Matt Meola just dropped a banger. And it’s proof. Of what, you ask? Well, as his sister Lily recently put it, “He’s a freak of nature.” It’s also pretty rad that, in case you didn’t know, Lily’s the vocalist on the track Matt’s surfing to here. Talented duo, we know.
But fast forward to 3:58, where Matt heaves himself above the lip, double grabs, and spins and spins and spins. When he lands, everyone on the beach screams. Matt has officially joined the 720 club. One of three total to ever pull one – Kelly did one in Portugal, Albee Layer was the first to pull one on his backhand, and now Matt. In other words, the 720 is officially a thing. The list of surfers to pull one will continue to grow. So for the sake of pragmatism, let’s nip that 540/720 debate shit in the bud once and for all.
Other board sports are laughing at surfers – calling us dimwits, wondering why this is even up for debate. That’s because in all other sports the math is pretty clear. Approach a transition front foot forward, air, and come down front foot forward, it’s a frontside/backside 180, or more commonly a frontside/backside air. Spin an additional 180-degrees landing switch, that’s a frontside/backside 360, and so on.
But in surfing, the 540 misnomer stems from the slew of misnomers in every sort of rotation executed on a wave. And that’s probably because unlike halfpipes and mini ramps, waves aren’t stationary. And surfers approach air sections kinda sideways, not straight up and straight down as in skateboarding or snowboarding.
So, back when airs were pioneered, a straight air was considered a no rotation air. Then, people started doing air reverses. Nice name. Pull an air and land reverse, just like Simpo here:
Only problem is this is technically a full rotation – approach the lip front foot forward, spin 180-degrees then another 180 and you land back foot forward. Voilà!
Then “full rotations” became common names for approaching the lip, spinning 180-degrees more than a reverse and landing front foot forward again. The math don’t add up though. That’s 540-degrees.
Which brings us to the current dilemma. 540-ers cling to the idea that 180-degrees more spin than a full rotation has to be a 540. Well, that’s only because spins have been named incorrectly in surf since people started doin ’em.
And if all this math makes your brain hurt, here’s a pretty picture:
The bottom line is surfing progression is at a crossroads. We can either recognize we’ve been wrong all along and set the record straight by calling this maneuver a 720, or we can continue to be a sport of ostriches with our heads in the sand and call this thing a 540.