The Heelside 180 is one of the first rotational tricks that most wakeboarders try, and it is often a difficult
one to learn at first. It is a great building block for harder spin tricks, and it can be taken big and grabbed
in different ways for maximum style. In this example we take a look at Charley Patterson's Heelside 180 with a Mute grab.
Prerequisties
Before trying the Heelside 180 you should be able to do the following things:
1. Be very comfortable with heelside wake to wake jumps
2. Be able to ride switch
3. Do ollie 180s, or one-wake 180s.
4. If you're going for the Heelside 180 with the Mute Grab, it helps to know how to do a Mute grab first without the 180.
When first learning the Heelside Mute 180, take an edge that's just hard enough to land on the downside of the second wake for an
easier landing. Edge in progressively with the handle in tight so you build the line tension to take the trick up high.
As you stand tall off the top of the wake, keep the handle in tight to maximize the pop, and begin sucking your knees
up so you can make a solid grab, but don't rotate the board yet. Rotating too quickly will cause you to lose your axis.
Suck your knees up to your body, let go with your front hand, and grab the board firmly on your toeside edge. For
maximum style, bone out your legs while holding the grab. While your grabbing, begin to move the handle to your back hip
which will cause you to rotate the 180.
After you've finished the 180, let go off the grab and extend your legs to prepare to land. It's extremely important
to keep your head up and your eyes on the shore you're heading towards. If you look down you'll slide out, so keep
your eyes on the shore and think about landing on your toes.
As you land, keep your eyes on the shore you're going towards and edge away from the wake on your toes. Now learn it switch!
Style additions
1. Learn it switch
2. Once you've got it down, take it super big by taking a big hard cut at it.
3. Straighten out your legs while holding the grab, or poke the grab by straightening just one of your legs.
4. Double grab it by grabbing Melan (heelside edge between your feet), then grab Mute.
Moving On
The Heelside Mute 180 helps you do the following tricks:
1. Heelside Mute 360
2. Heelside Mute 540
3. Heelside 720
4. Mute Roll To Revert
If you have specific questions about this trick or would like to discuss it further, talk about it in the Trick Talk Forum.
