Nathan Kostechko is a talented Southern California-based artist, whose colorful skeletal designs were a consistent motif in our 2022 edition of Stab High presented by Monster Energy at Lakey Peak.

Last month, Nathan was dealt a cruel hand. On March 20, after leaving the tattoo parlor, he was involved in a terrible car crash that broke his hip. He needed emergency surgery, and after six days in a hospital, Nathan is finally back home in San Pedro with his parents. Adding insult to injury, his dog Trip got loose in the collision and ran away. He’s still missing. 

The doctors are optimistic about Nathan’s recovery, and he’s in good spirits. However, hip injuries (and surgeries) are no joke and require a lot of time to heal. Nathan’s a tattoo artist by trade, and now he’s unable to work. His friends have set up a GoFundMe to help ease his financial burden (and medical bills) while he recovers. If you’re able, any contribution or sharing is appreciated. You can also check out Nathan’s artwork here. 

Iconic is a word we shy away from.

Few adjectives are as overused, as watered down into trite meaninglessness with false embellishment, as iconic.

In surfing, there are a minute number of personalities which have eclipsed excellence, surpassed success, and cemented themselves as true cultural litmus tests — their likenesses singed into the collective understanding of waveriding.

Icons, if you will.

Two of those characters play endearing roles in this six minute collaboration. 

Bob McTavish — still sharp witted at 80 years old — is generally accepted as having catalyzed the shortboard revolution with the development of the short, wide-tailed vee-bottom design 1966.

Stephanie Gilmore, who just signed a $4,000,000 deal with Rip Curl, is surfing’s true unicorn of style, competitive brilliance, and marketing longevity. 

Together, the two wade into the tepid waters of experimentation — in the very fashion you might’ve hoped for, given the lapse in Gilmore’s CT tenure. 

“I love it that she’s not chained down by her thinking,” says Bob. “You see that in her surfing. She pulls things out of the bag that’ll blow your mind. If I can turn her on to a single fin that actually rips, I’ll be so happy.”

Click above for the collision of two stylistic stalwarts, and the modern creative process behind a one-of-one, asymmetric, vee-bottom, Plastic Machine single fin.

Rio Waida became the first Indonesian to qualify for the Championship Tour after winning back-to-back Challenger Series events in Sydney and Ballito during 2022.

“The ‘Rio effect’ was powerful”, Asian Surf Co President and Indonesian surf coach Tipi Jabrik told Stab after officially sealing his spot in Portugal. “He has given hope to a whole new generation of rising talent who finally have a representative at the highest level they can aspire towards.” You can read Jed Smith’s article about why it took so long for an Indonesian to make the World Tour here.

But Rio, who was also Indonesia’s first ever Olympic surfer, isn’t finished knocking off NBD’s. 

Fresh off the back of his best ever CT result at Bells (a semi-final), the Indonesian who is currently ranked 11th on 12,990 points (safe from the cut) has partnered with SharpEye Indonesia as a shareholder and partner in the business — a strategic long-term play that will leverage his profile in the community to draw customers to their key distributors at BGS, Drifter and Boardriders Echo Beach. 

When asked about Rio’s new involvement, Glass Lab Director Adam Wessel said, “Simple. Rio is a part owner. This is a community minded, motivating way to be involved. It’s all about giving back to him. He is the most visible surfer in the region and this business model shows respect to that. And as a part owner we want him with us forever. Not just for his surfing career. We want a very personal business culture in Indonesia, an invested culture. A family culture. Not just throwing T-shirts at some kid until he gets too old. I mean, look, Rio is building a brand in Bali, just like any smart business and surfers these days need to be businessmen too. And we want Rio to treat SharpEye as more than just a source for great surfboards, but more as something that.”

Rio, who was bullied for his diminutive stature as a grom and required Human Growth Hormone (HGH) injections as an adolescent to facilitate his physical development, is praised generously by those in his corner. After losing early in Portugal last year, Rio surfed onshore, oversized Bells alone for three weeks before the event to get extra reps in on the bowl. His Rocky-esque training vids, involving just weights, water jugs and dojo rather than flash gym facilities afforded Red Bull athletes, rank #1 on BDPS’ power rankings of athlete content.

