For shapers, a maximum of 30,000 points remain up for grabs at the Pipe Masters, the final stop of the 2026 season.

The year has been unequivocally dominated by …Lost Surfboards. Thanks to their team rider numbers and results, the brand helmed by Matt Biolos is mathematically shooed-in for another CT Shaper of the Year title.

Cloud 9 went by in a flash. Though none of Mayhem’s team riders got a W to their name, Carissa Moore and Yago Dora’s presence in the semis solidified the brand’s position atop the rankings.

…Lost has prematurely clinched a fourth consecutive title, with a provisional 43,285 points to DHD’s second place total. Congrats to Matt Biolos and the entire team. And Greg Webber too, because why not?

Cloud 9 was won entirely by “grassroots” labels: Chris Borst, courtesy of Caity Simmers, and Johnny Cabianca, via Gabriel Medina, just over a week after both shapers made the semis in Portugal.

DHD had a particularly productive Philippines run, with Bella Nichols making the Final in her first event back from injury, and Ethan Ewing finishing third. Worth mentioning Sharp Eye also had three Quarterfinalists in Luana Silva, Seth Moniz and Filipe Toledo.

JS continued its 2026 tear, with Jack Robinson making the Final and Kanoa Igarashi reaching the Quarters. Channel Islands rounded out the Top 5, courtesy of George Pittar’s Quarterfinal run, while Fatum deserves a shout out for supporting Yolanda Hopkins to the same stage.

I think about Bruce Irons every time I manscape.

My fingers flip a switch, the clippers buzz to life, and for a second my brain thinks its hearing the song “Hell Of A Life” by Kanye West.

You might remember the track from Bruce’s Snapt3 section. As a fan of both hip-hop and surf films, I consider this one of the few successful marriages of the two art forms. Though I doubt Kanye or Bruce envisioned this application.

Anyways, lets see October:

When asked “Do you consider yourself the best shaper?” in the series finale of Harry Bryant’s EAST, Greg Webber responded “Yeah, I know I am. Which is not an ego thing.”

A peculiar thing for a shaper to say, considering surfboard performance is subjective and there’s no real way to measure it. Perhaps the most quantitative scale would be the WSL shaper rankings, of which Matt Biolos has a clear monopoly.

Webber’s confidence level is reminiscent of an early 2000s Kanye West, who once said “My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.” Remember when that was the craziest thing he said? Life was simpler then.

Luckily, Stab Premium member and Canadian pop sensation Celine Dion queued up this spot on analogy. Please reach out to [email protected] to claim your free year of Stab Premium Ms. Dion.

Near, far, wherever you are, remember that Kelly Slater said nice things about Greg Webber’s surfboards even though he’s not allowed to talk about it because of some vague contract or something.

Pumpkins in, Cheddar out.

Since the end of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal, Europe’s beachbreak king and queen, Supertubos and La Gravière, haven’t stopped distributing their riches. Unlike the governments of the nations in which they reside.

While Supertubos is set to embark on a sort of straight-edge November, La Gravière and its surrounding sandbars may be about to revisit some early-2000s hits, which changed the lives of many who called the area home, and became the subject of observation and dissection in Paul Evans’ recent Stab podcast series, Hossegor Beach Cocaine.

According to reports, French authorities have received intelligence that as much as 15 tonnes of cocaine had been dumped offshore, somewhere between the Basque Country and La Rochelle, some 400 kilometres to the north. The circumstances remain unclear, as does the precise whereabouts of the cargo.

On October 27, the Landes gendarmerie deployed a surveillance operation along 80 kilometres of coastline, from Biscarrosse to Tarnos. Motorcyclists, horseback patrols and helicopters were dispatched to inspect the beaches. In Gironde, curious members of the public began combing the sand at Lacanau and Le Porge during their leisurely morning walks.

According to French anti-narcotics data, the average price per gram of cocaine sits at €58. That would make 15 tons worth €870M, or around a billion USD.

As of the initial reports, no cocaine had been officially confirmed on the beaches of Les Landes. That hasn’t stopped the crowds, though. Some hopefuls reportedly travelled several hours to join the search. A recreational activity with a potentially life-changing downside. Again, go listen to Paul’s series for a glimpse into possible future outcomes.

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Hossegor, Seignosse and the surrounding coastline have also been receiving solid Atlantic groundswell, with clean, offshore conditions earlier in the week and more is on the way. Combined with pleasant autumnal weather, it’s likely to draw plenty of surfers and beachgoers to the area this coming weekend.

