This week contestants are challenged with one of surfing's fundamental maneuvers, the floater. A floater is when the board glides across the breaking lip of the wave, and then returns -- often falling through the air -- to the face of the wave, giving a surfer the feeling of weightlessness as they float on top of a section.
It looks cool, but it's also functional. Floaters can allow a surfer to traverse a section of the wave they would not have been able to ride through, such as a closeout section. If you can't go through it, sometimes you've got to go over it.