How To Watch (& Judge) The $100,000 Surf100 Finale

Everything you need to know before September 9.

news // Sep 7, 2026

Words by Pedro Ramos

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Only Stab Premium members will be able to watch and judge the Surf100 finale. Sign up here.

A total of seven chapters of the Surf100 Challenge Series Presented by Pacifico have been filmed over a couple of weeks.

We put eight surfers through the hard yards by dangling a $100,000 carrot before their eyes.

Dakoda Walters got his golden ticket to the final in Episode 06, while Zeke Lau and Dimitri Poulos went blow for blow at Waco in Episode 07. Dimitri ultimately found his way into the final.

You can rewatch the entire Surf100 Challenge Series Presented by Pacifico here:

Surf100 live premiere pro tip: get in early or you might be standing for the full 100 minutes. Photo: Ellis

The finale (IRL and online)

The $100k surf-off will be streamed as-live at 7 pm (PST) on September 9th.

IRL: If you’re in Southern California, we’d be delighted to host you at our live premiere at JS Garage in Oceanside — doors open at 6pm. There will be free food, drinks and merch, along with live commentary and more giveaways. The four finalists will also be in attendance, along with hundreds of audience members (see 2025’s gathering above).

Online: If you’re not in Southern California, you’ll have to watch the finale online, exclusively on Stab Premium. If you haven’t already sign up here to watch & judge our $100k surf-off.

Some old dogs don’t need to learn new tricks. Parko’s carve transcends surfing generations. Photo: Lawrence

Who’s competing?

With 100 minutes left to surf, Dimitri Poulos and Dakoda Walters arrived at the season finale shooting location, only to bump into 2025 Stab Surfer of the Year Noa Deane and 2012 World Champ Joel Parkinson, who had already been pre-seeded as Finale wildcards. Not a particularly sunny outlook when you were already making plans around that $100k, despite everyone getting a yellow jersey.

This finale has already been filmed, but is yet to be judged. Nobody wins until you say so. Who gets the big cheque will come down to your ability to be fair and steadfast in your newly appointed role.

As previously seen in other Surf100s (Lowers, West Oz, Mexico, California), our competitors have a 100-minute surf-off to get two highest-scoring rides.

For Stab Premium members, great responsibility is bestowed upon you to score those waves. You will also immediately be in the running to win a brand-new JS Industries surfboard.

Not an ideal sight for anyone who’d already started browsing real estate. Photo: Nate Lawrence

How to judge

Whenever one of the surfers stands up on a wave, a score now icon will pop up in the judging window below the video player. After assessing the surfer’s performance, find their scoreline and drag the widget between 0 and 100 until it displays your chosen score. Then hit submit to lock in your number.

You’ll have 60 seconds after each wave to determine its score. Your score will be averaged with everyone else watching to determine the final number. At the end of the final, we’ll compare each of your individual scores to the average from each wave. The person whose scores are closest to that average throughout the entire event will be handed a freshie from JS.

Will the Challenge Series momentum carry over? Dim (above) and Dakoda certainly hope so. Photo: Nate Lawrence

Where to watch

On stabmag.com — or for those who prefer to watch on larger screens, the stream will also be live on the Stab Premium app, which can be downloaded on most smart TVs.

Again, only Stab Premium members will be able to watch and judge the final.

If you’re not a Premium member, there’s still time to join the party here. For real-time questions or concerns, you can reach us at [email protected]. We’ll do our best to respond ASAP.