Been practicing nose-manualing my Loaded Dervish (RII180s/Gumablls) forever. Most I can do is travel 10". I either fall forward or have a hard time lifting the rear end.
Don't know what I'm doing wrong. Am I going too slow/fast? Is there something wrong with my stance/footplanting? I know it's hard for you to tell what's wrong...but please try and help me out.
Is the Dervish a particularly difficult board to manual?
Its harder to manual then a board with a longer nose such as an OSD, but its completely doable it just takes lots and lots and lots of practice. Keep working at it, don't be afraid to put weight on the nose, and try it at a medium cruising speed, having a little speed helps.
You're right .. it's hard to tell what you're doing wrong if we don't see you
Start off quite slow ( a little bit faster than your walking speed or just speed that you feel comfortable with ) , then when you start to manual , look down and try to center your weight over your front truck.
You could also try to tighten your front trucks if they're loose, this might help too.
mmh... what can i say .. just keep on practicing and you'll make it.
Just posted this in another thread, but what made it a lot easier for me was to get some 1/8in soft risers. The Dervish is so flexy, esp at the cutout, that the board will bend a good deal across the truck before lifting the whole board. The risers add enough stiffness here so that the force you place on the front will lift the board consistently rather than the board accepting it and bending. I hadn't skated for 4 days and did this and popped a serious manual first shot. I was shocked. Some may think this is cheating but I really don't care, I'll take whatever I can get
Also, work on consistent foot placement.
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Adjust your foot placements. Front foot around a 45 degree angle I like, with my heel on the baseplate of the truck (I haven't rode a dervish but this is what works for me on most boards). Your toes may hang over the nose a bit, but the heel on the baseplate is nice because it gives you direct feed onto that pivot point.
Back foot pretty far back there, the more I got used to nose manualing the wider my stance got. It's further than shoulder width by a fair amount for me now. You'll probably be only contacting the tail with your toes on your back foot, so make sure your toes are in the middle of the board width-wise so you don't start turning while in a manual.
Medium speed helps. Too slow makes it hard to balance and too fast has high consequences. Go around jogging speed. Just practice more and more, it takes a long time. Once you start getting it, it'll all be worth it.
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Roggs Fibreglass Dancer
LBL Old Skool Dancer
Loaded Vanguard Flex 3
Earthwing Drifter
S9 46" Supercruiser
Element Popsicle (it was $50 Canadian, give me a break...)
Old School 80's Board
loaded boards are difficult to manual at first (well, it was for me), as they are so light, the weighting you must place on your front foot is drastically different than other boards (my big bug for example). However, once you get it, it's nice to be light... all it takes is practice practice practice, and your muscles will eventually remember the right amount of pressure.
Good luck!
It's so hard to nose manual my Dervish...
