Ladybird Vs A Sand-Bottomed Beastie

“I wasn’t scared at all. I felt super confident in those conditions—it was my second time surfing there, and I did a lot of training before that trip,”

Words from Maddie Stanton, one of our Stab High, Indonesia Ladybirds when we asked how she felt before getting flung into the belly of the above beast. Maddie’s nonchalant answer sets an eerie disposition— a reminder that this is the new status quo for a 14-year-old aspiring CT surfer.

Last February, Maddie traveled about 1157.1 miles south of her home in Encinitas, California, with her partner in flight, Bella Kenworthy, for their 2nd installment of sunburns and barrels in Mexico. You may remember Caity Simmer’s premier edit, ‘Crust’, covering the crew’s maiden voyage.

The first two days of the trip were small, so Maddie rode her favorite board, ‘The Happy Everyday, because she knew she wouldn’t break it. On the third day, she took out her second choice, but Italo’s first, “The CI Pro’ because the waves had gotten to the size where fiberglass tends to crack.

Bella and Maddie arrived at dark o’clock and whipped the skis until the wind set in. “My best wave was the second, I drove for about five seconds until it closed out. When it closed out, I felt like I got whiplash three times underwater,'” Maddie recalled.

A few tosses in the high-speed washer left her unfazed and, as the story goes, she packed fifteen to twenty more in the land of no return before lunch.