French authorities advise leaving any unidentified packages alone and calling the police should you happen upon one.

We sincerely hope you score in Hossegor. Surf, that is.

It wouldn’t be entirely surprising to learn that Eithan Osborne had made some pact with the occult, granting him more hours in the day than the rest of us mortals.

Surfing, socialising, sponsor obligations, travelling, linking up with filmers. The vigorous Venturan is approaching omnipresence.

Having met a few years ago in Portugal, Guilherme Martins and Eithan have spent plenty of time together whenever Eithan visits the country. The friendship goes beyond the professional, which inevitably finds its way into the work they do together.

Gui had been sitting on GBs of unused footage of his friend from some of those visits. And, given that he only needs about two hours of sleep per night, decided to start piecing together MINDNUMBING.

At about nine minutes, it’s just about the perfect precursor to a session at your local beachie. There’s some filthy Cave footage in there, too, from a day Eithan paddled out to meet João Mendonça, the only other surfer in the water.

There’s something to be said for not trying too hard or overthinking the minutiae and letting things happen. Calling this a collection of b-sides is almost self-deprecating, for both surfer and filmer/editor.

In any case, we’ll be here for the A-roll. Whenever you’re ready, Gui.

Surfing is subjective, but we have at least one thing loosely resembling a universal truth: We need more Michael Ho. 

The 69-year-old former Pipe Master (yes, he did it in a cast) spends too much time enjoying surfing to care about finding ways to allow people to watch him surf or hear him speak. 

He’s not quite elusive — it’s pretty easy to find him on the North Shore — but you see very little of him online. Perhaps the most brilliant thing about Swatch’s new short film, ‘Family Ties,’ is that we finally get some time with Michael. 

The premise? Two Swatch riders, Coco Ho and Noah Beschen, grew up in the same place. Both of their dads enjoyed careers as professional surfers. Both were responsible for children falling in love with surfing — and perhaps genetically responsible for them doing it well — and now their children enjoy careers as professional surfers. So, why not thank the dads by going on a surf trip all together? 

A noble cause. And so Coco, Michael, Noah, and Shane head off to Mexico. 

Before we get there, we see a playful argument over whether or not the 40-minute flight from Oahu to Maui constitutes a ‘surf trip.’ We learn not to put your tail on cement. Eventually, we learn never to touch Uncle Mike’s surf stuff. 

Then they get to Mexico, and score. 

The surfing on its own makes it a worthy watch. But seeing two different literal generations of hyper-talented surfers in the same waves adds a whole new element. Directed by Layne Stratton, ‘Family Ties’ feels like a fresh take in a world of non-stop surf edits.

Enjoy. 

Find out more about The Abu Dhabi EDITION.

If you’re a pleb like me, you’ve probably committed the cardinal sin of coveting someone’s lounge access while waiting at the airport.

You’re familiar with the clientele: AirPods in, buttoned-shirt, a classic timepiece wrapped around wrist, expensive cologne, agarwood perhaps? A bit dead inside, but respectable, busied by matters of grand importance.

Can you imagine the routine bewilderment when Mikey Wright strolls through, flashes his gold card and takes his first sip of Wild Turkey while his grom hangs from his neck like a dressed elk carcass.

Who is this man? Inked, mulleted, chiseled, vasculature pronounced, throbbing with vital signs.

He could almost certainly kill you with his bare hands. Yet somehow, he’s holding the same little piece of plastic that took you 200 business-class flights and a mild coronary to acquire.

The only difference is, he earned his status wearing boardshorts.

You do the mental arithmetic. Athlete? Muso? Some sort of celebrity?

There’s certainly no whiff of middle management about him.

It’s in moments like these you realise how exotic our little subculture must seem to outsiders. Dare I say, even a bit cool.

Surfers spend our lives chasing waves, and (most of the time) look better for it. The suits spend theirs chasing promotions, stock options, and an increasingly elusive work-life balance.

And then along comes a bloke in boardshorts who appears to have cracked the same tax bracket without ever opening a spreadsheet.

A travesty alright.

“I feel like we weren’t their typical clientele,” said Stab filmer Dylan Roberts, who spent three days staying at The Abu Dhabi EDITION with Mikey Wright, Craig Anderson, Hughie Vaughan, Eithan Osborne, their families, and a small army of cameramen.

“The other guests were largely well-dressed business types, while our crew spent their days lugging cameras and surfboards through the lobby before disappearing off to Surf Abu Dhabi for 12 hours.”

