‘Vacation 3’ In 11 Photos
And 11 behind-the-scenes backstories from the POV of a producer on the ground.
Words by Garrett James
Reading Time: 8 minutes
Go on vacation, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
And for once, they were absolutely right.
On December 25 — Christmas Day, 9am PST, because we love you so much — we’re dropping Vacation 3, presented by Monster Energy, the third offering in our ongoing experiment to see what happens when you tell professional surfers they’ve “earned a break” and then dangle waves in front of them. In short, our Stab Highway champions get flown to a tropical paradise stacked with reef passes, cold beverages, and the kind of karaoke that creates lifelong friendships. We film the whole thing, stitch it together, and hand it to you so you can watch from your couch. Then we give our Stab Premium members an opportunity to win the exact same trip. More on that when the film comes out.
I didn’t go on the past two Vacation trips, so I can’t pretend to know how uncivilized they were. But I can tell you this: give surfers four full-time filmers and a dozen world-class reefs within a coconut’s throw, and the word “vacation” starts to feel like a joke. I’ll take some blame. I did tell the surfers that we would be structuring the film like those of the past, with dedicated sections per surfer, including the almighty last part. That’s when things got serious. Not really.
Here are 10 more photos with extended captions to bring you behind the scenes of Vacation 3 presented by Monster Energy, through the eyes of a Stab Producer and Highway Host.
The photo above was taken around 24 hours into 30+ hours of travel to get to Kandui. We’ve just loaded on to the back of the Padang-To-Kandui ferry. The sun is about to peek out from behind the clouds and welcome the day. Eyes are heavy but spirits are high. Laughs are plentiful.
From left to right, you have Kobe Hughes, Shane Borland, Judd Henkes, Balaram Stack, and Eden Edwards.
Photo: Garrett James
I don’t think it’s all that unknown anymore that Kobe is becoming quite the shaper, who may have learned a thing or two about pushing surfboard design from his uncle Ryan Burch. He’s been featured in multiple EAST series at this point, and rightly so.
But seeing how well these boards worked beneath the feet of our Vacation 3 crew told the whole story. The original plan was a tidy, little transition section — a couple sessions with the crew passing the boards around. That idea died fast. The boards went too good. Someone was on ’em every session. They stole our hearts and a substantial amount of airtime in the film.
Photo: Nate Leal
Upon examining the puncture when we got back to land, I did a proper double take. I’m not a medical professional but I can tell when a cut is deep enough for stitches, and this was at that level. She got it cleaned out by the South American exchange doctor, then Balaram glued it shut. I spent the next few days wondering if I should’ve sent her off island to get additional medical attention, worried that I was being negligent, thinking about infection horror stories like that of Timmy Turner. She was adamant about it being fine, but I had my doubts, and asked her to stay out of the water for a couple days while it healed.
Every day, she’d check back with the doctor to get his opinion, asking if he thought she was okay to surf. The moment the doc cleared her was like seeing a kid on Christmas morning. Eden didn’t miss another session.
Photo: Kandui Resort
On any given day, Shane would destroy boards and body in pursuit of pulling something massive, deep, or critical. He was going so hard that he’d be visiting the ding repair guy between sessions to pick up and drop off boards daily. He was visiting Kandui Resorts’ masseuse to work out aches and pains daily. At one point, he could no longer wear sandals because his ankle was too sliced up and swollen. And still, not once did he miss a session.
By the end of the trip, the guy was in pieces. He had a solid gash in his knee, destroyed ankle, bruised hip, and busted ass. He limped back to the Kandui-to-Padang ferry after those 10 days in pain. It was admirable… and borderline masochistic. He was actually bed-ridden for a week when we got to Bali after Kandui. I dropped off antibiotics for him before I left for the airport. He recovered then went on to film his RAGE part, compete in Stab High Sydney, and win the Keris Cup. Fucking animal.
Photo: Kandui Resort
In Kandui, he was never the first guy off the boat and into the lineup. He was more interested in fishing, to be honest. He’d take his time, cast a few lines and let everybody have some time in the lineup without him. He was also pretty keen on shutting down the bar most nights, but that’s another story. Eventually he’d paddle out. Without fail, the first wave he’d catch was always a gem, and he would surf it with this insanely deep connection to the ocean. It felt oddly symbiotic. It was unreal to witness.
To add to the Balaram lore, he would wear these loose, hooded, fishing long-sleeve rashie things that he picked up on the side of the road in Mainland Mexico. He’d run them with the hood up and the hood would always stay on – through long tubes, inverted turns, airs, duckdives, everything. He had this wizard aura about him.
Photo: Nate Leal
There was a funny thing that happened on this trip where Kobe caught the air bug. Everyone was hucking themselves and somehow it rubbed off on him. He spent a good chunk of time trying to launch something massive. I’m not even sure a clean one ever fully happened. That’s not really the point. My favorite surfing of his was always beneath the lip or on the face. Nobody else is surfing like Kobe and this needs to be celebrated more.
Photo: Manu Miguelez
Photo: Manu Miguelez
In the lineup, he moves like he’s got a point to prove, like he needs to remind everybody he’s not some seasonal snow bro. I respect it. Of course, he also gets sun-poisoned exactly like a snow bro would. Pale, cooked, and surprised by the consequences of surfing longer than everybody else for multiple days straight without any sun protection. I respect that too.
He didn’t leave Kandui without paying a toll. First came the sun poisoning — bad enough to force a day off, wrapped up indoors under air-conditioning . Then, late in the trip at Hideaways, he caught the nose of his board to the side of the head and walked away with a golf-ball-sized lump as a souvenir. Vacation things.
Photo: Nate Leal
At sixteen — still a kid — he’s somehow the sharpest person to run decisions by at Kandui when you’re trying to pick a wave. He knows the reef setups the way a bad habit knows you, reads them quietly, without theatrics. We were lucky to have him for the first half of the trip.
Even with limited time in front of our lens, we pulled together a full section for him. When you see it, you’ll get it. Equal parts impressive and creative. I’m excited to see how far Dylan takes it these next few years.
Photo: Manu Miguelez
This trip was no different, but with Stab Highway alumni. Over 10 days, we crossed paths and surfed with Jacob Szekely, Letty Mortenson, Zoë McDougall, Sam Sibley, Micky Clarke, and Shane Sykes. We had no idea they would be in the Ments at the same time. No group chats. No prior communication. No “see you in Indo” texts. Just coincidence doing its thing. The Rusty crew had actually been lost at sea, intending to be some 100+ km south in the Telo Islands, but somehow ended up at Playgrounds. We’ll let them tell that story when it’s time for them to release their film.
Photo: Federico Vanno
Vacation 3, presented by Monster Energy, drops December 25 at 9am PST, on Stab Premium.
