Ryan Callinan, Not-a-Flynnstone-Flip, Rocky Point, Hawaii

When does a double-grab inverted air-reverse become a flip? The aerial that Australian Ryan Callinan’s throwing here ain’t a Flynnstone Flip, and it’s not quite a backflip.

Damea Dorsey was hanging out at the Billabong house on the North Shore strip with Heath Joske, Jack Freestone, Ryan and a few others, tossing up where to surf. The waves out front weren’t the best, so they headed up to Rockies at about midday. The cross-shore wind was good for airs – Flynn Novak was out there and tried his flip twice (the second attempt  resulted in him landing on Cory Lopez, though neither were hurt.)

Damea was shooting from the beach next to Ryan’s filmer buddy, who was talking about a flip that Craig Anderson had nailed recently, almost like a backflip with a spin. About 20 minutes later, Ryan nearly nailed this one. Kinda reminds you of the flips Timmy Curran was doing for a while, when he became hell-bent on landing a proper backflip.

By running your eyes through the sequence, it’s easy to miss the beauty of something like this. But when you stop and look closely at the enlarged shot, at the angle, at the height, at the direction, you get a bit more scope into the intensity of the manoeuvre.