It is possible to do a fair amount of figure-skating stuff on ordinary inlines (except for things needing toe picks), but you really do need to rocker them first.This means making the middle two wheels stick out so that the wheels make a curved, rather than straight, line. If one puts in two large wheels in the middle (or replaces only the middle ones when they all wear down) one can get a really sharp curve so only two wheels are on the ground at the same time. The skates turn far more easily and feel much less stable and much more like ice skates. Going backwards is much easier, 3-turns are a good deal easier, especially double 3-turns and so on. It's a big help for the loop jump, not only because one can use the 3-turn entry but also because its far easier to adjust the foot when one lands. With the Hypnos, I took off the back and front 80mm wheels and replaced them with 76mm - that seems to work OK though I think a sharper curve would probably make things easier.
I've been getting a ice-skating lessons from the great Jacquie Harbord (twice world professional champion, etc., etc., who was coaxed out of retirement to teach at Broadgate). Many of the tips below are hers, although some are other things I've seen round the place. You can get far more detailed instructions about the moves from Karen Bryden's Recreational Figure Skating FAQ, from the Figure Skating Journal and from the Technical figure skating page. For figure-skating on inlines, you may want to check out Jo Ann Farris's book, How to jump and spin on In-Line Skates .
The clips below are in Windows Media Video format, which at least seems to mean that the files are pleasantly small. However Netscape may have problems downloading them so you may need to use Internet Explorer instead. (Even if you just try saving the clips to disk, Netscape may corrupt them.) To view them with Internet Explorer, save the clip to your own PC (right-click on the link and choose "Save Target As...") then run Windows Media Player to view it. You might be able to view them by left-clicking on them, but this seems unreliable and means you have to download them again every time. It's probably worth downloading the latest version of Media Player in any event. If you're interested in seeing a few of them, the best thing is just to download this zip file which contains this HTML file and all the clips. Then you can just unzip it on your own PC and view the clips as often as you like. The whole thing is only about 6 megabytes, so it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to download, even over a dial-up connection. If you do this, and unzip the HTML file and clips onto your PC, then you should find that you can view them with Netscape as well as with Internet Explorer.
I'm afraid many of the moves are pretty sloppily performed and/or wildly cheated. I was still getting used to the PIC skates. Some of the ones on ice are a bit better, but not much.
Most of the ones on ice were filmed at Lee Valley ice rink , IMHO the best ice rink in London aside from Broadgate, which is only open in the winter. A few clips are from Alexandra Palace ice rink, which often gets a big crowded. Thanks to Jake Curtis for some of the camera work.
I do these moves clockwise and counter-clockwise (CW and CCW) whereas most people only jump and spin one way, so apologies if the clips are inconsistent with regard to this. The diagrams are all for the CW moves. They're supposed to just give the general idea, rather than necessarily being geometrically accurate.
This clip shows a RFI-LBI mohawk.
When doing a mohawk, do not think that the skates need to be in line with each other. The mohawk is carried out on a curve and the skate being put down backwards can be at about 90 degrees to the one which was going forwards.
This clip shows a RFO3. Enter on RFO, lift onto toes a little as you turn and exit on RBI. Actually, FO3s are much easier to learn if you start facing backwards. Then put the foot you are going to turn on down behind you on a FO edge in the direction you were going and the twist in your body will make it much easier to do the 3-turn.
This is the diagram for a LFI3.
This clip is of a LFI3. Enter on LFI and exit on LBO.
3-turns can be done backwards too, although I find the BI3 turns difficult. For the backwards 3-turns, one puts one weight on the heel as the foot turns.
Here is a sequence of RFI3-RBO3-RFI3.
Here is a clip of the CW version: start back on LBO, push onto RFO, jump and land on LBO. As with all jumps, one should take off from and land on the toe pick and one should keep one's shoulders vertically over one's hips throughout the preparation and the jump. Aim to jump "out of the circle", so that for the CW jump one aims to put one's L foot down forward and to the left of the take-off foot, not directly in front of it. Try to swing the leg through and up rather than round the side. Here is the same jump on ice. Unfortunately, I do seem to swing the leg round to the side. Oh well.
