Stab Magazine | The Best Wave Ever Ridden By A 14-Year-Old?
455 Views

The Best Wave Ever Ridden By A 14-Year-Old?

Portugal’s João Mendonça on a ride he won’t soon forget. 

cinema // Feb 5, 2020
Words by stab
Reading Time: < 1 minute

There’s a general consenus that social media has allowed, or rather influenced, modern kids to act older than their age. 

For females, it means wearing far-too-revealing clothing before their bat mitzvahs, participating in the Kylie Jenner challenge, or starting an international crusade against the climate crisis and corrupted politicians who fail to recognize its existence. 

For males, it means gaining an unrealistic and culturally harmful understanding of sex at a far-too-early age, participating in the Tide Pod challenge, and becoming more inclined to charge terrifying surf on account of the fact that all their peers are doing it, so why shouldn’t they. 

The latter of these trends informed João Mendonça’s decision to turn around and paddle for what is, to my memory, the best wave ridden by a 14-year-old (it’s the first wave in João’s new clip, above). I’m sure some of you in webland will take issue with that claim, so feel free to drop some URLs to better visions in the comments.

Also, who else wants to go to Portugal after watching this? Sheesh.  

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Miguel Pupo Will Be Wearing Yellow For The First Time In His Career — Here’s How He Did It

From fighting for a spot on tour to fighting for trophies.

Apr 11, 2026

Gabriela Bryan And Miguel Pupo Ding The ‘Pop

And the reigning world champs get knocked down a peg.

Apr 11, 2026

Have High-Performance Surfboards Already Peaked? | StabMic Episode 09

Britt Merrick + Dane Reynolds on Medina’s CI stint, Slater, Ewing, and the ceiling of…

Apr 10, 2026

A Day In The Life Of A Surf Shop  

One solar day in the strange, sacred, wax-scented world of the surf shop.

Apr 9, 2026

How Do You Score An Impossible Air?

Italo v Gab was the title fight, but the rest of Day 5 delivered as…

Apr 9, 2026

Fourteen Heats, One Questionable Interference, And A Few Steps Closer To Tinnitus

Rip Curl Pro Bells: How is this Day 4 already?

Apr 8, 2026

Watch: Episode 01 of Stab in the Dark starring Ethan Ewing

The reigning champ vs 3x SITD winner vs an Indonesian-based wildcard.

Apr 7, 2026

Stab High x Monster Energy Is Coming To Virginia Beach, USA

Premium members get first access to tickets.

Apr 6, 2026

Griff Goes Futuristic To Beat The New Kid

The greatest wildcard loss in WSL history?

Apr 5, 2026

Watch: The Kelly Files, Vol. 3

"I'll surf until I die."

Apr 5, 2026

Mongrels Prevail In The Slop

A day of upsets, triumphant rookies, and solid showings from just a couple of returning…

Apr 4, 2026

A Half-Cooked Homecoming

The 2026 season starts with a whimper — four instant heats run in dribbly, onshore…

Apr 3, 2026

Joyride: The Slater x Tomo ‘Mindcraft’

A 5-fin snub-nosed space missile, as seen in Mikey February's EAST.

Apr 3, 2026

Watch: John Florence Wrangles Unseen Rock Shelves Just North Of Antarctica

‘VELA’ isn’t just about warm water reef passes…

Apr 3, 2026

Dane Reynolds On Shaper Polyamory, Tour Politics + The Aussie Treble | StabMic Episode 8

The OG cast digs into the WSL season opener.

Apr 2, 2026

What Is The CT Riding In 2026? An Exhaustive Equipment Breakdown

Two brands own 40% of the tour, two World Champs refuse to be pinned down.

Apr 2, 2026

Steam On Mirrors, Slater Milked Dry, And Europe Gets It In Every Hole

Surfing’s 2026 Q1 Report

Apr 1, 2026

The Long Year Starts Here

A Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach preview.

Mar 30, 2026
Advertisement