What To Expect On Stab Highway East Coast (USA), presented by Monster Energy - Stab Mag

Live Now For All — Episode 1 of Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

5118 Views

What To Expect On Stab Highway East Coast (USA), presented by Monster Energy

Nine states, stripper weddings, waxed windows and a whole lot of surfing.

cinema // Dec 19, 2024
Words by Garrett James
Reading Time: 5 minutes

All photos by Gunner Hughes.

It’s 8am on a Saturday.

I’ve been in Miami for three days. I’m sweating profusely, my voice is gone, and the phone in my pocket is buzzing with inbound messages like a fly that just won’t fuck off. In a few hours, all 16 of this year’s Stab Highway competitors will have arrived. There will also be nine filmers, one photographer, one social media producer, one referee, and me, the host/producer. 

We will pick teams. We will become best friends. We will become sworn enemies. And then, in 12 hours’ time — or less if you decide to have a big night out in Vice City — we will take off due north on an 11-day roadtrip unlike any road trip you’ve ever seen, let alone participated in.

They weren’t ready. We weren’t ready. South Beach Miami wasn’t ready.

What you won’t see are the months of pre-production that go into this annual project: The road map, the challenges, the planning, the re-planning, and the re-re-planning. Don’t forget about the rental vehicles. And then of course, there’s the filmers, the athletes, the athlete agents and managers, the brand partners, and so on. But I’ll save you from those strenuous details and get to the fun stuff. 

We’ve got another wild edition of Stab Highway on our hands, and I’ve come here to reveal a few things about what to expect on our feral pilgrimage from Miami to New York, including a first look at another season of blood, sweat, and beers…and tears.

The ethos of Stab Highway East Coast (USA), presented by Monster Energy, inked in flesh forever.

Polarizing Personalities

Stab Highway is like truth serum. You’ll get to know yourself and those around you very quickly — for better or worse. In past seasons, we’ve seen villains, heroes, chillers, and a beef jerky salesman emerge as characters. I don’t want to give away too much about this season, but let’s just say some of our contestants were so chaotic, we had to walk a few videographers off the proverbial cliff on more than one occasion. Not that we’re massive fans of “drama,” but we do love character development, conflict, resolution, and narrative-driven storylines. I hope you’re ready for this one.

Robbie McCormick pays homage to the Floridians before him. We’re looking at you, Cory Lopez.

Fresh Faces

I feel lucky to be in the position of casting surfers for a handful of our projects. Our goal remains the same for every project. Talent comes first. Big names, big personalities. But, we also like to hold space for fresh faces who we think deserve more recognition. While filming Zipper, I stuck my neck out for Taro Watanabe. While some of you know his style, many of you hadn’t been acquainted. We thought that needed to change. Additionally, we tossed a lesser-known Joel Vaughan on Stab Highway Europe last year, and guess who made the 2025 WCT this year? You guessed it. Joel Vaughan. 

For this year’s edition of Stab Highway, you might scratch your head at a few of the names that we’ve included in the cast… and that’s fine. Our goal is to give these surfers the opportunity to showcase their talents to you, our beautiful audience, in hopes of developing more stars in our space. This year, we’ve got Gabriel Morvil, Kobe Hughes, Mia Calderon, and Samantha Sibley. We hope you like them.

Ben Gravy sprinting up the beach with a foil for some random Stab Highway challenge. Bet that wasn’t on your 2024 Bingo card.

Guest Appearances

There’s a finite number of interactions you can manufacture when 16 professional surfers are placed in a room together. But what about when you release them into the wild, on the east coast of the United States, where an estimated 118 million people live? Well, that’s where the magic happens. 

This year we crossed paths with some of east coast’s finest specimens, and their mostly unexpected cameos did not disappoint. Off the top of my head, those names include Eric Geiselman, Evan Geiselman, Kelly Slater (kinda), Shea Lopez, CJ Hobgood, Lisa Anderson, Brett Barley, Blair Wiggins, Justin Quintal, Jack Tenney (JoogSquad), Dean Randazzo, Mike Gleason, Ryan Miller, Seth Stafford, Blayr Barton, and Owen Moss. 

Legendary angler Blair Wiggins tows Tosh Tudor behind his fan boat in a swamp full of alligators. Every bit of that sentence is true.

Jet Skis

Lots of ‘em. 

