Railwhip

Category

Rail Tricks

Learn first

Heelside rail

Difficulty

4/10

Speed

Stationary

Avoid

Low trucks

Railwhip

Category

Rail Tricks

Learn first

Heelside rail

Difficulty

4/10

Speed

Stationary

Avoid

Low trucks

Railwhip

Category

Rail Tricks

Learn first

Heelside rail

Difficulty

4/10

Speed

Stationary

Avoid

Low trucks

Usually overlooked in favour of its simpler and more diverse cousin, the railflip, the railwhip involves standing on one wheel while the board’s in rail and kicking the board into a 360º rotation beneath you. It’s like doing a 360 shuvit, only you never lose contact with the board.

As far as I’m concerned, this is the easiest variation of this trick. Once you understand this one, there’s nothing stopping you from doing them in the other direction, from toeside rail, or even doing multiple variations one after another.

I’m doing this trick while standing on my front foot. As with many freestyle tricks, there is no real concept of “switch” for railwhips – just stand on whichever foot you feel strongest on. If you prefer balancing on your back foot, just swap front and back foot over in the description below.

Railwhip Sequence 01

It might look like I’m just standing in a regular heelside rail position, but note my front foot – I’ve pulled it back towards the deck slightly so my toes aren’t overhanging as much.

Railwhip Sequence 02

As I balance on my front leg, I have to get my back foot in position to kick the board. This bit is very important – I have to point my toes down so that I’m kicking with the top and side of the foot.

Railwhip Sequence 03

From in front, you can see roughly where my foot is going to connect with the griptape. Aim for just behind the back truck, approximately half way across the width of the deck.

Railwhip Sequence 04

To start the railwhip motion, I lift the heel of the front foot and start kicking the back end of the board around. I’m not kicking straight forward – I’m going to scoop it in a circular motion.

Railwhip Sequence 05

Here you can see how much I rotate into the trick. This is important – if you kick the board directly in front of you, it’ll just shoot out from under you and fly off into the distance.

Railwhip Sequence 06

At this point, the board’s well into the spin; now the back foot is out of the way, notice here how high my front heel is. I needed that to make sure the board was free enough to move.

Railwhip Sequence 07

And now the board’s a bit further round, you can see how close the deck gets to the end of my shoe. This is why the front foot position is everything – if my foot had been a bit further forward, it would have snagged the deck and stopped the trick mid-way through.

Railwhip Sequence 08

Now the trick’s properly underway, I’ll cut to a wider camera angle so you can my posture. It’s very important you stay centred over that wheel; leaning in any direction will cause the board to stop spinning (and potentially make you fall over at this point).

Railwhip Sequence 09

With the board finally clearing the toes of my front foot, it’s time to get back into position. I’ve got to start pulling my back foot towards the finishing position of the trick before the board gets there.

Railwhip Sequence 10

Here’s one of the biggest problems with this trick: as the board finishes the rotation, I’m operating completely blind. I can’t really “spot” a landing – I have to know the timing and trust the board will appear.

Railwhip Sequence 11

I actually stop the board from rotating with my front foot, not the back one. Notice my front foot looks flat here? I’ve dropped the heel to “catch” the board back in rail before the back foot comes back to the wheel.

Railwhip Sequence 12

And with everything back in place, I can stand in rail for a moment, catch my breath, and figure out what I’m going to do next.

Additional Notes

You’re definitely going to want freestyle wheels for this one; not only do they make the board more stable in rail, but dragging the axle across the ground is going to make the trick much harder and completely ruin your trucks. If you don’t know where to get some freestyle wheels, have a look at our retailers page.

You’re also going to struggle to do this trick if your trucks are too wide for the board – or if they’re set much too loose. If the truck can wobble while you’re standing in rail, you’ll have difficulty keeping your balance while the board spins beneath you. Try to get trucks with an axle approximately 0.35″ narrower than the width of the deck and get some firmer bushings before you break your ankle.

Finally, do yourself a favour and find a relatively smooth place to learn this trick. It’s not impossible to do a railwhip on rough asphalt, but it’s definitely not the easiest place to learn them!

Need more help?

COMMENTS (2)

  • Walt

    29th November 2019 , 11:01 PM / reply

    This has nothing to do with the trick but I'm at work and on my phone . That's a big NO NO . Can you please tell me the size of the de laminate screws I should use in my MOONSHINE Tony Gale "fury" deck I got in July. I need them BAD .. Since july I haven't been on pool or street board at all and my longboard twice just to cruise thru town . I've got the freestyle bug . Been skating 36 yrs. and never thought it was my thing . I loved seeing it and watching it but didnt think I would be even good at it . Believe me I know my way around a board so to speak but it is such a cool challenge to learn it CLEANLY and with STYLE you know . Your trick tips are the stuff . Thank you for them . IN A CASPER YOUR FEET SHOULDNT TOUCH THE FLOOR . A FLIP OUT IS JUST DIRTY . The moonshine freestyle team is like the bones bridge mid 80s to me now for real . I wanted to put the teams moonshine ts on my Christmas list for my family but in America they dont have them . I got a logo t when I ordered my board and I sport like I'm king of the world . I NEED to get them . Any way sorry about the long comment but please man dont stop what you're doing because yeah it does put a smile on my face when I wheelie that one extra parking spot . De laminate screw size please cuz yep I've busted my second set of shoe strings today works on CLEAN Caspers .
    • Tony Gale

      2nd December 2019 , 4:15 PM / reply

      Hey Walt! Thanks for the kind words - glad you like the tips and you're finding them useful. Always good seeing more people get involved. Woodscrews: I use 3x12mm self-tapping ones on my decks. They're slightly longer than the deck is thick, so they screw into the skid plate a little and sit slightly proud of the griptape on the top side. An 8mm long screw would be a bit of a "better" fit for most people. I don't know what the equivalents are in inches, though - sorry about that. Stoked you're feeling the Moonshine vibe. I'll pass that on to the rest of the team - they'll be hyped on that for sure. You can get all the tees from Offset Skate Supply - we ship out to the US. Might be slightly expensive, but you can get some Bulletproof Laces at the same time so that you don't keep snapping your shoestrings! And keep the wheelies going. Nothing feels better than when a new wheelie finally "clicks" and you hold it for that extra distance. Still brings a huge smile to my face to this day.

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