The Shaka must be the one move that every freestyle windsurfer is after. Dieter Van der Eyken (Severne Windsurfing) says it himself: “the feeling is unique and I can’t remember a Freestyle session where I haven’t done one, it’s probably the trick I will do on my first run out and always stays enjoyable no matter the conditions”. Still, we see many aspiring freestylers struggling with the move. It’s so different from any other rotation, which means that sometimes a rider with all power moves in their bag can’t do it, while someone with Spocks and Flaka’s in their repertoire can. Dieter put in the effort to demystify the move for all of us though. In his latest video the Belgian explains the move in great detail.

Dieter Van der Eyken: I learned the Shaka by a lot of trial & error. To be honest it is one of the moves that took me the longest to learn in Freestyle. One year to land the first one & another year to get them consistent. I was 14 years at the time I was learning them and really got better progress in Bonaire in the lighter winds. After that I started to land more & more of them.

Check out the quality tutorial below:

So what’s next after the Shaka? A big step up is the Shifty, although Dieter admits he is no expert in them yet. He adds: “Shifties are getting better, the tweak can get a lot better still and the consistency as well but my fear towards them has dropped off a bit now I know better how to crash without hurting myself. I hope that by the upcoming season I can get them on my consistent trick list next to some other moves. I actually managed to land one in a heat in Sylt which was a great confidence boost!”

We are looking forward to more inspiring content from Dieter in the future!