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A post shared by Rio Waida (@riowaida_)

Rio’a evangelical powers are bolstered by SharpEye’s visibility at the top level of competitive surfing. In the 2022 WSL Finals, 50% of the men and women in World Title contention had SEs underfoot. In their first ever Stab in the Dark appearance with Taj Burrow, the Inferno 72 was selected as the best performing HP of 2021. Jack Robinson will be the first to admit his tour trajectory changed dramatically once hopping on SharpEyes, where he beefed up his volume an additional 3L from his previous Arakawas, then went on to clinch his first of six CT victories (so far) in Mexico. 

SharpEye has a proven track record of nailing distribution across the pond as a US-based brand. “Mayhem, Pyzel, SharpEye – they’ve penetrated the market in a way that guys like DH and JS were never able to do in the US. Every second board in the lineup at Snapper is an American-owned brand. Whereas, you don’t see many DHs at Trestles,” said Joyrider Stace Galbraith. 

Need some last minute boards before a Bukit swell? You can visit Sharpeye Indo’s landing page here.

“We had a really good winter that year, there was a long run of swell and everyone was stuck at home because of COVID,” said Duncan Macfarlane, in our ‘Best Surfing I’ve Ever Seen’ series. “This wave in particular is a sand-bottom point, so it’s not always good. It’s always shifting. It kinda lined up for this day, and was particularly long and further around than normal. It was pretty perfect and they were the only three guys out.”

The session — which Duncan referred to as the best surfing he’s seen — is the closer to Harry Triglone’s ‘Second Summer Of Love’ and features Dave Rastovich, Creed McTaggart, and Wade Goodall. When we released the BSIES exactly a year ago, the film was behind the Fun Boys proverbial paywall. They’ve now released it for free, prompting us to revisit the aspirational orb ceremony — scored by none other than Bonnie Tyler.

The entire video is remarkable — but the final section is steeped in that special something.

“All three of them are good blokes. After a session like that they came in, Rasta melted off into the Hinterland, and we went back to have a few beers. It was a pretty special day, I loved it.”

Watch ‘The Best Surfing I’ve Ever Seen, with Duncan Macfarlane’ here

Read our in-depth event preview here

“Margarets loves powersurfers,” remarked local Jerome Forrest, in our Betonline preview. “It’s raw, windy, bumpy, powerful, it’s everything. The ocean just comes together and you go to battle with it. Strong surfers are gonna do well at Margs — the guys who throw a lot of spray.”

In this trio of YouTube offerings from Surfers Of Bali, Jerome’s statement rings true. Standouts include Jordy, Medina, Cole Houshmand, John Florence, and Ethan Ewing — all heavyweight displacement machines. 

After a flaccid salad of an opening day, the backend of the window looks far more promising.

“Swell certainly doesn’t look like being a problem throughout a largely positive forecast, with multiple SW pulses initially in the five-foot range, building to perhaps double that by the closing weekend,” writes Paul Evans, in our Premium event preview. “Monday 15th currently shows an 8ft swell at 13s with offshore winds, while the closing weekend of the window 20th/21st, still a ways off to get overly confident in the data, currently promises a longer period 16s SW swell in the 8-10ft range, with puffing offshore E winds.”

Gamble Ramble

Mikey C missed all four bets in the opening Women’s Round. No doubt he’ll be back on his (profitable) bullshit soon. As always, place your bets over at Betonline.AG.

Event winner
$100 on Ethan Ewing at +550 to win $550
$50 on Jack Robbo at +550 to win
$50 on JJF at +400 to win $200
$20 on LOB at +5000 to win $1,000
$25 on Brisa Hennessy at +2000 to win $500
$25 on Gabriela Bryan at 2000 to win $500
$50 on Bettylou Sakura Johnson at +700 to win $350

Men’s R1
$10 on Deivid Silva at +1000 to win $100
$20 on Ramzi Boukhiam at +225 to win $45
$100 on Ethan Ewing at -200 to win $50
$10 on Seth Moniz at +150 to win $15
$10 on Federico Morais at +400 to win $40
$20 on Imai Default at +225 to win $45
$10 on George Pittar at +500 to win $10
$10 on Ian Gentil at +45 to win $45

Season 3, Episode 4 of EDP’s Surf For Tomorrow series starts on a heavy-water Atlantic island and ends on a heavy-water Pacific island. 

