Read our full event preview here.

Erik “Bad” Apple won the T-shirt wars at Snapper Rocks.

It is with some disappointment that we’ve watched him fail to carry that momentum into the betonline.ag odds preview for the Corona Cero New Zealand Pro.

In lieu of Mikey C came Nate Florence and Koa Rothman, both taking a break from setting up their new dedicated podcast studio in Nate’s dungeon to roll out v2.0 of the Nate & Koa Podcast and discuss odds at this year’s novelty venue.

They chat about who could do well, who could face some hurdles, and who could surprise at the curved bone the WSL threw the goofs this year.

“It’s the most perfect left!” Koa said. See? They can’t help themselves.

Now, for a little additional insight from someone who actually knows about Raglan — acclaimed Kiwi photographer Rambo Estrada, who’s been on the point all week:

“My main observation is most of the crew are struggling to match the pace of the wave,” Rambo tells us. “It’s a deep shoulder and you need to be constantly coming from behind and hitting it in the pocket, then angling your turn back to put yourself behind again. A lot of crew are getting out onto the face and by that point you might as well give it up. You can see people getting really frustrated.

“Italo has been a standout,” he continues. “He’s taking off deeper and getting the sections to go big. He’s the only person I saw yesterday that was putting up really big moves consistently. Betty Lou did the biggest turn I saw from a female yesterday.”

Hit play before making your bets, and scroll down if you want to piggyback on Mikey C’s picks.

Gamble Ramble presented by Betonline.ag

Mikey C saved a disastrous start to the Aussie Treble at Snapper, finishing event two of three with over $800 in earnings. Could it have been the start of a winning streak? Here are his picks for Raglan…

Raglan winner
$25 on Yago at +800 to win $200
$10 on Cole at +5000 to win $500
$5 on Rio at +10000 to win $500
$25 on Griffin at +600 to win $150
$35 on Filipe at +550 to win $165
$25 on Italo at +800 to win $200
$35 on Molly at +400 to win $140
$20 on Erin at +1000 to win $200
$25 on Gabriela at +500 to win $125

Womens R1
$200 on Erin at -200 to win $100
$50 on Francisca at +160 to win $80
$20 on Bella at +325 to win $65
$50 on Anat at +300 to win $150
$20 on Alani at +275 to win $55

Men’s R2
$25 on Rio at +160 to win $40
$20 on Callum at +200 to win $40
$40 on Crosby at +200 to win $48
$20 on Al Cleland at +300 to win $60
$10 on Kauli at +200 to win $20

Place your bets here.

Broadly speaking, would you consider yourself a fan of merchandise?

If yes, then it is certain you would love Virginia Beach.

Walking down Atlantic Avenue, you’ll find numerous stores offering thematic apparel. Today, we noticed shirts reading:

-My wife beats me.
-I’m not gay, but $20 is $20.
-I do pedicures on camel toes.

Pretty sweet. But if you’re left craving something a touch more tasteful, the good news is that we have partnered with Quiksilver to create Stab High Virginia Beach merch.

Hats. Tees. Couple colors. You know the drill. All styled with modern taste, but made to age — because nothing matches the clout of a decade-old surf event tee.

Cop here, or on site. And if you’re a prem member (which you need to be if you want to watch Stab High), check your email inbox for some uplifting news about how you can get your hands on some of this merch.

As far as occupations go, ‘professional surfer’ is becoming one of the biggest lies you can tell a kid.

If only they knew that it’s pretty much a job in media, with religious gym attendance, physio appointments, managing travel logistics and videographer schedules, and still having to rip, maybe they’d just focus on making money elsewhere and keep surfing as a hobby, like most of us.

A lot of what reaches our glowing rectangles now comes from a new breed of hyperproductive, multi-hyphenated individuals.

But somewhere along the line, their endless output started producing diminishing emotional returns, making surf media fatigue an actual condition and leaving us wanting a little less every day.

Timo Simmers has opted out of the current infrastructure, doing the bare minimum in most of the other stuff, except surfing.

Shot like a homemade sponsor-me tape, Agua Dynamics is presented unapologetically, deadpan, and with almost clinical bluntness. This is my edit, these are my boards, that is all, thanks for coming, etc.

The surfing is excellent enough to carry the lightness of that simplicity.

And if his restraint, resistance, or refusal to become part of today’s horde of overprofessionalised but severely underpaid surfers interests you, his appearance on StabMic is a great place to learn more about Timothy Simmers.

