Yesterday the winner of the Monster Maneuver Award was revealed to be Ryan Carlson of Huntington Beach, California for his extraordinary 540 Rodeo Flip. Carlson earned $5,000 for pulling off the astonishing aerial trick (which consists of a backside flip combined with one-and-a-half body rotations) at Huntington on July 22, 2008.

With summer in full swing, it was time to start the VQS 08/09 tour off with a bang. Back in the early days the Starfish Surf Series was held on a weekday, so we figured to start it off the same way on a beautiful Friday morning. With zero swell predicted in the forecast we were fired up to see clean contestable lines rolling through.