Pre-requisites

Before learning a belly or a back flare, you should be comfortable carving in either orientation at a wide range of speeds. Flying these techniques correctly requires a three-dimensional maneuver. The body position required to do these flares correctly is best developed at low speeds first. 

Objectives

Your objectives in mastering this skill should be the following:

·      As mentioned previously flares are a three-dimensional maneuver; doing these correctly means that you must understand how to use your momentum to change levels inside the tunnel.

·      The goal would be to begin a carving from a lower level in the tunnel, ascend to a higher level or the apex of the maneuver and then descend again, returning to the starting level to repeat the technique. 

Post-flight questions / suggestions

• As you were performing the flares did you start and finish on the same level?
• Was each flare move conducted smoothly?
• Were you able to create consistency between the flares?

Once you can perform the flares with some control and consistency, you should begin switching directions in the flares. This technique is the same as switching carves but with flares in the middle.