South African surfer Jordy Smith is was the talk of the surfing world last year. The highly-touted rookie on the ASP World Tour became one of the highest paid surfers in the business back in 2008. But when he failed to produce any solid results he was being blasted by his critics. But after a late run toward the end of the year, Mr. Smith has clearly turned things around. Now he’s not only silencing his critics, he’s converting them into fans. The reason? Well, for starters he came out of the gate firing this year. He’s now rated 6th place in the world, with no signs of slowing. But it’s his most recent accomplishment that has the surfing world buzzing, as Jordy was the first to pull a maneuver that was simply unimaginable just five years ago.

Surfing pundits are now weighing in on this high-flying rotating-flip into a reverse 360, and most are referring to it as the most high-performance maneuver ever executed on a wave. One thing’s for sure, surfing is getting incredibly acrobatic. See the evidence for yourself…