How Does Our Defending Stab High Champ Fare On An Elongated African Point?

Flagler Beach is not known for its point breaks. 

In fact, the North Floridian beach town is simply six miles of marginally consistent (or consistently marginal) sandbars, separated neatly by a single fishing pier. 

And yet, much like it’s southern acquaintance Cocoa Beach, Flagler has somehow fostered a champion.

“I would never move anywhere else in Florida to be honest,” Vans Stab High winner Rasta Robb told me last year. “You can surf everyday for sure, it’s kinda like California.”

Depends on your definition of surfing, I suppose.

Rooted in the rip-bowls and ruffled liplines of grindy Florida surf, Robbie’s style is decidedly nihilistic. Forsaking multiple turn sections in the name of enormous (and incredibly consistent) spinners is a unique luxury, afforded only to the technically gifted few.

Above, we get a chance to see the compelling juxtaposition between Robbie’s kamikaze beachbreak approach and the tapered offerings of Northern Africa. 

“This trip was the first time I’d seen Robbie since the Vans Stab High event in Lakeys,” Eli Beukes told me. “He’s a super cruisy guy who’s frothed on surfing all types of waves, which makes him a great person to be on a trip with. Funny enough, the first air wind window of that trip was also the first morning Robbie and I surfed with each other — which kinda worked out perfect. That was the session he did that mental Indy grab rotation.”

Though ‘air wind’ at pointbreaks is often unscrupulously characterized as devilish, Eli and Robbie make it look anything but.

“Having air wind on a point is pretty mental in my opinion,” Eli says. “You can gather a lot of speed down the line and then as soon as a section pops up you’ve already got enough speed to try go as big as you can. We didn’t actually get that much air wind in Morocco, just one or two windows where the wind came up in a good direction and we tried to take advantage.”

As you’ll see above, they fared extremely well.