In a rare if highly applaudable turn of events, the WSL has taken to Instagram to admit that they underscored Nat Young’s 4.03 in yesterday’s Gold Coast Pro (read the full story behind that moment and the WSL’s broader judging issues here).

“The Head Judge and Nat met for a heat review and watched all of the waves from Nat, Mikey and Charly. It was recognized and acknowledged that Nat’s 4.03 was in fact underscored and the wave should have been in the 5 or 6-point-range. Even though it was not the 7.21 that Nat needed to get into an advancing position, we still wanted to acknowledge the error,” reads the WSL’s statement on IG.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by World Surf League (@wsl)

Publicly admitting fault is a strong response to the backlash. “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them,” penned leadership guru, John C. Maxwell.

A total of 31 waves were surfed in the third, 4-man heat of the round of 32. For the judges, keeping the scores updated and accurate would have been incredibly challenging, especially towards the end of the heat which saw several waves being ridden without a break. More importantly, getting it right in this instance also wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the heat (or so say the judges) — ergo, no harm, no foul.

Kelly Slater since responded saying, “Seems like judging has really gone down the ‘size of wave’ direction instead of a focus on the best actual surfing. I do like it being acknowledged and addressed here. Should be no defensiveness in these calls as we are all human.”

Gabriel Medina wrote, “I’m just here for the comments” with an accompanying popcorn emoji.

The last time to our knowledge the judges have publicly admitted a scoring error was in Jbay 2017, where Jordy Smith was forced to have two re-surfs in the same day against Conner Coffin and Filipe Toledo, after beating them once already.

It should also be noted that on October 2023, the WSL appointed Luiz “Luli” Fernando Steffen Pereira as the new Director of Officiating and Head Judge, succeeding Pritamo Ahrendt. Luiz serves as head judge for all tours (CT, CS and QS) and unofficially as the effigy/punching bag/scapegoat for disgruntled surfers and surf fans. 

You can find more information and sign the petition from “Bring Back Our Beaches” here.

Any photo comparison of San Clemente’s beaches from 10 years ago to now draws the usual cadre of dissenters asking things like: “Same tide?”, “same time of year?”, etc.

But perhaps the most practical gauge of sand levels is that, if we’re honest with ourselves, it just really seems like less sand. Anywhere south of T-Street is near-unsurfable without a healthy microdose of south swell and a low enough tide.

Why? The reasons are hotly debated — ranging from sea level rise to coastal urbanization to creek paving to all of the above. We actually did a deep-dive into this issue a few months ago that you can read here.

But apart from San Clemente surf spots flirting with extinction, the lack of sandy beaches also affects the railway that connects Orange County with San Diego, passing through San Clemente. When swells and high tides combine, the water reaches the tracks and supposedly renders them unusable until they can properly be repaired. These swell events have already caused 5 rail-line closures in San Clemente since 2021 and $37 million in emergency repairs.

To remedy this issue, OCTA (Orange County Transportation Authority), which is a “joint powers authority” under the direction of the California state government, has proposed an “emergency measure” to invest another $100M+ in “rip-rap, walls, and revetment” — put simply, more boulders.

These added boulders would extend 50 feet further out toward the ocean than they already are at the beaches that are currently most affected by swell events — i.e. beaches with the least amount of sand.

The issue with this — SC locals contend — is that while this will solve the problem of rail-line closures in the short-term, it will further exacerbate erosion at these beaches and will end up stripping all remaining sand away, since sea walls cause backwash that just flushes sand and sends it right back out to sea, unable to re-settle in that area.

San Clemente locals argue that the money being allocated to fund this boulder drop should rather go to more “sand replenishment and retention” (dredging) efforts that they argue will lead to more sustainable, healthy beaches in the long term.

You can find more information and sign the petition from “Bring Back Our Beaches” here.

In 1999, tucked between Kelly Slater’s five-year run of ASP world titles and Sunny Garcia’s 2000 crown, Mark Occhilupo stood atop the surfing world after putting down the tinnie, getting off the couch and presenting his formidable backhand to helpless waves. 

Occy’s career-pinnacle performance was captured in Jack McCoy’s Occy: The Occumentary biopic and released to the masses 25 years ago. More than two decades later, Occy and Jack McCoy are hitting the road down the East Coast of Australia next month to screen the film in theaters. 