But watch this first.

Place your bets over at Betonline.AG.

There’s something deeply likable about New Zealand.

Natural beauty everywhere. Nice people. Anti-earnest, mostly silly, self-deprecating humour that feels engineered to make the rest of the world seem emotionally overcooked. Also: the best kit in world sport, courtesy of the All-Blacks. Manus. Flight of the Conchords. Crowded House (controversial). Th’ Dudes. The Clean. Split Enz. Taika Waititi. Peter Jackson turning a country with more sheep than people into Middle-earth. 

Sweet as, cuz.

The tour returning to NZ after a 50-year absence is, understandably, a very big deal for the locals. And the surfers seem to be loving it too. Every second surfer’s Instagram story currently comprises lines grom froth. Homemade signs.

To offset this quaint Antipodean mise-en-scène, however, we’ve also got Mikey and Stace beaming in via Zoom to dispense gambling advice to the masses. Though “gambling advice” undersells it somewhat. Some of the analysis has been genuinely insightful — sharp reads on form, conditions, psychology, heat draws. The sort of stuff you could almost mistake for serious sports commentary.

Unfortunately, all of it is semi-irrelevant.

Just bet on Gabriel Medina.Place your bets over at Betonline.AG.

Read our Stab Interview with Dylan here.

The open-mindedness of Dylan Graves is a hallmark of a unique surfing career. 

He’s successfully ridden waves in odd corners of the world that not only entertain him, but millions of viewers who tune into his YouTube. It undeniably resonates. According to the stats, Dylan’s channel has received more than 10 million views since 2011. 

First through the Weird Waves series and now under his own discretion, Dylan’s wave-taste knows no bounds. Some of his ventures look delightful. Others hardly resemble surf spots. Then there are the few that make you grateful you’re nowhere near the same zip code. That was the uncomfortable feeling in my gut upon watching Dylan’s latest montage that takes him to a tidal bore-turned-rapid in the northern tip of Western Australia. 

The setup is sketchy, to put it mildly. Breaking somewhere off the coast of the Kimberley Region, a place as wild and rugged as it is removed from medical assistance, Dylan enlisted Anthony Walsh to tackle a lefthand wave that had never been ridden before. And it’s not hard to figure out why.

The zone is a known “boat killer,” according to Jamie Hornblow, local who helped them out. The wave in question wasn’t huge, but it moves with a power that is downright spooky. The tidal forces here are extreme, and weird shit happens. It’s entirely natural, but the way it perpetually bends and twists into a semi-slab feels unsettling. Just pure ocean energy racing over some peculiar bathymetry. And two humans are quite literally just along for the ride.

On his second wave, Anthony falls off the back, goes under a trough and stays there. For 38 seconds. An experience that would make most mortals count their lucky stars and book it home. Yet Walshy hops back on the ski for more. “It was like I was surfing a crappy Huntington Wave to get down it, and then Teahupo’o was behind me,” Anthony recalled.

Hit play to Dylan on the most intimidating wave he’s ever surfed.

Read our Stab Interview with Dylan here.

Golden hour seemed to hang a little longer in the air of Costa Mesa on Friday, May 8th prior to the California premiere of Ritual Vision’s maiden film, Ritualistic Tendencies.

As Kona’s were cracked, pizza boxes popped, and a crowd poured in, an effervescence could be felt amid the landscaped courtyard of Vans Global HQ. The sun sank lower and purple clouds drifted into the sky – a reminder that nothing lasts forever and all things move in cycles. Life, trends, the seasons, washing machines. There’s no escape from the changing tides.

It makes sense, then, that the surfing organism itself, and all that feeds off of it, would do the same: booms and busts, peaks and troughs, downpours and droughts.

For those who stick around and wait for the tide to turn, however, reward often awaits. Over the past 15 years, the surfing “industry” has been through the ringer. The wash cycle has run its course, and while much of it still seems to be spinning out, a focused few have come out the end with clearer vision and a keen atunement to what truly matters.

This is the sense of anticipation that lingered in the coastal, 405-scented air last eve: That of a prime window approaching once more. A golden arc of time when forces converge – inspiration, creativity, response to a need – and the people can rejoice in it. 

