Disaster

All three coaches describe the disaster the same way, as a 180 that stops with the middle of the board resting on the coping and the back wheels in the air, and all three say it needs very little pop. They agree the trick is more scoop, slide or revert than ollie, and that landing on the center of the deck rather than near either set of wheels is what makes the stall balanceable. Weight management is the shared theme but each coach frames it differently: Tom's Tutorials tracks the shift from back foot on the approach to front foot once you are locked in, Skate IQ insists on a little weight on the back toe so the board is tilted rather than flat, and VLSkate has you press down on the back foot after it clears the coping so friction stops the rotation. The clearest disagreement in emphasis is the shoulders. Tom's Tutorials wants you to wind up and twist them to drive the rotation and time the scoop, while Skate IQ argues the opposite for backside, holding the shoulders open and counter rotating them against the feet so the board comes around without your whole body spinning. VLSkate splits the difference for frontside, using shoulders and hips to turn but warning that swinging them too far is exactly what causes over rotation. Everyone recommends breaking the trick apart before committing: power slide 180s and launching onto the deck for Tom, small transitions and dead footed slides for Skate IQ, and curb disasters plus frontside pivots for VLSkate. Coming back in is universally described as a light press on the nose or front trucks, with the body angled out and leaning in so momentum carries the back wheels over the coping.

• →Land with the center of the board on the coping and the back wheels in the air; too close to either set of wheels and you either hang up or get stuck on the deck
• →You barely pop this trick; it is closer to a power slide, a revert or a scoop taken up to the coping than to a popped 180
• →Front foot belongs up on the concave of the nose and angled, so you can press the nose down and lift the back wheels over the coping to come back in
• →Keep the back foot in the tail pocket with a little weight on the back toe so the board is tilted rather than flat, then push the back leg out over the deck
• →Lean in and angle your body out from the quarter pipe rather than standing straight up over the coping, or you will hang up on the way back in
• →Break it into pieces on a curb or a small transition first: the 180 into the stall, and the drop back in, before putting them together at speed

Synthesized from the top video tutorials. Watch them