Alright. What is a blunt? A blunt is a 180 degree horizontal rotation at a vertical angle greater than 45 degrees, clear of the foam pile, where the competitor rotates around the bow of the boat. Ignoring boring definitions, the blunt is probably one of first wave moves that you will attempt to learn and many people disagree about whether a blunt looks cool, maybe it only does when it’s “super-clean” or if it’s “huge,” but in reality it’s a necessary stepping-stone from which all wave tricks develop and it has a pretty high “steeze” factor. In essence a blunt is a high-angle roundhouse (45-90 degrees of verticality instead of 0-45 degrees), and a roundhouse is just a combination of a “lean clean” and a deliberate 180 degree rotation which is a simple movement to practice on flatwater. Once you have these basic skills, transitioning from a (let’s face it) fairly unimpressive roundhouse, all the way up to huge super-clean blunts or pan-ams is only a question of dedication – but these baby steps that I’m about to explain should demonstrate how simple a seemingly complex trick is when it’s broken down into small steps and exercises first…
Step 1: The “lean clean.” A lean clean is how some people initially learn to flatwater cartwheel, but if you can cartwheel it doesn’t mean that you can lean clean. Imagine your boat is split up into quarters: front left, front right, back left and back right. If you’re right handed rock your boat going front right, then front left, back left then back right (anti-clockwise) and if you’re left handed go the opposite way (clockwise). By beginning to do this slowly without trying to get much angle your hips, legs and core get used to the movement and your balance improves. When this rotation becomes natural start to throw your body around more and use your arms. If you stomp down on the bow really hard to initiate throwing your arms (and paddle) forwards as well, you should be able to scoop the front of the boat under the water (the better you get at this the more vertical it will go) and it will pop out when you throw back easily lifting the bow up. The harder you stomp the bow down to begin with the more vertical the stern end and the easier it will be to get the bow down again; you can build up your momentum before trying to get vertical simply by rocking clockwise (or anti-clockwise) a couple of times to begin with but this is a blunt tutorial not a cartwheel tutorial – so long as the edge transition is smooth and snappy verticality doesn’t matter for the moment.
Step 2: the “180.” Now that you can do a low-angle lean clean you should notice that you spin around over the course of the movement. If you do a single lean clean rotation your boat will rotate roughly 180 degrees; this is the most fundamental part of being able to roundhouse/blunt and the better you become the higher the vertical angle of your boat will be. Start your lean clean on the stern this time, throw back left then back right, front right then front left (if you’re left handed switch this). You should feel a sort of pop when you transition from the back left edge to the back right, on a wave this pop will flick the stern up and over the bow to complete the 180. The hard part is now inserting your paddle into this exercise. To throw a right blunt set your paddle up on the right (as if you were doing a right-side stern rudder) and then complete the movement we just talked about. When you feel the stern pop slightly do a backwards push stroke with the paddle, this stroke combined with the lean clean should rotate your boat 180 degrees around the bow. Keep practising this rotation while stationary, only move onto the next step once you feel comfortable using the paddle (it doesn’t get in the way or feel awkward).
Step 3: the run-up. Now that you can lean clean starting on the stern, you’ve managed to insert the paddle and can accomplish a 180 degree turn during the movement the next step is to simulate being on whitewater. The movement is exactly the same as on flatwater (actually a little easier once you get the hang of it) but there are 3 additional steps. First, paddle forwards hard, stern-rudder on the right (as per above) and then complete the movement. It shouldn’t feel too different but the added forwards momentum will help bring the stern around and get you used to moving water. Second, keep looking “upstream,” you may be on flatwater but you can pretend the way you face to start with is upstream. Looking upstream is very important when doing the trick (any trick really) on whitewater because it helps you complete the full rotation. Once you start looking downstream the boat tends to under-rotate and you eat it. Third, once you’ve completed the 180 degree turn put in a hard back stroke on the left and lean forward. This will prevent you from catching your stern on a wave or flushing once completing the motion.
Step 4: shift it to whitewater. Now that you’ve broken down the whole trick and reassembled it, it should feel a lot easier and certainly less complicated than you might have thought. The final step is of course to move it to whitewater, now technically you can blunt in a hole but this is difficult and really the blunt is supposed to be a wave move. Ideally you want a green wave with nice shoulders and a decent foam-pile so you don’t flush easily. Size doesn’t matter as much you might think – if you have the technical elements down then you can air blunt on very small waves. Get used to surfing about (both forwards and backwards) and try to get to the top of the foam-pile regularly; you can accomplish this by holding a stern rudder and surfing out to the side of the wave until you feel yourself dropping back whereupon you use the stern rudder to turn back in on top the pile (if throwing a right blunt surf off to the left and hold a right-side stern rudder). You should be comfortable with this action and spinning about on your chosen wave before you try a roundhouse/blunt, remember – small steps.
Step 5: throw the move. Position yourself at the top of the foam pile. If you’re throwing a right blunt set up with a right-side stern rudder, counter-edge towards the left and point your bow roughly 30 degrees off to the left. This should mean your edge hits the wave’s rail and should give you more pop than you might experience on flatwater. You’ve set up, you’re beginning to slide down the foam pile towards the pit/rail, you’re counter edging and looking upstream. As soon as the bow hits the rail (or hits the green water) throw the lean clean and push with your paddle. The bow will flick up and then your stern will pop out and rotate over the bow with the help of your paddle stroke. The boat will complete a full 180 degree movement so long as you keep looking upstream. Remember to put in a hard back stroke and lean forward so that you don’t catch your stern or flush off the side of the wave. That’s it. Initially this will probably be a roundhouse, but the more you practise the more natural the motion will become and the better at it you will be. Tips to get more verticality once you can roundhouse. First, the more vertical your paddle blade is (the stern rudder) then the more vertical your boat will be – think of it as a downward stroke rather than a sweep stroke. Second, the harder you counter edge to begin with the more pop you will experience. This will not only help you get air but will also help get the stern up a bit more. Third, be aggressive. The more you use your whole body the quicker the boat will respond and the easier it will be to get a full, snappy rotation. Have fun and keep trying…
Patrick Kyak 