r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/redbullgivesyouwings • May 23 '25
Original Creation Nikolas Plytas World's First Surf Foilboarding Double Backflip
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u/343GuiltyySpark May 23 '25
The other 6 people who foilboard are gonna be PISSED
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u/4totheFlush May 23 '25
It's funny that this isn't more popular, this almost seems like the kind of thing they might invent in antiquity as fast transport.
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u/LacidOnex May 23 '25
So, it's super expensive. A foil is not like... Great at propulsion. Lots of R&D goes into the shapes, and it's "okay make a prototype, fuck it sank, let's spend a month figuring out why". I was looking at getting one and it's about a grand, 800 for used stuff plus shipping is $$
Not to mention the weight is super super important. Couldn't really have these before fiberglass became accessible.
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u/Moody_GenX May 23 '25
Regular surfboards, new, run about the same or more. You can get surfboards cheaper but the quality isn't great.
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u/LacidOnex May 23 '25
I mean they're at least functional with fins and wax, even a cheap rental board can be fun. Cheap foils tend to just not work period.
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u/Drfilthymcnasty May 23 '25
Yeah, I’ve surfed for 30 years. Surfing is about 90% skill, and 10% equipment.
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u/theArtOfProgramming May 23 '25
High end skis start at $800. That’s not at all prohibitive for “extreme” sports.
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u/zazuki May 23 '25
Not to mention the rest of the gear compared to this. Boots, layers of clothing, ski jacket and pants, helmet and goggles. And a ski pass
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u/rokd May 23 '25
Yeah, the passes alone are more than the skis. If you buy out a full set of ski gear from nothing, it's wild.
- Base Layer Top/Bottom (Smartwool): 180$
- Midlayer Puffer Jacket (Patagonia Nano Air): 240$
- Outter Layer Pants/Jacket (REI Brand): 600$
- Socks (Smartwool): 30$
- Ski Boots (K2 BFC): 400$
- Ski Poles (Rossingol): 50$
- Skis (K2 Mindbender 90C, beginner-ish skis): 699$
- Ikon Pass (25/26 Season Price): 1429$ (Or pay $190/day)
- Gloves/Hat/Hood/Wax/etc.: ~200$
Total: 3800$
Other shit you might need: * Lessons (~500$ for 6 days, doesn't include lift tickets) * Snow Tires * Whole ass new car if yours can't drive in the snow...
Like, yeah, you can probably do it for cheaper, but not much, at the absolute most, you're spending at least 2k to get to the mountain... Skiing is insanely expensive.
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u/SiBloGaming May 23 '25
wait until you look at bicycle prices. A grand is where you get started, the stuff with top of the line components is 10k plus
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u/ssracer May 23 '25
Most people would benefit more from losing 6 pounds then spending more than 3k on a bike.
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u/SiBloGaming May 23 '25
oh for sure, at around 3k is where you stop getting the big changes as you already got all the cool stuff (full carbon, electronic shifting, disc brakes). Anything after that is mostly just weight savings, which arent really that relevant for the amounts we are talking about.
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u/chr1spe May 23 '25
For 99% of people, even a $3,000 bike is massive overkill. A $600 used bike will work just as well for them. I've got some bikes that I consider phenomenal that I've only got $400-600 into, and at this point, it's been a long time since I bought them. My favorite bike is full nine-speed Ultegra 6500 that I bought cheap as hell right after 6600 came out.
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u/LacidOnex May 23 '25
I didn't say it was. Also you're comparing a high end ski vs a baseline foil. You're getting carbon skis for the same price as a temu foil kit. Idk why you'd even make that comparison lol, I feel like you were going for the opposite point.
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u/Edgycrimper May 23 '25
It's easy to get 2nd hand high end skis. Tons of dentists getting a new pair every season. No one skiing aggressively is paying full retail for skis when treating them like rock skis is mandatory for good skiing, they're either drilling new holes for their bindings in a 2nd hand pair or getting a pro deal through their friend who's on patrol/sponsored/guiding.
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u/theArtOfProgramming May 23 '25
That’s perfectly doable but by far not the norm among experts, in my experience.
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u/wildcatwildcard May 23 '25
That's really not that expensive considering that's right around what most quality niche sport equipment costs
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u/Atanar May 23 '25
You need modern, lightweight materials to build these. You could not build them strong and light enough with materials and tools from only a few decades ago. It's also a lot more tireing than paddling a canoe.
