Crail Slide is a super fun old-school trick that was done way back in the day but it is still popular and it feels great once you really squeeze that tailside out of it. You now probably already have a glance at what we will learn today.
Crail Slide is basically a Tailslide with a backhand nose grab and it is mostly done in pools, bowls, and transitions. We can back side or front side Crailslide and both of them look awesome.
We will do a front side Crailslide today so let`s try some front side Tailslides on a small curb to warm up. When you feel the Tailslide well, you can start to prepare for the Crailslide. For the beginning find an appropriate spot with a mellow bank or a quarter. For a better Tailslide experience, it is great if it has the coping so you will be able to lock the tailslide easier and slide longer.
Take the right speed, just enough to be able to do a 50-50 grind on the selected object. Before actually trying the Crailslide you can just try some front-side back truck turns on the coping. It should be easy to understand what it takes very quickly.
Set your feet in Tailslide position so your back foot is on the tail and your front foot is centered right behind the bolts. Approach the quarter with appropriate speed and prepare as you want to do a front side 180 on the top. When you start to reach the coping with your back truck just grab the nose of the board with your back hand and push the tail with your back foot on the coping quite strongly. At the same time, your hips must follow the front side direction but don`t turn too much as you will slip off the coping.
When pressing a tail with your back foot, don’t lean all of the body weight on the tail as it will stop your slide. Rather, lean slightly to the back so your bodyweight is mainly already off the coping which will lead to a natural roll of the quarter.
More comfortable you get with it, the more speed you can take and the longer you can slide. You should have this very quick and don`t forget to keep the nose grab all the way until you slide out 🙂