Rail Flip

also known as: Primo Flip · Railflip

flip freestyle difficulty 5/10
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roll 0° yaw 0° pitch 0° body 0°

Shown for a regular-footed rider. Teal ring + arrow = the rider's facing direction; teal band = the tail; a dot is where a hand holds the board - bright yellow for the front hand, amber for the back one, which is the whole difference between a mute and an indy. Board and rider rotate independently - each follows its own component. Drag to orbit.

How it works

The rail flip proper: out of a rail stand the deck is sheared off its edge and rolled a full turn and three quarters around its long axis while it also shoves 180 degrees frontside, landing wheels-down pointing the other way. Three quarters of roll is all it takes to get from a rail back to the wheels - that shorter version is the minimal rail flip - so the whole extra revolution is the point of this one, and it is what forces the height: the deck has to have room to blur through a complete turn beneath a rider who has stepped off it. One shearing push of both feet supplies the roll and the yaw together.

Step by step

  1. Set a solid rail stand, weight centered, knees deeply compressed.
  2. Jump hard and straight up - a full extra revolution has to fit inside the hop.
  3. Shear the upturned rail down and away with the balls of both feet, harder than a minimal rail flip needs, and drag it toward your toes to feed the frontside 180 at the same time.
  4. Suck the knees up high and hold still; the deck spins a whole turn plus three quarters underneath you.
  5. Count the grip tape past once and pick it up again as it comes level.
  6. Stomp both bolts as the wheels touch and compress to kill the spin.

Body mechanics

Front footShares the shearing push off the rail, then hovers clear of a full revolution before catching the front bolts.
Back footMatches the front foot's force exactly - an uneven push corkscrews a roll this long badly out of shape.
ShouldersSquare and quiet over the board; the deck does all the turning, and shoulder swing bleeds into unwanted body spin.
ArmsSnap upward on takeoff for the height the extra turn needs, then spread for the catch.
GazeOn the rail through the push, then locked on the blurring grip until it squares up.