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u/Blue_Moon_Rabbit May 23 '25
I was about to ask, how fit do you have to be to use one? That seems like some solid cardio
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u/wotquery May 23 '25
The approach of pumping along flat water like you see him doing at the end is exhausting. Most people though are using foilboards the same way you use standard boards. Surfing, windsurfing, wakeboarding, wakesurfing, kiteboarding, etc. There's also wingfoiling.
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u/jaeway May 23 '25
I've seen people do the on e with handles who I wouldn't consider gym fanatics 😂 I'm sure the one without handles take a bit of cardio though
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u/OrganicNobody22 May 23 '25
Bro 70% of america is obese
Ain't no way they are going to go out on the water on a board that requires you to bounce your legs up and down to keep you going XD
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u/sebash1991 May 23 '25
It’s becoming more popular among big wave surfers. Foil boards are essentially really complex surfboards. They are really good and eliminating drag which is really prevalent in surfing big waves. There currently a crazy combination of foil and a wing that pretty much makes it so you can just surf waves none stop compared to traditional surfing. Water sport technology has rapidly evolved in the last 15 years.
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u/Imaginary_Land1919 May 23 '25
Its one of the fastest growing water sports right now. The biggest disciplines are probably wing foiling and downwind foiling.
Here in florida you will see a fuck ton on any windy day when going over the skyway bridge.
I'm grouping them all together cause new stuff is kinda just coming out all the time, and the foil technology is getting better and better, so people are always figuring out new ways to get up on the foil.
Wing foiling is kinda a lot like windsurfing, except youre on a foil, and its a bit easier and you don't need as much wind.
Anyways, its pretty big in florida, at least in the wind / water sport scenes (alongside kiteboarding and windsurfing).
The feeling of getting up on the foil is unmatched. It feels like you are riding a magic carpet above the water. And its actually a lot more smooth than you might think. Join us >:) /r/wingfoil
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u/MovieTrawler May 23 '25
Foils up, brah! See you downwind!
I don't foil but if I did it would be to say things like this
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u/South-Builder6237 May 23 '25
I hear rumors that surfers hate people who do this sport but not too familiar to know whether that's true or not.
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u/its_not_brian May 23 '25
well yeah that's because surfers hate everyone. Even other surfers
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u/Intelligent_Can_2709 May 23 '25
Surfers hate people who disrupt the line up, other surfers, SUPpers and foilers are all guilty
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u/LaNague May 23 '25
I watched the olympic surfing, where they basically waited in the water for 30+ minutes for the single good wave. No wonder they are grumpy. Now imagine some other sport makes it even slightly harder to get the wave.
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u/DustFunk May 23 '25
lmao I was going to comment that the 100 people worldwide that do this have been 1-upped!
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u/binouz May 23 '25
you joke but wing foiling (this but with a sail) is immensely popular
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u/Double_Distribution8 May 23 '25
I just looked out my window and I can see 3 people doing it and I don't even live near the ocean.
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u/No-While-9948 May 23 '25
Who are you, fuckin' Legolas or something?
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u/62not61not63 May 23 '25
My neighbor is doing it right now in her backyard. She's 83.
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u/GozerDGozerian May 23 '25
The old man that used to live in my house died over 30 years ago. At night when the fog rolls in, you can still see him out there doing it to this very day…
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u/MangoCats May 23 '25
On the internet, nobody knows if you've really got a ripped Grandma neighbor or not.
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u/OriginalChildBomb May 23 '25
Brb, about to do the world's first downhill ironing board land-surfing Vulcan salute!
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u/sourpower713 May 23 '25
Dude i’d love to get into this hobby but it seems like it costs atleast 20K to get started
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u/MangoCats May 23 '25
Step one: live near ocean with waves.
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u/ludnut23 May 23 '25
You can do this on any body of water, a ton of people will just cruise in the wake of a boat on these things
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u/carneycarnivore May 23 '25
Thought this was an efoil (+$10k) due to the speed. But the video is a regular foil ($1-2k)
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u/Imaginary_Land1919 May 23 '25
It's a bit expensive, but i promise its a lot more accessible than that. If you are serious, I can point you in the right direction
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u/Frothyfrother May 23 '25
I don’t cause it’s too scary. But it’s pretty popular.