The two will host a Q&A with fans and have special guests join them on stage to talk about the film. Jack McCoy has remastered the footage, and this will be the first time the movie has been shown in cinemas. 

“I look back at this period as one of the most amazing experiences of my life and to have it documented in such a way is so special,” Occy said. “I can’t believe it’s been 25 years, but it’s going to be great to hit the road with Jack and celebrate the occasion with the surfing tribe.” 

The story began when Billabong founder Gordon Merchant sent a bloated Occy to Western Australia to live and train with McCoy and his family. Occy dropped 30 kilograms (66 pounds!) and he and McCoy began filming together. It culminated in Occy earning the mantle of oldest world champion (at the time) at age 33 in 1999.

“When I watched it back for the first time, it was like watching a whole new movie — people’s minds are going to be blown!” McCoy said. “Occy managed to do what many believed was the impossible. It’s truly one of the most inspirational and motivational stories in the history of Australian sport.” 

Check the dates and venues below. Tickets are available here. And do it soon because a Lorne show has already sold out.

• May 1 – The J, Noosa
• May 2 – Byron Theatre, Byron Bay
• May 5 – HOTA, Gold Coast
• May 8 – Event Cinema, Newcastle
• May 9 – Gala Cinema, Wollongong
• May 10 – Orpheum Cinema, Sydney
• May 11 – Avoca Beach Theatre, Central Coast
• May 15 – Astor Theatre, Melbourne
• May 1 7 – Lorne Theatre, Surf Coast

California is known for wildfires, but pier fires are a rare occurrence. On Thursday afternoon, a fire erupted on the Oceanside Pier, the longest wooden pier on the western United States coastline (1,954 feet). 

Firefighters were called to deal with a blaze at the far end of the structure after it was first reported at 3 p.m., according to NBC San Diego. The outlet said for a time just one boat was trying to put out the fire, and it appeared the flames may be in the building at the end of the pier, which was once the site of the Ruby’s Restaurant. Last year, the city of Oceanside spent $5.5 million on upgrades to pipes and electrical systems

Stab’s own Premium Coordinator Christian Bowcutt, presumably slacking from his duties, ducked out of Stab’s Oceanside office for a quick surf near the pier. He could “smell something weird” and assumed wildfire (a true Californian). By the time he was changing in the lot, smoke and flames were billowing from the pier.

“There were tonsss of firetrucks and cops and people running down,” Christian said. “It turned into a watch party on the boardwalk. People posted up taking photos, drinking beers, smoking joints and clapping at the fire boat.”

NBC San Diego reported that by 4 p.m. there were “two fire-fighting boats on scene shooting water cannons at the structure at the end of the pier. A lone pickup truck, possibly a lifeguard vehicle, sits at the foot of pier, with a long fire hose, possibly two, running the length of the pier. It appears that a pair of other vehicles are at the far end, flashers lit up.”

A sad scene for Caity Simmers’ home break. See below for a much better day in O-side.

As of the time of writing, firefighters are still on the scene and the cause of the fire is still unknown. 

Despite its top-shelf substance, the infrequent cadence of Mikey February’s Sonic Souvenirs has left many surf content fiends digging fingernails into forearms.

The semi-elusiveness of its main character has created a sitch where scarcity triggers curiosity — the more they run away, the more we’ll run after them, etc.

Today, rather unexpectedly, Mikey February dropped his first release under Spearhead Unlimited, “a platform for creative freedom, collaboration, and experimentation.”

Simply put, in ONZA! Mikey spends a day at a Mexican point doing exactly what you’d expect him to do, only slightly adjusting his approach to the tune of a twin fin or a leashless single fin.

Filmed from the scorching sands of Oaxaca by Kevin Jansen, who also edited the piece, it’s accompanied by a banger of a track* by Penny Penny, a South African musician and politician known as the “Shangaan Disco King”. The team behind Spearhead Unlimited was able to license the song from Brian Shimkovitz of the online treasure trove that is Awesome Tapes From Africa.

We’ve been told that more projects are underway and will eventually be released through the platform. This is the type of candy you’d buy for the wrapper alone. Yet, the flavor is very much worth it.

Go give your algorithm a cleanse!

*If you’re a premium subscriber, you might want to watch the clip above before casting your vote for our best song/section pairings survey. 

Geoff McCoy, a masterful innovator of surfboard design whose creations shaped the tides of surfing, has died at the age of 79. 

