San Clemente's Patrick Gudauskas on his way to a first ever "Rodeo Clown" aerial at ASP level. He is through to the final 16 surfers at the Sri Lankan Airlines Pro in the Maldives.

 OC Register reporter Fred Swegles just put up a story about San Clemente’s Patrick Gudauskas, and his historic move today. Here’s a bit of what he wrote:

 Word is in from the Indian Ocean that San Clemente’s Patrick Gudauskas made history today at the $145,000 Sri Lankan Airlines Pro, pulling the first “Rodeo Clown” aerial at an Association of Surfing Professionals world-level tournament.

He pulled the difficult maneuver – a flying loop paired with a 360-degree lateral twist – at a critical juncture in his heat as he was facing elimination with 30 seconds remaining.

Gudauskas, 23, needed a 7.23 score to advance, found a reasonable wave and completed several good turns – not enough – and then went for broke, the ASP reported.

He “launched into the air, rotating the 540-degree inverted flip and riding out of the maneuver,” the ASP reported.

Read more from the story and see how other OC surfers did (OC Register).

*Patrick Gudauskas is one of the OC surfers nominated during this year’s OC Surfer of the Year contest. To check out his bio, or to vote for him, click here.

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