If you’ve attended one of Josh Dunstone’s freestyle sessions outside Marvel Stadium (Melbourne, Victoria), you might see him teaching new-to-freestyle skaters basic rail tricks, including heelside rail-stand dismounts.
In an earlier post, we explained the difference between heelside and toeside rail stand. Heelside is when the rail of the skateboard sits closer to the heels of your feet. Toeside is when the rail of the skateboard sits closer to the toes of your feet.
A heelside rail-stand dismount is the transition between heelside rail stand back to being on the skateboard with the feet on top of the griptape and or bolts. Other skateboarders might label this trick a ‘primo-stall dismount’, but freestylers generally do not for reasons explained by Stewart Storrar below.
But I digress. Back to Josh Dunstone teaching newbies how to heelside rail-stand dismount. His first piece of advice is to ‘just fall out of it.’ In other words, wobble the board a little with both feet until the stupid thing plops down onto all four wheels so that you can aim to land on bolts.
While falling is core to the skateboarding experience, deliberately falling out of rail-stand is as clumsy and unpredictable as it sounds. The board resists tipping out of rail because the tight trucks and offset wheels provide too much stability. For a moment, you’re suspended in coconut-wheelie-like stance where you’re not sure if you’re going to fall on your face or your behind. A jolt runs up your legs as you land because you didn’t have enough time to remember to bend your knees. You land bolts but your feet are way too toeside, with only your heels resting on the griptape.
Why fall when you can jump?
There is a better way to heelside rail-stand dismount: add a little hippie jump.
To warm up, do some stationary hippie jumps on your board. When you jump, keep your gaze on the bolts. Focus on pushing through the balls of your feet, with the toes being the last part of your body to leave the griptape. When you land bolts, think about absorbing the force of the jump with loose, bent knees.
Once this feels comfortable, get into the heelside rail-stand position. Stand with the balls of your feet on the wheels and the arches of your feet resting on the rail of the skateboard.
Push off, just like you would in a hippie jump. Because you are driving force through the balls of your feet into the wheels, this knocks the skateboard out of rail, ready for you to land back onto it.
This jump technique gives you extra time in the air to spot and cushion your landing. It also prepares you for rail flips; the additional air time is essential for makes/bails or extra rotations (double flips, triple flips).
Needing extra help?
If you’re still very new to rail-stand dismounts, jumping will seem intimidating at first. Don’t be afraid to break things down into more manageable steps. For instance, you can start off going from heelside rail to bolts while holding onto something and or while being on carpet.
Whatever you do, don’t practise deliberately bailed dismounts as this encourages bad habits. You need to attempt to land bolts in order to learn where to position your shoulders (roughly above where the bolts will end up) prior to and during trick execution.
Wanting more homework?
Once you are comfortable with the basics, you might want to start fine-tuning individual elements.
- Jumping higher. Later on, you’ll need the extra air time for rail flips, so jump as high as you can go.
- Floating. Start trying to keep your knees tucked while you’re in the air. This skill will help you later on when you start to learn rail flips as it gives the board space to rotate beneath you.
- Landing in different foot positions. Not only does this exercise mimic the unpredictable landings that you’ll experience when you start doing rail flips, it also allows you to seamlessly transition into the next trick.
For those of you who are looking for a challenge, try
- One-footed jumpy exits for extra style points
- Landing cross-footed, varial, or into stationary wheelie for extra (x100) style points.