DHD Wins Stab In The Dark With Kolohe Andino - Stab Mag

The Grand Finale of EAST starring Harry Bryant is LIVE, presented by Kona Big Wave and Vans.

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350+ attendees, 4 hours of exuberance, and one winner. Scroll down to find out who. Unfortunately, Axel Lorentz couldn't make the flight from Spain because of a scheduled surgery. Wishing you luck from afar, Axel! Photo: Colin Leibold

DHD Wins Stab In The Dark With Kolohe Andino

Plus, which Orwellian Premium members best prophesied our Stab In The Dark winners?

features // Mar 12, 2024
Words by Stab
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Stab‘s Aaron Carrera sat down with Kolohe, Chris Borst, Darren Handley, and Timmy Patterson to talk all things boards, Australia vs. U.S. design theory, and Stab in the Dark.

Beware: This whole article is one big mega-spoiler for those who haven’t seen Stab in the Dark with Kolohe Andino.

Stat of the week: 459

That’s how many of you commented your picks for winning shaper, the four finalists, and Unlucky 13. Thanks to our eclectic finalists, nobody guessed all of these correctly. But, in the end, eight of you tied — guessing the correct Winner, Unlucky 13, and two Finalists.

You shall be rewarded. Names will be announced below.

More stats: 45% DHD, 22% Pukas, Timmy Patterson 17%, Chris Borst 16%.

That’s what Instagram had to say when we sent a poll out this week. It is election season after all.

The view from the Stab Premium line as the shapers walked into the dugout, jersey-clad. Photo: Colin Leibold

Moreeee stats: Thanks to betonline.ag, 200 of you put money on Stab in the Dark for the first time ever. 26% of you put gwolla on DHD, followed by 21% staking bread on C.I. (womp womp). Twelve of you even put max bets (50$) on DHD and netted a cool $400 pick-you-up.

This year’s Stab in the Dark has been unique for many reasons — Chris Borst’s first SITD and first final, no shapers from last year’s (Italo’s) SITD final are featured in this final, and… Kolohe’s decision ultimately came down to squirt versus hold (have at it comment section).

Now that we’re done with numbers, let’s get to the names — shapers first, Stab Premium predictors after. Then, scroll down for a gallery of one of Stab’s favorite premieres ever at the hallowed La Paloma theatre in Encinitas.

For this year’s SITD, we held a total of 13 premieres at different locations around the world. The grapevine even told us that 200 Brits showed up at the UK premiere at Skindog Surfboards. We’re happy to have you, red coats. We also heard rumors of a packed-sardine-can-esque Portugal premiere, obrigado.

Scenes from the finale premiere at 58 Surf in Portugal. Photo: 58 Surf

Now, your Stab in the Dark with Kolohe Andino winning shapers:
1. Darren Handley of DHD — #22 — 6’0 x 19 x 2 7/16 (29 liters) E.E. Juliette model
2. Timmy Patterson of T. Patterson Surfboards — #32 — 5’11.5 x 18.85 x 2.38 (28.09 liters) Alley Rat model
3. Axel Lorentz of Pukas Surfboards — #20 — 5’11” 1/2 x 19 x 2 3/8 (29 liters) Tasty Treat
4. Chris Borst of Borst Designs — #74 — 5’11 x 19 x “2.4375”— A “Stab one-off model, shaped for Medina”

Fun fact: Every year, the numbers on the surfboards have secret meanings that the audience must speculate about. This year, the numbers reference Kolohe’s favorite Major League Baseball players (most of which play for his beloved Dodgers). For example, #22 (the winning DHD) is the number of the Dodger’s ace pitcher, Clayton Kershaw.

Can you guess what Italo’s numbers meant?

Italo’s board line-up, let the guesses fly.

Your winning Stab Premium guessers:
After sifting through 459 guesses on this post, we decided the winning commenters via a point system: Five points for picking the winner, four points for each correct finalist, and three points for picking the Unlucky 13.

After tallying up points, eight of you were tied with the Winner and Unlucky 13 picked, along with one other finalist (two finalists total). Congrats, you just won yourself something special (we’ll tell you what over email). Please email [email protected] with proof that it’s you, if you see your Disqus username below (yes, we’ll cross-reference emails etc):

  • Lohn John John, GMEK11, Big Mack, Pigdogjacko, Carter, C Loot, Tony Pizza, and Banks Freestone.

Finally, here’s a baker’s 10 of images from the Finale at La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas:

Each shaper was presented with a custom jersey with their board number and name on the back. You’re now twinning with Clayton Kershaw, Darren. Photo: Colin Leibold
Nary an empty seat — Pat O’Connell said of the premiere: “One of the best events in so long… lines down the street and stoked people in the buildings…surfing is alive and well when it’s celebrated right.” Photo: Colin Leibold
We had two lines for this premiere — one for Premium members and one for general admission. Premium members got in first, so, trust us when we say the GA line got a little ancy. Photo: Colin Leibold
As the crowd began to filter in, each person was given a ping pong ball to cast their vote for a finalist. The Premiums got a black one, and GA got a red. Photo: Colin Leibold
The vases are filling up… All votes counted, DHD took the lead in the ping pong ball prediction counter and Borst was a close second with perhaps a wee bit of local bias. Photo: Colin Leibold.
There was some cheeky banter (and some piss-taking) happening during the Shaper’s Panel. Photo: Colin Leibold
Kolohe, his wife Madison, and daughter Noelle taking in the limelight. Photo: Colin Leibold
The conqueror sussing out the conquered. Photo: Colin Leibold
The Stab team gave out some surfboards to some Premium members and some goodies to the peanut gallery. Photo: Colin Leibold.
Our ping pong ball leaders, Darren Handley and Chris Borst. Photo: Colin Leibold
“O brave new world that has such people in it.” Photo: Colin Leibold

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