Watch: Dimitri Poulos And The Dane Doctrine

In the latest episode of How Surfers Get Paid, Stephen “Belly” Bell recalls the time he told Dane Reynolds he’d have to enter contests as part of his contractual obligations.

Dane insisted he didn’t like them, despite finishing #4 in the world in 2010. “Every time he won, he loved a surf contest,” Belly said, referring to Dane’s reluctance to paddle out in lycra in front of hundreds, sometimes thousands.

Some of Dane’s Chapter11 disciples, meanwhile, would kill for a shot at the Big Show — Dimitri Poulos chief among them.

Above, DP takes a DR approach to an overdone but rightfully enduring Californian tradition — the short flight to the best righthand pointbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere during summertime. No, Ribeira D’ilhas probably won’t stand up against these waves come September, but it’s darn good prep for the 2026 CT schedule.

The (unsponsored) 22-year-old is currently sitting at #14 in the Challenger Series, with an entire crew at CH11TV HQ clocking off and cracking cold Coors Lights every time he surfs a heat (trigger fingers at the ready as his USO R64 is shortly upcoming).

At upload time, the description for the clip you’re about to watch reads: “Dimitri Poulos will probably be Ventura’s next surfer to make the tour one day” — and Dane’s fingers very likely typed it.