Falling off your skateboard may be no fun for you, but spectators tend to love a good mishap as much as a successful execution. Much like auto racing, where the crashes get more replay time than crossing the checkered flags, skateboard bails have become an unintended art form that combines the best intentions with the worst outcomes.

 While entertaining the crowd is not usually the intention or preoccupation of the unfortunate skater who loses touch with the board, some spectators are satisfied by nothing less than a bone-crunching wipeout. As slick and effortless as grinds, pivots and ollie impossibles often look, the necessary combination of luck and timing sometimes fail to make it to the party. The resulting slam can be a great deal of fun for everyone else, although it often leaves the skater wishing he’s stayed home that day and played a video game instead.

             Eating dirt is not necessarily always a bad thing. Jamie Thomas knows this better than anyone; while he fractured both of his legs while attempting an 18-foot jump known as the “Leap of Faith.” His heroic effort made the annals of legend, despite being technically failure, partly because watching the painful footage of his impact has proven so popular.

             Something deep in human psychology is attracted to disaster. We turn our heads at the ugly scene of road collisions, stop to watch houses burning, laugh at comedians’ pratfalls and laugh harder when the falling is done by an amateur. Somehow, few accidents carry this attraction as strongly as a boldly attempted skateboard maneuver gone horribly wrong.

             When something goes wrong on a skateboard, a great deal more than pride can be injured. You’d never know it by watching the reactions of most skaters, however, who are stoic in accepting pain and tend to display the most macho disregard for both danger and the throbbing ache of a body part flung at high speed against concrete or crushed against a metal rail. Concealing suffering is an art form in itself, as well as a consequence of the highly adrenalized state most skaters exist in. The real pain from a skateboard bail will set in the next day.

             The skater ethic is to walk it off without whining. Bruises are considered good for the soul, and while only posers wear their scars like a badge, anyone who mounts a board is expected to bear injuries as part of the price of extreme sport. Therefore, it may be best to take your early bails in private, on surfaces softer than concrete. A premature public premiere of a tough trick can be not only embarrassing, but dangerous.

             Skateboard bails are part of the sport. Newbie or pro, street or trick, the skateboard is a flexible enough instrument to allow for error. The same versatility which makes amazing stunts possible make errors inevitable. Learning how to fall, adapting to rapidly changing conditions of gravity, and getting out of the way of your plummeting board can all help ensure that your next slam is not your last.

Whether street or vert skater, on a longboard or concave trick board, newbie or pro-slams are an uncomfortable inevitability facing anyone mounting a skateboard. Sooner or later, whether through slight miscalculation in timing, a sudden gap in the terra firma, or simply bad luck, just about every board misses a scheduled appointment with the pair of feet that rely on it.

Whether the outcome is a sheepish smile and a suppressed wince of pain or a visit to the local emergency room will depend largely on the grace and presence of mind you bring to your bails.

Recovery technique is part of the art…the style that will save you. Despite widespread warnings and ample close calls, the vast majority of skaters have stubbornly refused to adopt helmets and padding for recreational board play. As a predictable result, there have been a rash of bone-cracking mishaps amongst the skating public.

Fortunately, unless the impact is from several stories or involves a skateboard crash with a moving automobile, such incidents are rarely fatal. Even the ugliest slams usually break nothing more serious than the wrist of the hand absorbing the blow. This only increases the daring of young skaters, often filled with an illusion of invulnerability with the power of flight beneath their feet.

Unlike most other sports, skateboarding does not necessarily take place in an environment created specifically for the activity-and when it does, it occurs on a surface of concrete or metal, on props designed to enhance acceleration without any concession to softening the landing of a vehicle so propelled.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that approximately 50, 000 people end up in American hospital emergency rooms because they didn’t know how to safely bail. The statistics show that a third of these involve new skaters – kids who have been skating for less than a week. Most accidents of this level take place on rough, discontinuous skateboarding terrain.

Without crimping your style, an ounce of prevention can save you a pound of hurt. Build up to new tricks gradually, mastering each move before jumping on board the next ollie impossible contest. The vast majority of skateboard crashes are the result of impulsive challenges tackled too soon.

The art of falling is nothing new; in fact, many martial arts, particularly Judo, emphasize taking the inevitable impact off of vulnerable body parts. Skaters who have also received some training at Judo will not only be better equipped to handle violent drunks or muggers…they will be likelier to walk, or at least limp with dignity, away from a skateboard crash.

The most important skill in bailing safely is knowing when to quit. Too many skaters lose the groove at the worst possible time and at high altitude, while still trying to finish the trick. Switching at high speeds from a center of gravity appropriate to riding to a posture for rolling away from your board requires more than just balance-it demands lightening fast reflexes and an automatic adjustment to the unexpected screw-up.