Willie Skipper

The trickery of the Willie Skipper (a great name for this move) is learning to make a slippery transition by sliding your board on the water like a sled. This is accomplished by breaking the fin out of the water and transferring your weight over the wide scoop of the board where the rails are soft. Along with the Forward Loop, the Willie Skipper is a compulsory maneuver for the accomplished freestylist and an embarrassment when lacking in one's arsenal. This was a very difficult move for me to learn and took me the better part of a year to master; due to the initial similarity to the jump jibe. Which is unfortunate because the feeling is nothing like a Jump-Jibe.