Essentially the Ollie is a transfer of weight combined with careful timing with the wave. All in all this makes the Ollie one of the easiest moves to do. The concept should be familiar to you mad skateboarders out there!

The easiest place to do this move is on a fast surging wave, it is possible on non-surging waves but not as easy. Until you start working on the move just sit in a front surf to get a good feel for the wave and how it surges. In most cases there is almost a pattern to the size and frequency of the surge.

You need to wait until you are at the top of the wave speeding down the face at this point make sure that your weight is forward. Wait until your boat is bouncing slightly (the faster the wave the more obvious the bounces will be). As the next surge passes under your boat make a relatively radical weight change and move your weight back to front in a kind of see-saw motion. Next throw all of your weight back, this will put air under the bow of the boat. As soon as you the bow reaches what you think will be its greatest hieght throw all of you weight forward to hop you boat into the air. The landings on the whole are fairly easy but you need to be ready, if your timing is not quite right the following surge may cause your bow to pearl.

Ollies will also work equally well out in the surf where the waves can be big and fast.