John John Florence’s surfing backflip at Backdoor Pipeline

At the end of last year, this rad footage of John John Florence backflipping Backdoor Pipeline in Hawaii went viral. This is not the first successful surfing backflip though. Gabriel Medina successfully rode one out at ‘Off The Wall and Flynn Novak’ at Rocky Point. However it is the first time a backflip (though I thought JJ was going for the rodeo at half rotation) has been landed successfully at Backdoor Pipeline, one of the gnarliest reef breaks in the world for sure, and recorded on camera.

Here it is. Twice. Watch, re-watch, and then watch this – Kelly Slater’s 540

Here it is again frame by frame.