Here is a clip of the CCW version. As for the 3-jump, start on RBO then push onto LFO but go straight into LFO3. As you do this, you should try not to open your hips but should end up in a position called "back line" whereby your shoulders and hips both point straight forwards, although the free leg curves back and the arm on the same side is held back. (I'm afraid I don't do this properly in the clip.) Then swing the free leg across and jump. Do not aim to jump behind you - just aim to jump to the side. Try to go up over the toe pick as you jump. Here is a salchow done on ice.
Here is a clip of the CW version. I've got a whole page describing the preparation here. Here a loop jump on ice. And here is me trying to do the double. Oops.
One preparation for this is similar to that described above for the loop jump, but flattened out. So for the CW version begin on shallow RFI with L arm forward, R to the side, then bring L foot in front and change arms so L is checked back. Push forward onto shallow LFI and do LFI3, trying to keep as close as possible to a straight line. Pick in nearly straight behind, allow L foot to glide close to picking foot and then jump.
Here is a clip of the CCW version. And here it is on ice. The picking leg is supposed to extend back way more than that.
Here is a clip of the CCW version. Start forward on LFI with R arm held out in front, L arm to side. Then bring R foot in front and exchange position of arms. Then do a very flat RFI to LBI mohawk and try to hit the back line position as described for the salchow, keeping the R leg extended out behind. Then bend the L knee and plant the R toe pick, allow the R leg to bend as you run onto it and then jump up to the left - again just aim to jump to the side rather than trying to jump all the way round to behind. Land on RBO. Here it is on ice. Again, the picking leg should be extended straight back, not bent like mine is.
Do RFI-LBI mohawk, then step over with the R foot onto a RBO edge. Reach back with the L foot and check back with the L arm, pick in, allow the R foot to glide back close to the L pick and then jump up to the right.
Here is my weak attempt at the CCW version. And here it is on ice.
There is a better preparation which makes it easier to do the jump properly, but it takes more space and involves a long backward glide without looking over one's shoulder - so it is hard to do in public rinks, roads or parks where there are people around. For the CW version begin with a RFI-LBI mohawk, then do two backward crossovers and then stand up straight on the RBO with both feet together. Put the R arm out in front and the L to the side. Then bring the free L foot to just in front of the R, then to just behind, then stretch it out behind as you check the L arm back. Pick in, run on to near the pick and jump into the circle as you bring your arms up and to the right in front of you.
Can't really do this yet, but here is my attempt is the CCW version. Sorry it's so shockingly under-rotated. The tracing for this one would probably look more like this:
There is a different preparation for the axel which I was told makes it easier to learn, and I think it does. However it does need a lot of space. The tracing is as follows:
Push directly forwards on a RFO with hands out to the sides to make a semicircle. Half way round bring the L foot in front of the R. Then bring the hands together in front and push forwards onto a LFO semicircle. Again, half way round bring the R foot in front. Finally push again onto RFO, directly forwards as before, as the arms come down and back, then swing arms and free leg up in front and do the jump. This preparation is supposed to give the timing and perhaps helps one bring the free leg through and up rather than round the side. When starting, just jump up and then land with both feet together, first doing half rotations and later full rotations.
Here you can see the attempt on ice using this preparation. Still nowhere near though. (Sigh.)
Again, I'm afraid I can't do these properly on PIC skates yet, though I gather it is possible. Here is a small CW spin. The initial circle one pushes into should be very small - just a few feet in diameter. This is accomplished by having the knee strongly bent and by leaning into the circle - try not to lean forward. Then the arms and upper body rotate into the spin right from the start as one pushes round the circle, but the leg should be left behind until the 3-turn happens. When it does, swing the leg around and in front, then bring in the foot and then hands. That's the theory anyway. To finish, push off on the BO edge of the free foot.
The conventional entry is to begin on the BI edge of the other foot, probably from an FO3 turn, and then push onto the FO edge from that. You can see that here on ice.
And here is a back spin changed to a forward spin.
Allegedly it is possible to alternate them, but I tend to get a bit dizzy, as illustrated here.
To counteract the dizziness, one can try changing direction as well, as seen here. But it does get a bit confusing.
And here is a camel spin, in which the body is (supposed to be) held horizontally.
Feel free to email me comments.
Updated 4/9/07
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