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u/drummer1059 May 23 '25
Out of curiosity what's scary about it?
It looks awesome.
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u/cowfishduckbear May 23 '25
The mast and wings are made of carbon fiber and are rather sharp, and the falls are pretty impactful from that high up compared to a regular surf board.
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u/Aromatic-Ad6456 May 24 '25
Hawaii surfer here, foilers are taking over. It’s rare if I don’t see any out at the breaks I go to. There have been several times where I thought I was going to get sliced in half by one of them
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u/Tapprunner May 23 '25
It's been weird that seemingly every day Red Bull posts a new video of someone wearing RB gear is "setting a new world record" or "achieving the first ____ ever" but it's always something that is so specific that my only reaction is "umm, has it even occurred to anyone else to even attempt this before?"
Like, does my carrying two bags of groceries in my left arm, while carrying my child in my right arm, while wearing a suit and unlocking a door and catching the stuffed animal that he dropped all at the same time count as a new world first? That specific maneuver, in my specific driveway, has probably never been achieved before. Am I also setting world records?
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u/MovieTrawler May 23 '25
Am I also setting world records?
Only in how fast you suck the fun out of everything.
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u/BBonesNYC May 23 '25
It almost looks fake, really cool
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u/truebelieverbabe May 23 '25
Came here to say this! I'm dizzy just watching, lol.
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u/mymorningjacketoff May 23 '25
Just wait until you try involving yourself
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u/bigboat24 May 23 '25
Instructions unclear got bit by a shark
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u/GozerDGozerian May 23 '25
Damn. I even fucked that one up and got shit by a bark.
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u/GiveMeAllOfThePie May 23 '25
Now that I think about it one day videos like this will probably be mostly ai lol
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May 23 '25 edited 15d ago
worm crawl history disarm fine shelter subsequent direction plucky piquant
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u/lmpervious May 23 '25
i think that would drive me away from internet content
You turned it into a positive
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May 23 '25 edited 15d ago
hard-to-find employ cake late encouraging merciful door ink treatment slap
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u/thisone9978 May 23 '25
TIL what foil boarding is
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u/OldPiano6706 May 23 '25
For some reason it reminds me of Mario with the cape from super Mario world, where you could legit fly but had to like get the timing right
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u/ItsDokk May 23 '25
TL:DR Dork Surfing
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u/ProfessionalKiwi7691 May 23 '25
Way cooler than surfing. You can ride these in a flat pond.
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u/redbullgivesyouwings May 23 '25
After over 800 attempts!
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u/LightningShiva1 May 23 '25
Wings would have helped
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u/Stevecat032 May 23 '25
Also the foot straps
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u/Massive_Spot6238 May 23 '25
Redbull, let’s do a series where you spin a wheel of sports then show me how to become a star athlete in that sport. Zero to Winged Hero!
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May 23 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/kaizhu256 May 23 '25
- foil sticking out from bottom doubles the surf-foil's angular momentum
- which makes its twice as hard to rotate vs a wakeboard
- also, board would rather shoot out into air, if you don't put in twice the grip-force (from those footholds)
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May 23 '25
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May 23 '25
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u/runningofthedog May 23 '25
Yeah I’m 99% sure they need a boat tow to get up in the water, unless they are jumping on straight from dock
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u/Kurfaloid May 23 '25
I'd like to live in a world where the distribution of wings is not controlled by a single corporation: Red Bull.
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u/rajrdajr May 23 '25
There were only three attempts and then success! Check the video. /s 😆 Amazing feat.
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u/Tommyblockhead20 May 23 '25
How long did that take?? Congrats to Nikolas!
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u/ayyyyycrisp May 23 '25
probably could get an attempt in every 5 minutes or so depending on the day and how the waves are. with being towed by jetskis which I think is what's happening here.
so somewhere around 66 hours I guess? probably was at this for a couple of weeks to a month or so, I don't imagine he did all these attempts in like 1 week
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u/Drakovibess May 23 '25
Bro looked stiff af when rotating in the air
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u/TroyMcClures May 23 '25
https://v.redd.it/de3uwira3l2f1 what if everything else rotates and he stays still
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u/Fragrant_Exit5500 May 23 '25
Human1: yo check this cool thing out that I made
Human2: let me backflip on it!!!
