Relax is key here. I also tensed up far more than I needed to and tried too hard with those hops. The second hop for the longest time killed me. I spent about a month alone with this trick, taking it a section at a time.
This and Kamikaze are probably the most memorable tricks as far as my learning process/yoyo career goes as they’re the ones that frustrated me the most but had me the most excited once I nailed it.