Born in Gosford on NSW’s Central Coast in 1944, Geoff transitioned into shaping after completing a 5-year wood and metal pattern making apprenticeship, and quickly emerged as a seminal foam mower. His designs, often radical departures from the norm, played a pivotal role in the evolution of the modern high-performance shortboard.

Among his creations, the “Lazor Zap” stands out—a visionary “no-nose” design with a tear-drop outline that seemed plucked from a surfer’s most audacious fantasies. It was this board that Cheyne Horan rode to consecutive world title runner-ups in 1981 and 1982. McCoy’s roster also boasted other innovative designs like the “Nugget,” “Quazor Zip,” and “Astron Zot,” each with their own unique quirks and challenges.

In 2018, Geoff told Byron Bay rag Oldschool Resistance the surfer’s with the greatest impact on his shaping philosophy were: Nat Young (rails), Midget Farrelly (plan shape), Gerry Lopez (hold, release). His website slogan reads, “designs for the thinking person” – a nod to his esoteric and jarring futuristic concepts. The site also affirms Geoff could be spotted surfing The Pass, Broken Head and Wategoes well into his twilight years and maintained an active and “hands-on” approach to the management of his bizness.

The surfing historian Matt Warshaw describes the experience of riding the Lazor Zap with a mix of awe and trepidation. To him, the board was both seductive and unruly, “incredibly sexy and futuristic, but skittish and high-floating and drive-free and more or less impossible to ride unless you were Cheyne Horan.” The board’s challenging nature placed it as a thrilling, yet daunting choice against the more predictable twin-fin—each offering a unique ride akin to balancing on soap or an over-inflated air mattress. This era of experimental tumult, however, was quickly overshadowed by the arrival of Simon Anderson’s Thruster, which would cement itself as the board of choice, leaving McCoy’s avant-garde models as fascinating footnotes in surfing’s design history.

In the late seventies and early eighties, McCoy’s influence expanded as his surfboards were sold internationally by brands like Channel Islands and Lost. However, his career faced a devastating turn in 1984 when he lost nearly half a million dollars due to a duplicitous business manager. Following this betrayal, McCoy withdrew to Byron Bay, disillusioned and financially ruined. 

Despite these challenges, McCoy never ceased his craft, continuing to shape boards in a small factory in Tweed Heads, driven more by passion than by profit. To the end, his narrative was tinged with a sense of being crushed by the very industry he had helped to build, yet he remained a resilient and beloved figure within the surf community.

Click here to cast your vote!

If you are reading this, it means you’re a Stab Premium Member, which probably means you have one or two surf movie sections that are tattooed into your hippocampus forever.

In the past, we did a story listing our staff’s favorite song/section pairings that you can read here if you have five minutes to barbecue.

We’ve also focused (and are still focusing) on the series Best Surfing I’ve Ever Seen, where we ask filmmakers about — you guessed it — the best surfing they’ve ever seen, most of which ended up in surf sections, but we don’t ask them about the music they picked for those surf sections.

Our quest now is to combine these two things and include our Premium members in the process! We will be taking your responses in the survey and combining it with our staff’s picks, as well as interviewing surfing’s best filmmakers to ask them which song/surfing sections are their favorite.

Our goal here is to reach some semblance of an objective answer as to which song/section collabs are the very best in our precious little surfing world’s relatively short history.

We’ll be releasing a Premium article with all of our findings soon. In the meantime, watch some Y2K Andy footage with some raucous music, get angry at the world (for just a sec), and take out your aforementioned angst on some unassuming walls of water.

At the survey link below, you’ll (1) be able to vote for one of our staff’s song/section picks and (2) add your own in. We look forward to reviewing the ink on your hippocampus.

P.S. The survey has links to all of our favorite sections so you can do some digging in the YouTube archives.

Click here to cast your vote!

Taj Burrow in the booth, are you kidding me?

The woz is nailing the broadcast in WA today. Good call getting the early rounds out of the way during the week and reserving this for finals day. Bluebird conditions, 6-8ft, offies.

John Florence just got a 10. A wildcard rinsed World #1. Thank god Yago Dora is still with us.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by World Surf League (@wsl)

Stay tuned for our full WA finals recap for the full rundown. Crazy surfing and lots of shuffling on the bubble today, especially for the women. 

Mens

Womens