Behold, Surfing’s Barrel Roll 180 (Clip)

Dashel Pierson
·2 min read

Compared to other board sports, particularly skateboarding and snowboarding, surfing is somewhat limited when it comes to tricks in the air.

There’s air reverses, various grabs, the occasional shuv-it, fingerflip, backflip, rodeo flip, etc. And that’s…pretty much it. Whereas skateboarding has countless flip tricks, and snowboarding pushes the boundaries in the rotation department.

And yet, some surfers still get creative.

Surfers like Ventura’s own Eithan Osborne.

In the clip above, Eithan pulls off a barrel roll – or El Rollo or Barney Roll; more on that below – with an added 180. It’s not your typical surf trick. Perhaps even the first ever? Perhaps. It’s so uncommon that there’s not really even a name for it.

But that didn’t stop the comments section, filled with acclaimed aerialists, from applauding the move from Eithan with fire and head-exploding emojis; here’s a couple more:

“Damn dude.”

“So nuts!!!!!!”

“Barney Roll was mental.”

The aforementioned Barney Roll comes from the late Santa Cruz aerialist, Shawn “Barney” Barron. Originally, it was a move borrowed from bodyboarders – hitting the lip, then rolling laterally down the face of the wave. Usually done with a double-grab. Usually on the backside.

But Eithan had a couple different things going for him. He did the trick on his frontside, and he threw an extra rotation in there – a 180, followed by a revert. It almost looks like that part was unintentional. Whether it was on purpose or not, the move is creative, unique, a breath of fresh air, something we hope to see more of.

And, as it turns out, this clip comes from a longer edit put out last year. It features A-listers from the Billabong team, including Joel Parkinson, Creed McTaggart, Eithan, and others, scoring in the Mentawais. Check out the full edit below:

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