Watch: Pro Skateboarder Pedro Barros Airs The Logo At New Sao Paulo Pool, Gets Props From Tony Hawk And Kelly Slater - Stab Mag
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Did pro skateboarder Pedro Barros land the highest wavepool air ever yesterday?

Watch: Pro Skateboarder Pedro Barros Airs The Logo At New Sao Paulo Pool, Gets Props From Tony Hawk And Kelly Slater

Uhhh… is this our new Stab High section?

news // Mar 5, 2025
Words by Christian Bowcutt
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Click here to watch the Finals Day of Stab High Japan 2024 Presented By Monster Energy

After seeing the galactic “Indy Nosebone” (Tony Hawk’s words) by Olympic Silver Medalist skateboarder Pedro Barros yesterday in Brazil, it might be time to include some more cross-sport athletes in this year’s Stab High.

It’s a full GOAT-off in the comment section.

“Classic Indy nosebone @pedrobarrossk8,” said skate’s transition king Tony Hawk.

Not to be outdone on his own turf, Kelly Slater added: “Expect nothing less from @pedrobarrossk8. Wow.”

Pedro was in a select group of talented lip-readers invited to test American Wave Machines’ newest creation — the PerfectSwell pool at Sao Paulo Surf Club. The air above was performed on PerfectSwell’s new “McFly” setting, which after seeing its propensity to launch surfers skyward this week, is a strong contender for the official wave of Stab High 2025.

Speaking of Stab High, we’re excited to whisper to our loyal “Elsewhere Section” readers that we’ll be returning to PerfectSwell Shizunami this May for Stab High Japan 2025 Presented By Monster Energy.

15-year-old Japanese-Malibu-ean, Ryji Masuda, attempting his own Indy Nosebone at last year’s Stab High. Photo: Nate Lawrence

Last year, Eithan Osborne (Pros), Kiara Goold (Ladybirds), and Lucas Cassity (Bottle Rockets) took home the trophies, glory, and a comically oversized check. This year, some things will stay the same, and others will change. We’ll let you know more details when we can, but we couldn’t be more excited to be heading back to Japan.

To get more info surrounding the new “Mcfly” air section and the new pool at São Paulo Surf Club, we reached out to PerfectSwell’s brand manager, Rob Kelly, who you’ll see more of tomorrow in Episode 6 of Stab Highway East Coast.

“This pool is similar to our pool at Boa Vista Village — it’s the same length of ride as that one with the same functionality, just in a smaller total area,” Rob said. “It’s our fifth pool opening and while there are improvements every time we build them, it’s the same system and strategy which each one — and we’ve gotten so much more dialed in terms of construction.”

Rob then broke down the new ‘Mcfly’ section.

“Normally, we model the waves that we design after the best waves we love in the real world. But now that we have the processes down and our engineers are so good at what they do, we can tweak waves and go one step beyond and mix different elements of real waves to create something totally unique.”

“With the ‘Mcfly’ it’s really based around the concepts of a wedge, a double-up, and then like a backwash that you time perfectly for extra pop. And it’s great having Pedro [Barros] and other pros there to give us bits of feedback so that we can constantly adjust it to get it just right. And then, yes, I test it too [laughs] — if I can surf it, then the average person can. It’s important that it’s accessible for everyone, not just the pros.”

Pedro Barros with another indy variation — in surf speak we might call this an inverted backside alley oop. Photo: Cody Larkin

While we appreciate the consideration of us plebs, Rob’s being modest here. As you saw in the clip above, he’s no civilian.

We will release all the details on Stab High Japan 2025 Presented By Monster Energy, including the invited surfers, in the coming weeks.

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