We Brought In Two Proper Heavyweights For Our Surf100 Finale

Presented by Pacifico.

“I really shouldn’t win, and if I do, these guys should be embarrassed.”

Joel Leslie Parkinson, 45, is the first ever Association of Surfing Professionals World Champion to compete in a Surf100 Final, presented by Pacifico.

One of three original Coolie Kids, alongside Mick Fanning and Dean Morrison, Parko won 12 CT events, three consecutive Hawaiian Triple Crowns (2008, 2009, 2010), and the 2012 World Title ahead of Kelly Slater, Mick, John John, and Adriano.

His most memorable performances came at right points and reefs — not dissimilar to the venue for this year’s finale.

“This wave would definitely suit him a lot,” says Noa Deane, who isn’t just sharing pleasantries. The second wildcard in this year’s finale has copped many of Parko’s cubic litres of spray to the face at Snapper and D’bah over the years.

Whereas Parko got the world title pass, Noa found his way into the Surf100 finale by winning the 2025 Stab Surfer of the Year, which he edged out the Premium audience vote (29% to Yago Dora’s 25%), then won over our expert panel too.

In the past few years, Noa and James Kates have produced and released Mash, Munch, Horse, and Stimulant, with other recent noteworthy appearances in Snapt 5, Rage 5, and Ritualistic Tendencies.

At 32, Noa has made a remarkable career operating outside the more conventional limits of freesurfing. His work ethic, invention, willingness to go big, and ability to find waves overlooked by most (surfers) put him ahead of his time.

“He’s basically just showing us what we didn’t even think existed and he’s doing it on his own dime. It’s really inspiring,” Chippa Wilson said.

Noa and Parko share a similar upbringing on Australia’s Gold Coast but exist at opposing ends of a spectrum. One is a World Champion whose competitive instincts were primed during a ruthless era of professional surfing; the other has spent the better part of a decade proving that a surfer can remain relevant, and very influential, without a ranking beside his name.

In their different ways, they’re mostly diplomatic about getting a bye into a final against surfers who have had to grind through seven stages over two weeks to get there. But beneath Parko’s gentlemanly assurances, the competitive dog still lets out a little howl.

“For me it’s a pure gentlemen’s rules surf-off. If somebody wants to pull the trigger and be a prick, then good luck.”

Noa seems less interested in the idea of winning for winning’s sake, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want it.

“If you’re going to try and surf just to beat someone else, it’s probably the wrong way to surf something like this.”

“For this Surf100 final, we wanted the surfing itself to be as complete as possible,” Sam McIntosh wrote in a recent Premium missive. “We didn’t want a barrel contest or air contest, we wanted that magic four-to-six-foot number where surfers have to use their rails, find tubes and go above the lip.”

The location, which will remain undisclosed, had to allow for all of that, while still leaving enough room for four surfers and their different approaches to reveal themselves under 100 minutes of intense mic’d-up pressure.

Parko brings one of the finest nose-to-tail rail submersion techniques in surfing history, an effortless and intuitive approach to tube riding, and, despite the generational gap since his competitive peak, he still finds ways to let the bottom of his board breathe.

If Parko surfs in cursive, Noa brings a back-alley graffiti approach — big, violent blasts of color that inevitably catch your eye. And while he can certainly match Parko’s power, the former Stab High champ’s real weapon will be in the air.

That just leaves our challenger series winner Dakoda Walters, and whomever survives out of Zeke Lau/Dimitri Poulos in episode 7 (coming this Monday to Premium). Throughout the series, the boys had no idea which two surfers would be waiting for them at our finale location. Imagine checking in to your air-conditioned room and seeing those two names on the next day’s call sheet.

An important detail is also that every surfer in the final will be facing the same way on as mechanical a setup as you can find in the ocean, with plenty of opportunity for tubes, punts, and a panoply of face angles to carve into.

Tune in for Episode 7 of Surf100 Challenge Series presented by Pacifico on Monday 24 August, and the season’s grand finale on September 9 in Oceanside, CA. Premiere details to come.

Watch Episode 01 here.
Watch Episode 02 here.
Watch Episode 03 here.
Watch Episode 04 here.
Watch Episode 05 here.
Watch Episode 06 here.