This seems to be the driving force that fuels Dion Agius and the crew behind Ritual Vision eyewear in their latest endeavor. Partnered with dear friends and veteran freesurfers Noa Deane, Harry Bryant, Mikey Wright, and filmmaker Wade Carroll, among others, the boys (and babes) that comprise the quickly-growing RV cult are notorious for creating their own stratospheres.

Ritual Vision has only been in the market for a little over a year, but the Australian freesurfer-led eyewear brand is popping off. Since launching in 2024, the brand has blown through multiple rounds of inventory, struggled to keep up with demand, signed two of Australia’s most outlandish female surfers (Holly Wawn and Milla Coco Brown) and is now premiering its first feature-length film.

The Ritualistic Tendencies film itself was as good as you’re hoping it will be. Shot and edited in under 18 months, it held some remarkably high-octane footage within. Paired with an intriguing, wide-ranging soundtrack, the masterful visuals of Wade Carroll made for a 30-minute high-performance fever dream.

According to Agius, each premiere of “Tendencies” has seen a slightly different version, due to what he describes as “tweaks, adding new stuff if it comes in, and taking some stuff out”, creating an unintentional incentive for fans to see it again and again.

When asked about the making of their film and his dream surf trip, brand co-founder and film standout Mikey Wright stated simply, “Somewhere where we’re all together.”

:’)

He continued, “It’s hard in today’s society. Trying to be a professional surfer’s just getting harder and harder because budgets are getting chopped — so it’s still pretty sick to be able to do it. Dion created that for us, something where can just go and make surf films and chase waves, and that’s all we want to do.”

This is the constant that helps a select few thrive amidst the tumults of time and an ever-evolving economy. Last night, hundreds gathered in Costa Mesa in shared appreciation of this desire. Young and old partook in the sacred tradition of passing down an obsession, a quest, a culture. 

Jacob Szekely, a student of surf history?

Real ones know that before Paul Fisher twisted knobs at Coachella, he had skills on both a surfboard and a microphone — both occasionally dick-shaped. When he wasn’t punching lips on phallic designs, Fisher was harassing Slater from the HB Pier and getting the word on the sand around the US Open of Surfing, all punctured by his trademark hyena cackle.

Over the past few years, Zeke has aimed to replicate Fisher’s unorthodox approach to his own unofficial comp reports. He’s done them semi under-the-radar, with backstage credentials passed over the fence by friends. Things changed on the Gold Coast, however, when the WSL offered to pay him to cover the Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro. A move toward bipartisan collaboration. Or at least a shared mutual interest in raising the profile of professional surfing.

So Zeke chopped it up with just about everyone, from fans on the streets to CT regulars like Robbo, Leo, Italo, Griffin, Connor, Filipe, Jordy, and Yago to Aussie freesurfers Lungi Slabb and Milla Coco Brown. Even Kelly Slater gives OTC a fair shake and philosophizes on the potential of larger artificial waves. 

It’s not a total shock to learn the WSL wasn’t thrilled with the result. The covered topics ranged from the validity of pool airs, Sydney Sweeney or Megan Fox, who posts about their significant other the most, and which tour surfer has the highest body count. Not everyone was especially forthcoming, but some were. According to Zeke, it was an honest attempt to show some personality that isn’t displayed on the glass. 

“It was nice to get paid and get all-access passes, but I’ll do it however I have to do it,” Zeke told Stab. “I just want to keep making funny videos. I want to make it light-hearted at these world tour events. All these guys, they’re my homies. I want to show how funny, cool and entertaining they can be on camera.”

Zeke explained that WSL told him his content was inappropriate, threatened to pull his press pass, declined his collab request and told him to remove his Instagram edit of his interviews. So onto his YouTube it went. Not the best start to his corporate-ladder-climbing campaign, but at least Zeke has OnlyFans to fall back on.

Oh yeah, and Stab High Virginia Beach presented by Monster (airing next week, May 15-16 EST).

Thanks to Stephanie Gilmore collecting her 7th Snapper Rocks CT event win, Queensland lived up to its name this week.

Alongside her on the podium? DHD teammate, fellow Queenslander, and Stab In The Dark star Ethan Ewing.

With countless nine-point rides and remarkable rail duels displayed atop the finely spread sand of the Superbank, the past week has been a reminder of why the Championship Tour is worth watching. 

In this weeks 30-minute podcast, Mikey C and Stace break down everything you saw — and offer some unheard insights from the sand (and from the afterparties.)

Click here to listen on SoundCloud, here to listen on Spotify, and here for Apple Music.