Mikey Wright “Puts The Roof Straight On”, Traps 25 Souls Inside A Japanese Aerial Inferno

Watch Day 1 of Stab High Japan 2025 presented by Monster Energy here.

All photos by Nate Lawrence

I’ve never done an air in my life. Never even cared for ’em, really. Like most surfers, I imagine, I just want to lay rail and get coned. And the bigger the tube, the better.

I’ve only ever surfed once in a pool too—at Urbnsurf in Melbourne. It was at the end of a two-week trip of pure surf filth along the Great Ocean Road with my mate Dan. We surfed a bunch of rogue deep-water reefs with no company except a couple of scared-looking sea lions. Flipped the aluminium boat we were towing on a muddy, washed-out track. Cooked roadkill kangaroo tail over the fire. Scaled down 100-foot sea cliffs to surf a burgery left in a sandstone cove that felt like an open-sky cathedral.

After all that, the session in the pool felt gutless, predictable, boring. I thought about paddling in halfway through. At the kiosk, Dan scoffed at the $13 cans of beer. He said he thought wave pools were a good place for beginners to get a month’s worth of ocean reps in one expensive hour—but that was about it.

I agreed.

So, I was kinda confused when Stab asked me if I wanted to cover Stab High presented by Monster Energy, an aerial surfing contest in a pool.

Is this really the direction surfing is headed? I wondered.

Well, turns out it’s one of ’em.

And turns out, it’s actually pretty fucking cool. When the livestream was working.

TLDR

• Julian Wilson lays claim to being the best surfer in the world right now
  
• Mikey Wright doesn’t worry about building a house, puts the roof straight on, survives Sudden Death with the biggest air of the comp
  
• Lee Wilson plays the villain in the judging booth
  
• Ladybirds push the limits of aerial surfing

• Loci Cullen stomps a huge stalefish reverse, gets moved on by police for being hyped on frozen treats out the front of the 7/11
  

Men’s Heat One

How nerve-wracking must it be to surf in a wave pool contest?

“Surfing a heat in the ocean was a lot of pressure,” Coco Ho reminded us in her melted caramel voice.

But what about when you’re sitting there like Lucas Cassidy, waiting for the air chambers of the PerfectSwell wave machine to become pressurised and pump out the very first of a few hundred finely engineered launchpads?

You could feel that anxiety weighing on the hand-picked Stab High competitors in the first heat. In the first 14 waves, Maka Franzmann was the only one to ride out of his slightly tweaked full-rote backside Indy. Thirty-six points set the benchmark for the day.

In competitive ocean surfing, I’ve always found myself barracking for the best surfer, supporting a particular narrative. But in the pool, that isn’t really possible. You don’t really get to watch the heat unfold. Just two immediate opportunities.

And so instead, I found myself aligning—or not—with particular personalities, some of which were revealed through the webcast.

Matheus Herdy’s wife told us she married him primarily because “he was hot, and a really good surfer,” and this trip to Stab High was their honeymoon.

Meanwhile, Cam Richards was here with his old man. Kelly had a southern accent that sounded like a shed full of firearms and a large fan boat. He said Cam usually did whatever he told him not to, so he told him to go do a cutback. As Cam lined up a huge no-grab backside full-rote, Kelly yelled out, “I smell money, I smell money, I smell money!”

His words were a kind of harbinger, as Cam stomped the air and rode out cleanly for the equal-highest score of the heat, finishing on 37 points with Makana.

Heat Two

Is Harry Bryant not one of the most likeable surfers in the world?

That beautiful, rude, sunburned head—a mop of straw-blonde hair he swears he’s only washed 10 times in his life? Pure Aussie scoundrel, but still with a (sometimes) sensible and insightful word for the crowd. Reminds me a little of Bob Hawke, the former Australian prime minister who skulled a beer on live TV at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2012 when he was 82 years old.

Also kind of like an Australian Mason Ho, who was also surfing in this heat, and happens to be his girlfriend’s brother.

Haz rode a different board on the left and right. On the left, a stub-nosed, bat-tailed 5’8″ quad; on the right, a thruster. He had them specially made for the last Stab High, only for them to get flung out of the tailgate of a truck and get destroyed by a cement mixer.

But both Haz and Mason were outshone by pure aerial wizardry from Hughie Vaughan, who threw a huge full-rote stalefish to take out the heat with 41 points.

Heat Three

Rasta Robb made his intentions clear from the outset, greasing a radical backside full-rote Lien air for the highest score of the morning: 42 points.

