Dane vs. Jordy: Who Does Higher Surfing Aerials?

The biggest 2010 surfing event in the US was recently completed in perfect 6 foot waves at Trestles in Southern California. The surfing was innovative and exciting with technical and high flying performances, elevating surfing to a mesmerizing and progressive spectator sport.

This was the first surf event to use the new competition format, pitting the worlds top 32 surfers and 4 qualifiers against each other. If you want to find out more about the surfing World Championship Tour check out this video or head to the ASP Surfing website. The new format and fantastic waves brought the best out of many surfers on the tour.

Dane Reynolds and Jordy Smith were stand out performers, particularly in the air and that's where we want to go in this blog. Just like basketball slam dunk competitions, the higher the aerial maneuver the more exciting and better it is. Of course if the surfer does not land and ride out then it cannot count (similar to a missed basket in an attempted slam). The surfing judging criteria do not specify height in an aerial move as a criteria, but height above the wave definitely makes the move look more difficult.

In the video we have Dane and Jordy performing aerial moves at the Trestles Hurley Pro. Dane is first up and we will look at his first air. Jordy is third surfer up and we will look at his "Superman" air when his feet come off the board.



To compare these two aerial moves we will measure height above the top of the wave at the peak for the air. We will do this because the camera footage allows us to see both the surfer and top of the wave in the same image for both surfers.

To measure their height above the wave we have to make some assumptions. Firstly we need to estimate the length of their surfboards. We will use this length to scale the video and allow us to measure height.  We will assume that the board Dane was riding was 6 foot 1 inch (73 inches) Al Merrick Proton that he refers to in this video. We will assume that Jordy is riding a 6 foot 2 inch (74 inches)board as he talks about here.

Take a look at the images below. First Dane and then Jordy.





To compare their aerial heights we measured the height of their hips above the wave. Dane and Jordy both get their hips just under 5 foot (60 inches) above the top of the wave. Dane may be a little higher, an inch or so, but as the video of these aerial moves was taken from different positions and with different fields of view, we need to allow for  some error. So we will have to say that both got about the same height above the wave.

So who did better? The judges scored Dane's wave with this aerial in round 3 of the event as a 9.33 out of 10 and Jordy's wave with his "Superman" air, also in round 3, as a 9.60. A wave is not judge only on one move though(unless its the only move) and Jordy did bigger moves on the rest of his wave than Dane. So maybe height of an aerial move does factor into the judges scoring and in this case the judges scored both waves high because of the incredible amplitude that both surfers reach.

Of course surfing is not only about being in the air above the waves but also about the movement, flow, power and combinations on the face of the wave. The 2010 Hurley Pro at Trestles was not won by either Dane or Jordy, but rather by the master of surfing, Kelly Slater.

Kelly is currently leading the World Championship Tour ratings going for his 10th title, but Jordy and Dane (2nd and 4th respectively) are right in it to. We expect the surfing will continue to be as exciting as it was at Trestles with these three athletes pushing each other to greater heights and hope to be seeing and analyzing the first aerial move 6 foot above the wave.

Progressive Surfing Needs Analysis

The Surfing World Championship tour is currently in the middle of the second event of the season held at Bell's beach (made famous in the movie Point Break)and by now many surfing fans will know that the judging criteria for 2010 have changed.

If you are a surfer or simply a fan of competitive surfing and the likes of Kelly Slater or Mick Fanning then you will know that the Surfing World Champion is determined by the overall points winner of a 10 event world championship tour.

Each wave in a man on man competition in surfing is scored as the total of points for 2 waves. Each wave is scored out of a maximum of 10 points. Judges now reward progressive and aerial maneuvers with more points. So one extremely progressive, difficult move can potentially score a surfer 10 points if he performs it perfectly, lands it and rides out. Surfing judges use the following criteria to determine the surfer's wave score:

• Commitment and degree of difficulty
• Innovative and progressive manoeuvres
• Combination of major manoeuvres
• Variety of manoeuvres
• Speed, power and flow

The new judging system obviously wants to see surfers try different and risky tricks and combinations of tricks and will reward them for landing these tricks. Although from our casual observance it seems surfers get some points for trying progressive maneuvers, they definitely get many more points when they punctuate the trick by landing it and flowing back into another move or back into the wave itself.

