow) down into the water. This will start the spin, and get your stern up and out of the water.

3. Lift your left knee as you aggressively roll around to face forward, looking over your right shoulder as you go. As you’re rolling around to face forward, stand up and almost jump. You’ll also want to plant the back face of your right blade at your hips and push on the water a bit as you go around. This will help you push your boat and body out of the water, so you don’t just face plant.

4. Quickly throw your body to the front deck (before you face plant) as though you were looping. Take that right blade, that’s now near your bow, and begin to pull on it (the loop stroke). Use it to pull against as your feet back to upstream.

5. To make the boat finish flipping, throw your body and paddle aggressively to the back deck. This should pull the stern through as quickly as possible. You’re done!


Top Tips

Throw your body around to face forward as fast as possible, this will help drive the stern up into the air. The harder you throw, the easier the move will go!

Practice bringing you stern through straight with that loop stroke even if you flush. It’ll probably take a few tries before you can get the entire thing snappy enough to stick on a flushy wave.

Don’t be afraid to try the Mcnasty in spots that are too shallow to loop.