We take more than a geographical leap, though. By the end of the season finale, we’re also looking at a restructured team. 

Season 3 was born with the clear objective of ensuring the team features the surfers with the most talent, potential, and motivation. It’s a world-class program, and you’ve got to earn your place to be (and stay) there. 

The mainstays — Hans Ordiozola, Kai Ordiozola, Janire Etxabarri and Mathias Canhoto — must fight off the hopeful cast of Annette Etxabarri, Maria Salgado, Lua Escudeiro, Martim Fortes, Guilherme Ribeiro, Lucas Camargo, Dylan Donegan, and Jaime Veselko. 

In the Atlantic, we see a mini comp before the mystery challenge hinted at in Episode 3 is revealed: A 3 km (just under 2 miles) paddle. Good luck, kids! 

From there, it’s evaluation time with Tiago Pires, Zé Seabra, and Adriano de Souza. The coaches don’t just make a decision — they act on it swiftly, transporting the new team to Hawaii for more training. 

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A post shared by Hans Odriozola (@hans_odriozola)

Since then, one of the long-standing team members has won an ISA World Junior title, and one of the new members has realized his 2024 goal of making the Challengers Series.

“We’re here to raise champions,” Tiago Pires says in the epsiode. 

The proof is in the rankings. 

“Fun, short, sweet” 

Three words the young Aussie/Kiwi Kanaiya Webb uses to describe his latest Youtube “slop together”.

We, on the other hand, would use classy, creative, and (a little) unexpected. 

From warm to cold climates, solid to sloppy conditions, and waves surfed 4606.37 miles apart from each other, Kanaiya squeezes some healthy diversity into three minutes. Barrels, turns, airs, human dodgems and a splash of kook comedy, it’s a stylish edit that encapsulates Kanaiya’s playful personality. 

Champagne Sorbet’s Luke Griffin describes Kanaiya as “a shy, donut loving, vegetarian, free surfer” and further mentions that “he loves a donut after almost every surf’ (not unlike his Fresh + Fried mates).

Though Kanaiya has quietly avoided the competition side of surfing — “I was always kind of scared of the sponsored groms” — his blossoming efforts in the surf world haven’t gone unnoticed.

“He’s one naturally gifted surfer that’s lucky enough to be blessed with a beautiful style,” said Margo. “He’s got a casual approach but he’s very radical at the same time. Just happens to be a nice kid too.”

“I always just had heaps of fun just surfing,” says Kanaiya. “I looked up to my uncle who was a free surfer, so from a young age that was what my drive was to become… a free surfer”.  

And, what happened in the human tube at 2:50? “I could see the whole board while I was in the tube, and only narrowly missed the fin,” he laughs. “Was definitely kinda sketchy.”

Filmed by mum and dad, and edited by Kanaiya in only a few days, enjoy a brief YouTube short from the kid Stace Galbraith, Brendan Margieson, Dion Agius, Kai Neville, NPJ and many more culturally-relevant surfers stand behind. 

2009 was so, so close to being Joel Parkinson’s year. 

Kicking things off with a win on home turf at Snapper, Parko went on to win two more CTs at Bells and JBay, then the Triple Crown in Hawaii. His 74% heat win percentage was the highest of any year during his 20-year tour tenure, in which he also managed to bank five 10-point rides. 

In spite of all that, Mick Fanning nicked the World Title off him after Gavin Gillete spelled an end to his Pipe campaign in the early rounds. Taj Burrow would go on to clinch his first and only Pipe Masters title (on a Firewire, no less), and the final rankings would list four Australians: Mick, Joel, Bede and Taj in respective order. 

In 2012, Joel’s World Title year, the design specs of the Golden Child remained largely unchanged, reiterating a timeless maxim ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

In the following clip, Jason and Joel discuss the origin story of the HP shortie, and how new Tractor team rider, Jai Glindeman – a 2x SSOTY, fell in love with it riding it at home on the points (which I had the pleasure of watching in the flesh!). 

The Golden Child reboot is based on the original 2009 file, but with a cutting edge influence from 2024 on the deck roll and rails. It’s ridden approximately 1-2 inches longer than your regular everyday shortboard, and either the same width or 1/8” narrower.

Spock it here.