The 20-year-old took to the skies on Sunday to make the dream a reality and in the process became the first at Surfest, which was established in 1985, to go back-to-back in the Burton Automotive Men's Pro.

Like last year, Vaughan dominated the final with his aerial wizardry, this time downing Manly's Winter Vincent 16.6 to 13.1.

Vaughan landed his second punt, earning an 8.0 to set up the win. He backed it up with scores of 4.5 then a 4.67 to lead 12.67 to 9.57 on best two-wave totals at the halfway point.

Vincent needed a 5.51 to edge ahead and he did that with an air of his own, earning a 5.93, with about 13 minutes remaining.

His time in front was brief. Vaughan pulled off a huge turn into the whitewash for a 7.5 with 12 to go, leaving Vincent chasing an 8.33.

He came up short twice before Vaughan landed another huge air in the closing seconds for an 8.6 to put an exclamation mark on the record-breaking win.

"I was looking at my name up there just all week and I've just been really excited to put it up there again, and I'm just really stoked," Vaughan said of the Surfest honour roll.

"The conditions really suited the airs, so that was definitely my goal, to go out there and find some air sections."

Needing a decent result at the 5000-point Australia/Oceania qualifying series finale to cement another year on the Challenger Series (CS), Vaughan booked his spot with a round of 16 win on Saturday.

He finished 29^th on the CS last year and was driven to push for a top 10 finish and place on the 2025 Championship Tour.

"In the first few rounds I was surfing pretty safe, but maybe today I opened up a bit once I knew I was qualified and I feel like I surfed really well," he said.

"I can definitely do better this year. It's definitely my goal to qualify.

"I took a lot out of [last year], just to try to focus on my own surfing and surf how I want to surf.

"I'm definitely training a bit more and just been really focused on that end goal."

Vincent, 19, was 13^th on the QS standings before Surfest. He sealed his maiden spot on the CS when he made the final - the biggest result of his career.

Vincent said Merewether local and former world No.2 Julian Wilson, who won Surfest in 2020, was in his corner this week.

"I feel like that played a big part in me getting through to the final," Vincent said.

"He's just such a calm and collected individual, he's done this so many times, so to have that experience and that sort of aura helped me through all this."

Merewether's Morgan Cibilic fell to an even better display from Vaughan in the semi-finals, 18.2 to 11.3.