The Abu Dhabi EDITION is luxurious, sure. But pompous? No.

Dyl reckoned it could just as easily have been a hotel in Sydney or LA. Familiar, relaxed, and stylish without making you feel obliged to dress for dinner.

Then there’s the location, which is probably the most compelling reason to stay here if you’re visiting Surf Abu Dhabi.

The hotel sits on the waterfront at Al Bateen Marina, roughly 15–20 minutes by car from the wavepool on Hudayriyat Island. It’s also conveniently placed for restaurants and attractions around the city, and approximately 35 minutes from Zayed International Airport.

Abu Dhabi is a sprawling place, so finding somewhere between the surf, city, and airport makes life considerably easier. You can spend the morning surfing, take the family into town for the afternoon, and be back at the hotel for dinner without sacrificing half your day to the road.

“We’d get home in the dark and order room service almost every night,” Dylan said. “We were cooked. So, sadly, we weren’t able to enjoy all the amenities and restaurants. And there were tons.”

Three restaurants, to be specific — from steak at Oak Room to Mediterranean fare at Alba Terrace, while the Library Bar provides somewhere to settle in for a drink after the sun goes down.

And yes, the rooms are spacious, the beds are excellent, and the room service arrives with an almost comical level of ceremony.

“They wheel it up and do this five-minute presentation setting everything up. All you want to do is grab a burger and eat it.”

For those with more energy than our crew, there’s plenty to keep you occupied. The hotel’s waterfront setting is a pretty pleasant place to pass an afternoon, with two outdoor pools, a spa, and fitness facilities.

Menu includes: Spritz’s, Old Fashioned, Fire Engines for the kids, something for everyone.

You could quite comfortably spend your entire trip moving between the hotel and Surf Abu Dhabi without needing much else. Which is wicked ‘cos you can piss off surfing knowing your partner and kids are going to be having a hoot swimming around and sipping cocktails.

Craig and Mikey both brought their partners and kids, all parties were reportedly happy.

While over there, it happened to be Mikey’s birthday, and when one of the staff overheard, he appeared with a cake and celebratory drinks, entirely unprompted.

“They were saying we’d made their week,” Dylan laughed. “We hadn’t even done anything.”

A small gesture, but a pretty good indication of the atmosphere. The staff were friendly, attentive, and seemingly unfazed by the assortment of boards, camera equipment, and small children moving through the property.

Of course, nobody needs five-star accommodation to enjoy a surf trip. Most of us have slept quite happily in places with drop toilets and a resident population of geckos.

But Surf Abu Dhabi is a slightly different proposition. The waves are guaranteed, the schedule is yours to organise, and there’s no particular reason the rest of the trip needs to be difficult.

If you’re travelling with boards, cameras, kids, or simply an appetite for a comfortable bed and a decent meal after a long day surfing, The Abu Dhabi EDITION makes an awful lot of sense.

Close to the waves, close to town, and familiar enough to almost feel like home.

For three days, it was our little surf clubhouse in the middle of Abu Dhabi. Just with substantially better beds, a very good cocktail menu, and someone waiting to take your bags.

Find out more about The Abu Dhabi EDITION.

It’s odd how quickly you make assumptions about a new face in surfing, whether you first encounter them in the water, on social feeds, in magazines, or elsewhere. 

There’s a moment when they seem like the proverbial dog having its proverbial day, much as they did in the days of the “unidentified” caption, offset-printed on coated paper.

The first time I saw the stocky, powerful, composed natural footer obliterating a righthand pointbreak, his flow like a hog bristle brush spreading oil over primed Belgian linen, I had no idea who he was. He was, by some distance, the best surfer out there, somehow finding more waves than anyone else and picking up scraps from under a staunch local pack.

I assumed he was one of those characters who show up somewhere alone, surf exceptionally well, then vanish from the scene as soon as they’ve changed back into their civilian clothes. 

Later, I saw him walk up to Guilherme Martins, who had been documenting the session. I would come to learn that the two had been collaborating for some years.

In September, Guilherme invited Issam to the place where a handful of underslept Stab employees were staying during the Quiksilver Festival. Issam arrived with his own lunch, some burger or wrap, I can’t remember too well. He didn’t strike me as a dessert man, but he had brought a very regal cake, raspberries arranged symmetrically across the top layer, possibly with tweezers. It came in a plastic box with a gold coloured base and a transparent, removable lid. The French take their cake seriously.

He finished it while Guilherme tried to sync his gaming PC with the Airbnb’s curved television. Once the technical difficulties had been skirted, Guilherme ordered everyone to sit down and formally introduced Issam, along with the short film he had starred in and edited himself.