A Bit Of Vomit 

Anthony Bourdain once said, “Food is everything we are. It’s an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.” With that logic and a bit of overindulgence, we’ve successfully achieved, consumed, and subsequently regurgitated a shit ton of culture across many state lines on the east coast. Was it excessive? Sure. Was it entertaining? Definitely. But at least we didn’t have to perform any Heimlich maneuvers (skip to 23:43).

No wax, no problem? You’ll have to wait to see how this one plays out.

Southern Hospitality

Okay, this might just be Cam Richards. But if this season of Highway doesn’t make you a super fan of Cam (and his dad), you’re lying to yourself.

Did You Die?

We haven’t always been the best at prioritizing human health and safety with some of the things we’ve done here at Stab (see: The Dock), but we consider the entertainment value in everything. Generally, we ask ourselves: Is this something that we would like to watch ourselves? If the answer is yes, we continue. If we answer no, it’s back to the drawing board. 

This year we had a big scare on the first day of Stab Highway and a big scare on the last day of Stab Highway — a nicely bookended project, some might say. I’ll keep the causes a secret. But I’ll let you know that when shit got real, a Stab Premium subscriber who happened to be at the beach saved the day. Shout out to you, Stab Premium subscriber. 

The cat walk looks a little different on Highway. Malia Ward straps on the stilettos and hits it.

That’s all for now. We look forward to showing you what went down on that extremely long road trip from Miami to New York City.

Episode One drops on Thursday, January 23, only on Stab Premium. We’ll see you at the starting line. 

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

Stab Interview: WSL Tour President Graham Stapelberg On The Changes And Challenge(r)s Of The Post-Cut Era

Maxing Pipe, Triple Crown realities, Jordy Smith, sponsors up the yin-yang, and more.

Jun 16, 2025

Was That The Best Day Of Performance Surfing In 2025?

Kerrupt flips, double airs, and a cornucopia of 9 point waves.

Jun 15, 2025

Watch: Albee Layer Drops His Second Stab Edit Of The Year In 4 Months

And we dare say "Less Than Easy" is even better than the former.

Jun 13, 2025

Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico: Episode 1

Our first loser goes home in this "king of the hill" showdown.

Jun 12, 2025

How To Convince A Bunch Of Small Town Floridians That They Need A Wavepool

Warren Smith is creatively diversifying the tourism portfolio of his hometown.

Jun 12, 2025

Italo And Filipe Lost, But Surfing Won Today

No shortage of excellence on Day Two at Lowers.

Jun 11, 2025

Opinion: Griffin vs Filipe Was A Masterclass In Surfing & Judging

And the exact reason Lowers is on tour.

Jun 11, 2025

How Politics Canceled A WSL Pro Junior Event In The Basque Country

The Israel-Palestine conflict hits surfing.

Jun 11, 2025

Wait, Is Lowers A Left?

Day One of the Lexus June Gloom Pro is wrapped, and Kelly's free for drinks.

Jun 11, 2025

Stab Interview: The Secret Lives Of Keith Malloy

On surf films, big waves, sibling bonds, and stunt-doubling for Matthew McConaughey.

Jun 9, 2025

Why Kelly Slater’s Favorite Wave Isn’t Producing More Pro Surfers

A critical analysis of the Soup Bowl surf community.

Jun 8, 2025

CT Watch: Jacob Willcox And Francisca Veselko Rattle The Cage

Where you begin is where you return: The Newcastle SURFEST.

Jun 8, 2025

Stab High And The Unfortunate Inevitability Of The C-Word 

Does surfing have a culture after all? 

Jun 8, 2025

Jordy Smith Is World #1, Kelly Slater Is A Wildcard, And… Ethan Ewing Is Trying Californian Surfboards?

Your 2025 Lower Trestles CT preview.

Jun 7, 2025

Tom Lowe Suffers Second Near-Fatal Injury at Teahupo’o In 14 Months

Sage Burke and Kala Grace tell the story straight.

Jun 6, 2025

The Return of Surf100: Raw, Unfiltered, Serialized

Seven challenges across California before the OG 100 minute final.

Jun 5, 2025

Snow Bros, A Former WSL CEO, And The Multimillion Dollar Fight To Govern Surfing In America 

"This decision could have massive, cascading, and irreversible consequences," says the CEO of USA Surfing. 

Jun 4, 2025

Everything You Need To Know About The Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

8 surfers. 8 challenges. $100,000.

Jun 4, 2025
Advertisement