The video below has some excellent examples of progressive aerial surfing, at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, by some of the Worlds best surfers.


The importance in the judging criteria of landing moves such as those seen in the video, means that surfers will need to spend time working on their technique.

With the help of video analysis they can assess their aerial maneuver take off positions, the height they attain and other factors during flight such as rotation. Landing positions that will allow the surfer to ride out of the maneuver and into the next one, require excellent balance and technique. All these factors which will lead to progressive moves can and should be analyzed.

The analysis can then help them to add height or variety to their moves, impressing the judges further and blowing the competition away.

Most pro surfers have hours of video footage of themselves to analyze. However many of these are shot for cinematic effect and may not give the best angle for analysis. With the new criteria pro surfers will also want to get video that will give them the best analysis possible.

For the rest of us, watching video of pros and capturing video of ourselves for analysis will allow us to improve our technique and general surfing. Please browse our site for suggestions on cameras and how to get great footage to do just this and contact us to let us know how you are getting on.

Freestyle Skiing Aerials

Freestyle Skiing Aerials is the springboard diving of the Winter Olympics. Athletes complete huge back flips and twists after taking off from a ramp with takeoff angles ranging from 60 to 70 degrees.

Athletes are judged on their take off, the height attained during their trick, the control, form and body position during the trick, and how they land and ski out.

Some male athletes such as the World Champion, Anton Kushnir from Belarus can attain heights of 50 feet or 5 stories during a trick. In comparison the highest jump height in a half pipe was achieved in 2010 by Peter Olenick at 24 feet 11 inches.

Below we have some video of Anton Kushnir, favored to win the gold medal for Free Style Skiing Aerials in the Vancouver Olympics 2010.



Here Anton is performing a near flawless trick with 3 back flips and 4 twists.

Analyze the video closely and you will see that Anton completes his first twist in his first flip on his way up. He then completes 2 twists in his second flip and the last of his 4 twists in the third flip.

The slow motion video also allows us to analyze and understand how Anton maintains good form and is able to land so smoothly out of the trick.

After each flip notice how he ends with his body in an upright position and how he slows down his twist. He even opens out his arms to help him slow down his twist.
He does this so that he can review his position and height in the air before moving into the next part of his trick.

Being aware of your body and spatial positioning in a big complicated trick like the one performed above is essential. If Anton began to twist off axis or drift laterally (to the side) during the trick, he would find it much more difficult to complete.

By "spotting" his position between each flip he is able to make any small corrections prior to the next flip, or in an extreme case to abort the trick and try to land safely.

We also see in the slow motion replay how Anton uses his arms and head during the second flip with the 2 twists to speed up his twisting motion. In the first and last flip he is only completing one twist and uses his arms minimally. In the second flip, by turning his head in the direction of his twist and bring his arms into his chest he is able to spin faster and complete 2 twists.

Form and landing are also critical components of the Aerial trick. We can see that Anton keeps his legs tightly together and his body straight during his flips and twists, for perfect form.

On landing he brings his arms forward and together in front of him and bends his knees into the land. When landing from 50 feet or more on snow or any hard surface your knees have to bend quite a bit to absorb the impact of landing.

Keeping his arms out in front and his head still and looking forward as he lands, he is also able to ensure he does not fall back on landing and can ski out of the trick.

So what's the biggest aerial trick we may see at the Olympics in 2010. US aerialist Jeret Peterson plans to attempt his "Hurricane", which consists of 3 flips and 5 twists (one more twist than in the video above). We also may see some other big tricks from Anton and other contenders.

Please contact us if you have any questions or are interested in analyzing your performance. Video Analysis is not only for the pros. It is great for any sport in which mechanics, form and technique are important. This covers just about all sports, except Poker :).