Touching Grass does a fine job of introducing Issam, as well as the range and quality of his surfing, to an audience that might not otherwise get to see much of it, let alone share a righthand pointbreak with him.

And, hold on until the very end for some all time Honey Smacks.

“It’s the greatest sporting event on Earth,” said Greg Long in 2024, as he officially announced his retirement from The Eddie. “I’ve been getting invites for 20-years, and winning the Eddie was the biggest achievement of my career.”

When I attended The Eddie in 2024, I wrote this to finish the day;

“As the sun finally fell behind distant clouds, the visitors packed up their couches, and the scaffolding fell at the hands of determined aunties, I watched Moana Jones Wong sign the shirts of a dozen smiling children. 

How many little girls decided this afternoon that, one day, they want to surf Waimea too? How many little boys watching from the sand will now ask their fathers, sheepish and excited, if he can take them surfing for the first time? The Eddie was always intended to be a distinct junction, a planetary surfing memory, around which a hundred thousand other moments orbit. It is rooted in something absolute and carnal, in the magnetic courage that bellows from the belly of surfing.

Despite the rampaging vampire of commercialism, despite the ego-bridled surf industry politics, the legacy of a man who sacrificed his life for others remains unifying. The universal allure of the Eddie suggests that ours is still a world where the mark of a man’s worth is how willing he is to seek triumph in the face of certain obliteration.”

Rip Curl is once again fronting the cost of propping up surfing’s Super Bowl — and today they announced the 2026/27 invitee list.

Thank God. Or Kathmandu. Or… the spirit of Eddie himself?

The event has a three-month window within which to run, from December 6, 2026, to March 4, 2027. In its 41-year history, the event has been held 11 times.

“With El Niño continuing to intensify as we head towards winter, this season definitely holds a lot of promise,” said Contest Director Keone Downing.

You can read our full story on El Niño here.

2026/27 INVITEES

Alphabetical order

1. Aaron Gold (Hawaii)
2. Annie Reickert (Hawaii)
3. Ben Wilkinson (Australia)
4. Billy Kemper (Hawaii)
5. Bruce Irons (Hawaii)
6. Chad Keaulana (Hawaii)
7. Eala Stewart (Hawaii)
8. Eli Olson (Hawaii)
9. Emily Erickson (Hawaii)
10. Ezekiel Lau (Hawaii)
11. Felicity Palmateer (Australia)
12. Grant Twiggy Baker (South Africa)
13. Ha’a Aikau (Hawaii)
14. Ian Walsh (Hawaii)
15. Jake Maki (Hawaii)
16. Jamie Mitchell (Australia)
17. Jamie O’Brien (Hawaii)
18. Joey Cadiz (Hawaii)
19. John John Florence (Hawaii)
20. Kai Lenny (Hawaii)
21. Koa Rothman (Hawaii)
22. Landon McNamara (Hawaii)
23. Luke Shepardson (Hawaii)
24. Makua Rothman (Hawaii)
25. Mark Healey (Hawaii)
26. Mason Ho (Hawaii)
27. Matahi Drollet (Tahiti)
28. Nathan Florence (Hawaii)
29. Paige Alms (Hawaii)
30. Ross Clarke-Jones (Australia)
31. Seth Moniz (Hawaii)
32. Tom Lowe (England)

2026/27 ALTERNATES

Men

1. Torrey Meister (Hawaii)
2. Kala Grace (Hawaii)
3. Cliff Kapono (Hawaii)
4. Kaiwi Berry (Hawaii)
5. Russell Bierke (Australia)
6. Josh Moniz (Hawaii)
7. Tyer Larronde (Hawaii)
8. Ivan Florence (Hawaii)
9. Lucas Chianca (Brazil)
10. Tiger Doerner (Hawaii)
11. Mikey O’Shaugnessy (Hawaii)
12. Barron Mamiya (Hawaii)
13. Nic Von Rupp (Portugal)
14. Francisco Porcella (Hawaii)
15. Mitch Sanborn (Hawaii)
16. Steve Roberson (Hawaii)
17. Kipp Caddy (Australia)
18. Koa Smith (Hawaii)
19. Isamu Sumi (Japan)
20. Jojo Roper (USA)

Women

1. Laura Enever (Australia)
2. Bianca Valenti (USA)
3. Tiare Lawrence (Hawaii)
4. Makani Adric (Hawaii)
5. Justine Dupont (France)