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.

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