And The Winner Of Stab In The Dark With Ethan Ewing Is…
The man you least expected.
Nearly two months ago, under the first episode of Stab In The Dark with Ethan Ewing, Premium commenter JimmiesOnMyJohnJohn left an incisive note.
“Taj on a Haydenshapes? Interesting,” he wrote. “Can we agree to shelf Hayden and Stretch for different shapers if they both go bad this time? I feel like those boards have gotten cut right away in almost every SITD.”
The Hayden half of that comment has aged worse than a banana on a dashboard.
Though, at the time, it wasn’t inaccurate.
“I never knew it was possible to bog two rails at once… what a waste of a grip,” said Jordy Smith of the Haydenshapes in 2017.
“If it was a little bit thicker, I think it would be a good board,” said Mick Fanning in 2019.
“It wouldn’t really hold in the pocket,” said Taj Burrow, in 2021.
“He did something weird in the tail,” said Italo Ferreira in 2023, before eliminating it without even giving it a try (RIP Unlucky 13).
“That was probably the best the waves have been, and this board is not advancing. It felt like a B-minus, had no drive,” said Kolohe Andino, in 2024.
Of the six previous Stab In The Dark tests that we’ve invited Hayden Cox to, his board has only advanced past the first surf one time — making the final four with Dane Reynolds in South Africa. A copper medal from the silver bullet king.
Now, to the surprise of everyone, including Ethan Ewing, the 44-year old industry disruptor from Sydney has just won his first ever Stab In The Dark.
Not to mention, it’s been the Stab In The Dark with the most widely acclaimed, indisputable high-performance surfing we’ve ever seen.
Whatever the opposite of an asterisk is, Hayden deserves it next to his name on the SITD winners list.
It’s hard to call it a comeback story when you’re dealing with the man who shaped the best-selling hard board of all time, but Hayden will no-doubt spend the next few months savoring the sweet fruit of redemption.
“I honestly can’t wait to go home and just re-watch the footage of [Ethan] surfing on the board,” he said at the live premiere we hosted in Oceanside. “I’ll probably re-watch it 20 times.”
“Hayden was tripping,” said Josiah Amico, our host at the premiere. “He was properly blown away by how good his board looked.”
Adding to the synchronicity of the win is the fact that Taj Burrow spent the entire time in Sumbawa alongside Ethan with a freshly minted Haydenshapes under his feet — the exact same model that Ethan eventually dubbed the winner.
“I’ve been riding the exact same board all week,” said Taj, after Ethan realized who the winner was.
“Are you serious?” asked Ethan.
“Yeah! So weird,” responded Taj. “See those two pencil marks on the bottom? Remember you pointed those out? I’ve got the same.”
“That is insane,” finished Ethan.
For those of you looking to buy one, the board is a 6’1 x 19.12″ x 2.6″ 31.4L DarkNoiz Rounded Pin.
You can click here to put in a custom order.
Model: DarkNoiz Rounded Pin
Materials/Tech: PU (Surfblanks – Midget Farrelly Blank) / Polyester Lamination
Concave: Rolled vee entry to single concave front foot, to double concave through fins and vee double out the back
Rocker: 5.03″ Nose 2.31″ Tail
Rails: Apex at 27% and Thickness at 75% of board – just below neutral rail
Glassing: Deck – Single 4oz with inegra/glass heel toe patch from Colan, Bottom – Single 4oz with tail patch to stiffen up the flex response in the tail
What conditions it would suit: Beach and Reef breaks up to 10ft faces.
Miscellaneous: The shape for SITD this year is a blend of the rounded pin tail shortboard I make for Craig, blended with the rockerline of a shortboard I shaped for a lot of Aussie WQS and WCT surfers from 2007-2011. It has a rockerline with the bottom of the rocker 3″ back from center which gives a really nice flow of water under the front foot, and creates a really drivey straighter section of the rocker behind the front foot and in between the stance. The rail line rocker however is more balanced giving a more rockered feeling out the back end of the board when on rail and going through turns. The overall feeling this brings when your surfing this design is that the board has a lot of drive, but can either draw out turns or pull a tighter turn in the pocket – you’re getting to surf off two different rocker styles depending on the part of the wave and angle of the board. It’s a great all round shape that can be pushed to the limits in great waves.