“It’s dangerous to put a microphone in front of Jacob ‘Zeke’ Szekely,” Stace told us. The self-proclaimed ‘King of the Pool’ must be one of the most polarising characters in surfing. He started an online stoush with Shaun Manners last year that was more WWE mockery—Kevin Hart vs. The Rock—than Andy vs. Kelly. The crew in the booth tried to persuade us that actually, he is a good bloke, no matter what you think of him.

Zeke did his best to confuse us about that with on-screen antics that were equal parts undiagnosed mental illness and outspoken misfit, self-congratulations and deference to his peers. He launched a few huge attempts but failed to ride out of an air.

Sam Piter and Shion Crawford were the only other two to get a score on the board—Sam for a full-rote Indy that scored 36 points, and Shion for a no-grab straight air that scored 31.

Heat Four

Dane Henry greased a huge, corked full-rote. Judges scored it down for the double grab, only for Dane to come out and do it again—this time with only one hand. Nines and tens all around. 47 points. Even if the judges are wrong, at least they’re consistent.

Pedro Barros said surfing was fun compared to skateboarding. Everything must be fun after you’ve spent years making a living smashing yourself into concrete. He admitted, too, that he wasn’t that nervous, given the one-run mentality he was used to in skate comps—but he still only managed 31 points for a frontside-grab straighty on his final attempt. It still put him above over a dozen people who get paid a wage to surf.

Outside of that, it was the battle of the Bic Team, with both Dion and Chippa sporting extra aerodynamic bald melons. Dion has a huge huntsman spider tattooed on the back of his scone, but it didn’t bring him any superpowers. Both of them brought up doughnuts—failed to make a ride.

Heat Five

I had an argument with Lee Wilson in the water once. Blew up at him for burning everyone, even if it was his home break. Turns out we were both in the wrong. We shook hands, apologised to one another. Turns out he’s not a bad bloke. He’s also, as we saw today, a very harsh judge. Hates double grabs.

“I’m not here to make friends,” he said. “I’m here to do my job, and help progress the sport. If you can do it with two, you can do it with one.”

Stace Galbraith compared him to Anton Ego, the cutthroat food critic in the 2007 animated Disney film Ratatouille. Leo Fioravanti slid into our DMs with a slightly harsher evaluation.

“Lee Wilson is the worst judge ever [laughy face emoji].”

Albee Layer called Lee “the villain” in his Instagram post. Reckons his second-attempt 38-point shuv-it was overscored, but said he’ll “take it” and was “stoked to still be going in this thing.”

Timo Simmers and Shane Borland went back to back, both stomping huge airs. But Timo took it out with a huge straight Lien air that earned him 42 points.

“That’s that Prince Park shiiiiiut,” texted big sister Caity from the stormy depths of WA. “He aired over the wall.”

Meanwhile, Ian Crane admitted to loving the Japanese bidets. His “clean butthole” gave him a little extra leverage and helped him narrowly avoid the Sudden Death round with 35 points for a backside stalefish reverse that we’ve now seen in one, two… five Stab Highs (and counting). 

Heat Six

I was confused to see that some of the judges were also competing in the event. Surely a conflict of interest, no?

But aerial surfing is highly technical, and if there’s anyone who can understand the true difficulty of each manoeuvre, it’s the surfers themselves. And the surfers want to be judged by their peers.

Creedo was another one of the three judges who was, technically, judging others against himself. He appeared on the microphone, as laconic and humble as an elbow hanging out of an open car window, and said he was going to “just try” in his heat.

Julian Wilson came rearing out of the blocks—the retired dad showing he is as relevant as ever by pulling a huge bigspin on his first wave, for an equal-highest score of 47 points.

He did two double airs after that, falling on his first attempt, then sticking both on his next. Both in different directions—first an alley-oop, then a reverse.

He left a huge gap between himself and his heat 6 competitors, with more than 13 points separating him from second-placed Matt Meola, who was left to surf his way through Sudden Death.

Sudden Death

Stace Galbraith told us early on that Mikey Wright “wasn’t here to build a house, he was going straight to putting the roof on.” After failing to make a single ride in his opening heat, Mikey stomped the manoeuvre of the comp—landing bolts on a huge inverted Lien reverse for four tens and one nine. A 49/50, as near to perfection as a Jordan flu game.  

Harry Bryant, in typical fashion, played the gibbon in Mikey’s post-heat interview, miming some rude behaviour directly behind him, Kona Big Wave tin in hand.

