This Monster Stab High Ramp Was Built In A Day

Tickets for Stab High, Presented by Monster Energy, in Virginia Beach are now available here.

Two weeks out from Stab High x Monster Energy and we’re back in the lab, this time in Virginia Beach, trying to teach a machine how to misbehave.

While on paper Virginia is using the same tech and source code as Sydney, Wavegarden still allows for tweaks, upgrades, and improvements — its air section can be tuned, polished, and brought into existence by a responsive, human-operated control panel.

But in practice, the process is somewhere between writing code and chasing weather. You can model, measure, and build the ramp, but the thing still comes out with a slightly different accent most of the time. There’s some beauty in that imperfection too.

With Stab High 6.0 looming, we dropped Yago Dominguez, Cam Richards, Yadin & King Nicol, and Ryji Masuda into the pool alongside the Wavegarden engineering team to fine-tune this year’s launch pad.

“We’re testing something different. Might work, might not. Today, the goal is to get the wave,” was the brief from Wavegarden’s Julen Vega on the pool deck.

Five hours later, the takeoff was dialed and the wave itself was almost there, but the ramp still needed work. Just because it looked right didn’t mean it launched right. Feedback deemed it too steep and our crash test dummies were outrunning the landing. Other times, they called it too soft. Neither were great results.

Cam Richards was eventually sold: “It feels like Sydney, if not a little better.” Loftier, too, according to both surfer and engineer.

Other pertinent questions included whether Ryji Masuda should be allowed a front kicker, whether one section could serve flippers while another benefits straight airs without running into diplomatic issues, and whether we need a Dad Division of Bottle Rockets Presented by YETI.

Still, identical inputs won’t necessarily create identical waves. Water registers data differently, which means the ramp in Virginia will be its own thing, and by early accounts, something predictable enough to hit and just unpredictable enough to keep you interested.

Tickets for Stab High, Presented by Monster Energy, in Virginia Beach are now available here.

Stab High is presented by Monster Energy with support from Vans, YETI, Quiksilver, Kona Big Wave, and Sun Bum.