Just to be clear there are no firearms involved in this trick. A Shoot the duck comes from the figure skating world but to how it got its name who knows. You replace the weight of your back foot onto a hand you place beside it. With some of your weight on your back hand you lift your back leg off the board and into the air. It’s a great trick that will increase your wave awareness and help sharpen your balance and speed control.
1 – Drop or fall back to the rear pocket of the wave. Make sure you are at the bottom of the wave. Your board should be pointed in the same direction of travel as the boat. This is usually somewhere out to the side of the boat and not directly at it.
2 – Widen your stance. Start with your back foot part way off the tail of your board. You need to leave enough room to get your hand down behind your rear foot on the tail of the board.
3 – Slowly start crouching down so you can have your rear hand come to rest on the board. Make sure to maintain your direction of travel is parallel to the boat and you’re not pointed too far out into the flats or have to much edge into the channel resulting in you acceleraiting towards the boat. * When teaching this trick we quite often have people go to the back of the wave to the point of no return. We know they will lose the wave, but we feel the trade off of getting the feeling of dropping down while not getting propelled into the back of the boat is worth a couple extra pick ups.
4 – Start shifting your weight onto your back or rear hand. When you have fully replaced the weight of your rear foot onto your hand start lifting your rear leg in front of you. * The ultimate goal is to get your leg somewhere in front of you. To start its ok to keep your leg and foot inside the boards foot print. The important part is it off the board and your weight is transferred to your hand on the board.
5 – As your foot comes off the board pay attention to which way your board is pointed. If you are hooking up into the channel and accelerating towards the boat, try angling away from the wave into the flats or just flop over. Because you are practically sitting on the board and water it’s a great option to keep yourself from careening out of control towards the boat.
6 – When it’s time to put your rear foot back down try tucking it under you before you place it on the board. It will help with your balance and stop you from swinging it under you making you unstable.
7 – Once your rear foot is on the board in front of you start transferring weight off your rear hand onto your foot. Once all your weight is transferred stand up and celebrate. You just landed a new trick.
