Some Say That Warm-Up Day Is The Best Part Of Stab High

The day before each Stab High event, we rent out the pool so that all the competitors can have the time and space necessary to practice their hula-hoops and whoopdeedoos. 

In Waco, where two-wave sets are the max on the air setting, four surfers enter the water for an hour and enjoy roughly 20 waves apiece. This continues until every surfer has had an hour in the pool and then resets for another round. After three total rotations, each surfer has had roughly 60 opportunities to flaunt their stuff, which is significantly more than in the main event. 

For this reason, it could be assumed that the best performances at Stab High actually happen on the warm-up day. But barring a few specific incidents—Kevin Schulz’s flip in 2019 and Dion Agius’ hungover rampage the year prior—we’d actually say that this is not the case. In fact, most surfers spend warm-up day taking one of two approaches: some surfers perform semi-standard tricks over and over again until it feels like riding a bike, while others attempt tricks they’ve never landed before over and over again, falling constantly.

Then, on competition day, we see both groups of surfers meet somewhere in the middle: sticking shit they’d probably never try and trying shit they’d probably never stick without the wind of competition at their backs (or better yet, into their faces). 

Still, the warm-ups are pretty fun to watch. See above.

And buy tickets to the Melbourne event (March 21) here. 

(All proceeds go to Australian wildlife restoration funds.)