These Idiots Broke A $10,000 Surfboard Just To See What Was Inside - Stab Mag

Live Now — Episode 3 Of Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

278 Views

These Idiots Broke A $10,000 Surfboard Just To See What Was Inside

Spoiler: it was foam. 

cinema // Feb 10, 2019
Words by Stab
Reading Time: 2 minutes

In 2018, Elon Musk’s brainchild, Tesla – the electric car manufacturer, spaceship-maker, and most impressive non-profiting business of the 21st century – decided to release a small batch of surfboards.

One-hundred to be exact. 

And despite all the incredible minds and 3D-printing tools at Tesla’s disposal, they made the decision of contacting an expert surfboard shaper to design and manufacture the crafts.

Of all the big names in the foam world – and we can’t imagine a single one of them would have turned down this offer – Tesla landed on …Lost’s Matthew ‘Mayhem’ Biolos to do the honors.

So Mayhem shaped 100 boards (for what we’d hope was a tidy sum) and presumably sent them back to Tesla to do whatever new-age, spacey stuff they wanted to do with them before putting them on the market.

 

600725 tesla surfboard

The next time your mate says his board is, “Like a rocket ship,” just tell him, “Nah.”

 

Then the boards went up for purchase, and like that they were gone. 

$1,500 a pop is egregious in the surf world, but if in terms of its memorabilia value the Tesla board was ridiculously low-balled, leading to its instantaneous sell-out. 

Buyers should be feeling quite good about that purchase, too, as the Tesla board is now selling for $10,000 on Ebay. Talk about an investment – that’s nearly 10x in less than a year!

And, much to 99 of the original purchasers’ joy, the value of their investment has again increased, thanks to the idiots in the video above who broke one in half just to see what was inside. 

To be fair, the main culprit didn’t have a momentary lapse in judgment leading to this unfortunate result – being the creator of Youtube Channel What’s Inside?, which boasts 6.5 million subscribers, it’s actually his job to snap, saw, and sever things in two.  

For this video, What’s Inside? paid $4,500 for the Tesla board, meaning that in order to turn a profit, they have to be making more (and probably substantially more) than that from endorsements and Youtube ad revenue. 

Just nine hours after its publication, the Tesla video has 190k views, which gives you an idea of What’s Inside?‘s reach. 

But that still doesn’t make him not an idiot, as the board-breaking revealed not a revoutionary space compounf or secret battery source, but rather *gasp* EPS foam wrapped in carbon fiber, paint, and a 4 oz. layer of fiberglass. 

A prototypical surfboard, if you will, all of which leads to one inevitable truth: Mayhem is a fucking genius, perhaps on par with Elon Musk. 

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Can Jordy Smith Defend His Turf at Piping Hot J-Bay?

Four (or five) time Trials winner Damien Fahrenfort consults his Betonline.AG spreadsheet.

Jul 9, 2025

SEOTY: Liam O’Brien stars in ‘Friction of Perception’

"Hopefully I don’t come across like too much of a peanut."

Jul 8, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part One

“It’s like a drug empire, man. Cut the head off the snakes, and more will…

Jul 7, 2025

Mason Ho Joins Ritual Vision, Releases Remix Of Greatest Hits

Dion Agius riffs on the eyewear brand’s U.S. expansion, Ritualistic Tendencies, and the new stars…

Jul 7, 2025

Is It Time For A New Judging Format?

We have a modest proposal — a WSL head judge disagrees.

Jul 7, 2025

Luke Thompson Turns Last Year’s Priority Disaster Into Ballito Gold

+ earns himself a wildcard into Jbay.

Jul 7, 2025

Fiji Has Its First Professional Surfer, And He’s Unbelievable

16-year-old James Kusitino’s incomprehensible tube lounging leads to a deal with Former.

Jul 6, 2025

Laird Hamilton on The Limitations of Being a Purist, Invention vs. Ownership + Why He Never Had a Sticker Deal 

Untold stories from his How Surfers Get Paid interview.

Jul 4, 2025

Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico: Episode 3

"The tribe has spoken," Dane Reynolds pronounced, and a surfer's torch was snuffed.

Jul 3, 2025

When Surfer’s Eye Is Actually Cancer

Erin Campbell's brutal journey from surf camp dreams to chemo drops, cryotherapy, and surgical horror.

Jul 3, 2025

Surfing’s 2025 Q2 Report

An assessment of surfing's vital signs throughout the second quarter of 2025.

Jul 2, 2025

What Actually Happened to Occy’s Mad Max Plunger Pool In Yeppoon?

Surf Lakes’ brass talks: internet hecklers, the unplugging of the plunger, and the Tom Curren…

Jul 2, 2025

Poor Goofy Foots 

Data shows that the world is stacked against goofs — they even make 15% less money than…

Jul 1, 2025

Britain’s First Wavepool Has Closed — What Really Happened?

Bankruptcy, social media hackings, debts unpaid — and yet, reopening looms.

Jul 1, 2025

Watch: Was Matt Meola’s Air Actually Better Than Hughie’s?

Watch the full Swatch Nines highlight reel and decide.

Jun 30, 2025

Houshmand Bludgeons Field To Win Second CT — Molly Picklum Tastes Blood, Snatches World #1 In Brazil

You can't argue with big surfing — that's Saquarema wrapped.

Jun 29, 2025

37 Years Old And World #1 — What’s Changed For Jordy Smith?

On rediscovering decades old surfboard templates, having a personality on the CT, and why this…

Jun 27, 2025

Tom Lowe Stars in ‘Let Me Live’

The wild, improbable ascent of Britain’s best big-wave surfer.

Jun 27, 2025
Advertisement