With only two surfers able to progress, Shane Borland and Matt Meola were forced into a surf-off after tying with 36 points. A little bit of controversy came out of the judging booth, with word on the ground that most surfers thought Matt’s full-rote was easily better than Shane’s.

Still, a surf-off made for a little extra drama. Shane failed to ride out of his frontside full-rote slob attempt, leaving the ball firmly in Matt’s court.

Matt knew he had to get something—just something—on the board. He pulled a little double-grab bunny hop, half mocking Lee Wilson, half just trying to score, before stomping a huge full-rote double grab.

Onto day two for the Maui boys; 25 others are heading home.

Ladybirds Heat One

I watched the Ladybirds with a sense of doom, wounded pride, and complete bewilderment.
Holy shit. Look at the future of female surfing!

And also: these giggly 14-year-old girls surf waaaaay better than I ever will.

Patti Zhou, the giggly 12-year-old Chinese surfer/snowboarder—who would’ve been an Olympian in 2026 if she was old enough—landed a huge frontside straight air for 43 points. Afterwards, she admitted she hadn’t surfed for a year, she’d just been snowboarding. One commentator said that if he hadn’t surfed in a year, he wouldn’t even be able to get to his feet.

It was make after make after that. Leihani Zoric with a clean early-grab full-rote for another 43 points, and Zoey Kaina with a straight no-grab air for 31 points.

Sure, this is a Stab competition. I’m well aware that any praise here may seem a little self-congratulatory. But an honest appraisal:

Is this contest not providing a platform for the rapid advancement of female surfing?

It feels like just a few years ago, there were hardly any girls able to pull an air.

Now there are frickin’ 12-year-olds stomping them back to back to back—with height, technicality, style, and consistency.

Is it not alternative platforms like this that push girls to take things to the next level? Watch this first heat and tell me you disagree. I was pretty blown away.

Heat Two

Perhaps the most joyful part of the Ladybirds was seeing the camaraderie between the girls. Sure, this is a competition. But all the girls were genuinely stoked to watch each other push the limits of surfing—even if it meant they wouldn’t progress through the event.

Mali Adam set about doing both of those things, notching up 43 points and finding third place on the leaderboard with a frontside straight frontside grab.

Skai Suitt was the only other to score, earning 32 points for a frontside grab. Defending champ Kiara Goold is defending no longer.

Bottle Rockets

Stace Galbraith admitted that all of the Bottle Rockets got moved on by law enforcement the other night. Reckons they were out the front of a 7-Eleven, charged up on frozen treats, and the cops thought there might be a riot.

They took a lot of that frenetic energy out in the first heat. Almost looked more exciting than the men. Less pressure. A little lighter on their feet. In the pool, most of them looked like they’d only just learned how to swim, the commentators said—barely out of diapers.

Loci Cullen rocketed to the top of the leaderboard with a huge reverse stalefish, stomped into the flats. It earned him 48 points—and the chance to make more in two days than a 25-year-old Tik Toker does in two months — hey, Josiah!). Then he backed it up with another alley-oop stalefish for 40 points.

English may not be Arthur Vilar’s first language, but he sure knows how to pull an air. After he stomped his alley-oop Kerrupt flip, Big Dick Power Surfer asked him if he knew who invented the trick. He paused for a sec, then said, “Dad.”

Little did Arthur know, Kerrzy himself was in the judging booth dropping 10s for the Brazilian’s most inverted versions. 

Japanese surfers Ryuji Masuha and Yosuki Iha also got the crowd chirping—Ryuji after a big Japan straight air, and Yosuki with a stalefish reverse.

Come-Ups

• Peak performance: Mikey Wright, pulling the move of the day under pressure in the Sudden Death round
  
• Hit replay: Ladybirds, Heat One
  
• Monster manoeuvre: Mikey (again), Timo’s mega straighty, Dane Henry’s corked full-rote
  
• One-liner: “Everyone wants it bigger. Including my wife.” – Josiah Amico
  

Let-Downs

• Caught behind: Creedo, just trying
  
• Blind mice: Lee Wilson
  
• Say what?: “He fell victim to a piece of raw sashimi—wait, all sashimi is raw, isn’t it?” – Stace Galbraith

Results 

Special thanks to our Stab High Japan 2025 Presented By Monster Energy sponsors: Monster, Sun Bum, YETI, Skullcandy, Kona Big Wave, Oakley, PerfectSwell, Xcel, and FU Wax.