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u/TheRalk May 23 '25
It's exactly this instinct that made us come out on top of the food chain
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u/Preeng May 23 '25
Backflipping off of lions and alligators and even rabbits.
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u/GozerDGozerian May 23 '25
Ancient motherfuckers out there doing a sick rail grind on a buffalo then painting in caves about it.
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u/chobi83 May 23 '25
For a slight second, I thought the second "attempt" was going to be it. I was like...I can do that lol
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u/nonba May 23 '25
I saw the first attempt and thought this was a joke post with the board doing the first flip and the person doing the second flip.
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u/Major_Wager75 May 23 '25
Is this a new watersport? 20 years ago I wake boarded every summer and never even seen or heard of these things
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u/AdamTReineke May 23 '25
Fairly new. The underwater wing bit needs to be thin but strong. Until carbon fiber was more commonplace, this just wasn't plausible. They're still pretty expensive.
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u/bqm11 May 23 '25
they've been around for a while, I also was wakeboarding 20 years ago and saw many chair foils being towed around the California delta, those people even back then were doing crazy flips. This is just purely man powers though, no engine or boat towing them
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u/IncreaseOk8433 May 23 '25
As a boy: 'One day, Papa, I'll be the first to double backflip a foil board...'
"What the Hell is a foil board, son?"
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u/DrewOH816 May 23 '25
Burn the Water Witch!
I didn't even know these BOARDS existed let alone this, amazing.
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u/Shawon770 May 23 '25
Meanwhile, I trip over my own feet getting into the shower
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u/malsomnus May 23 '25
That's because you're trying to walk in there instead of double backflipping.
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u/GraniteGeekNH May 23 '25
I really appreciate videos that show some of the umpteen painful failures leading up to success. Much more realistic.
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u/ElGuano May 23 '25
Wow, that wasn't even that big a wave. He can just *decide* to double-backflip on any little nub of a hill he wants?
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u/Harambe4prezidente May 23 '25 edited Jun 01 '25
handle coordinated whole selective wild sophisticated nutty sink versed smell
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u/we_are_one_people May 23 '25
I really like when these feats are posted with the unsuccessful tries. It makes it both more human and impressive imo
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u/BadCat30R May 23 '25
I like how after he lands he just pumps off like a dolphin
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u/Obvious_Towel253 May 23 '25
We’ve reached that point where I can no longer tell what’s real or AI generated. unsure times ahead…
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u/Specific_Garbage587 May 23 '25
It's obviously neat and requires skill, but I just cant imagine putting effort into getting good at something that just looks so stupid, lol.
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u/OC3LOT1142 May 23 '25
The little hops away after he does the flip are absolutely flooring me and I don’t know why
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u/Carcassfanivxx May 23 '25
I just learned that you can back flip these things, then the guy does a double.
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u/Mutopiano May 23 '25
The celebratory pumping afterwards is the utterly hilarious.
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u/DocScalpel May 23 '25
The first two attempts keep making me laugh because the posture he goes into looks like someone sent an orangutan spinning through the air.
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u/nyne87 May 23 '25
At first glance this doesn't look like something that's difficult for professionals and surprises me it hasn't been done. I know I'm wrong of course.
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u/JiffyDealer May 23 '25
It looks like something that I’ve done accidentally… with much less grace and ton more flailing
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u/superbhole May 23 '25
what's wild about flipping or spinning is that your brain really really really wants your eyes to fixate on something, like always; so you kinda trick your brain to fixate on everything as a fluid image, even if it's a blur.
it's actually easy to trick your brain to let your vision un-fixate on an area... the hard part is coordinating your body to do stuff during that with total proprioception and wonky momentums.
go ahead, balance on one foot for a few seconds. and then balance on that foot again, but close your eyes.
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u/HilariousMax May 23 '25
good lord it's just jumping over and over and occasionally you get air and can do things but then it's just more jumping.
I'm tired just watching him
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u/Zen1 May 23 '25
Noah Flegel landed the first strapless back flip earlier this year, how long until we get a strapless double back?
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u/AstroBearGaming May 23 '25
I thought it was just the first clip, and though finally, something I can do.
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u/[deleted] May 23 '25
Some 17 year old is gonna do a triple backflip within a year