"You'll Know Who Taro Watanabe Is Soon, If You Don't Already" - Stab Mag

Watch: The Electric Acid Surfboard Test, Starring Shaun Manners

3695 Views

“You’ll Know Who Taro Watanabe Is Soon, If You Don’t Already”

Watch ‘Back and Forth’ — 12 minutes of anti-gravity finners and grabless tube finesse.

cinema // Nov 11, 2023
Words by Holden Trnka
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Ryan Callinan considers hands-free tuberiding the pinnacle of backside surfing.

Usually, something existing at the ‘pinnacle’ means one must surpass other accomplishments to get there. Taro Watanabe, however, is skipping pigdogging altogether and instead learning to backside tube ride with no hands. 

“I like no-grabbing,” Taro quietly told me. “It honestly feels more comfortable for me a lot of the time, so I’ve just been doing that. There’s no secret, I think it’s just preference. I haven’t really grown up surfing barreling lefts, it’s something I’m pretty new at. I’m just trying things out, learning, and seeing what works for me. For now it’s been no-grab backside barrels,” he laughs.

As you’ll see above, the 21-year old (full name Taro Kelly Slater Watanabe) manages to snag a fair few grabless reef maulers between bouts of anti-gravity fin drifting. 

The percentage of surfers who can put themselves in this position without pig-dogging is surely <1%. Screengrab — Quinn Graham

On a recent episode of Soundings with Jamie Brisick, Brad Gerlach said “You’ll know who Taro Watanabe is soon, if you don’t already.”

Earlier this year, Taro finished second at the Steamer Lane Coldwater Classic — blowing past World #1 (at the time) Griffin Colapinto and recent Challenger Series winner Cole Houshmand in a frenzy of upside-down blowtails and stylish knees.

Though he hasn’t fully found his QS rhythm beyond that result, this clip, created by Quinn Graham, is an aesthetically explosive step toward the recognition Taro absolutely deserves. And, the final section — a impactful collection of Taro’s trademark layback/blowtails — makes one wonder why Yo-Yos didn’t get a mention in our ‘Best Onshore Waves’ story.

“The whole edit came about pretty organically,” filmmaker Quinn told me. “Just a small idea that kept growing and growing. I think we’ve been filming it for about five months.”

Though ‘Back and Forth’ didn’t get a look in at SEOTY because of some music licensing speed-bumps, Taro’s uniquely committed swagger makes us wonder where it would’ve ranked in the pile of Euro-heavy edits. And if you didn’t get enough of him here, Taro is one of the guest stars in our new (still to be titled) Chippa & friends film, which we’re currently producing with Monster.

Click above, and relish in the fact that nobody surfs like Taro.

If you want to learn blowtails, we suggest pausing and restarting this clip a million times. Screengrab — Quinn Graham

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

Red Bull No Contest Trips Over The Transkei, Sampling The Rainbow Nation’s Vast + Variegated Surf Culture 

Eat the many fruits of Jordy Smith, Mikey February and ‘Surprise’ Maphumulo’s backyard!

Dec 6, 2023

Full Frame: Tosh Tudor’s Black’s Beach Excavation

Jimmicane explains a water-angled San Diego gem.

Dec 6, 2023

Unlocked: ‘Growing Normal On The Phone’ — A Visual Epitaph To Shaun Manners’ Adolescence

"I was accelerating so fast in a certain direction that I kinda ricocheted off into…

Dec 6, 2023

Tahitian Government “Pauses” Construction Of Teahupo’o Tower After Mass Backlash

A positive case of "Stick-it-to-the-man-eosis".

Dec 6, 2023

Russia’s Best Surfer Won A National Title In A Lake Before Posting Up In Indo 

Nikita Avdeev plans to shed light on Russia's begrudging surf scene.

Dec 6, 2023

Surfing And Cricket: Sports Of Lords

The only things worse than watching paint dry.

Dec 5, 2023

Watch Now: We Scored Mainland Italy With Leonardo Fioravanti 

Bet you didn't know the Mediterranean Sea could look like this.

Dec 4, 2023

World #4 Joao Chianca Hospitalised After Multiple-Wave Hold Down At Pipe

“His board was tombstoning and when they got to it, he was stuck at the…

Dec 3, 2023

Why Is The WSL (Really) Not Going To J-Bay In 2024?

An analysis of politics, exchange rates and sponsorship dollars at South Africa's premier point.

Dec 3, 2023

Teahupo’o Reef “Massacred” By Olympic Barge

Should surfers boycott the IOC?

Dec 3, 2023

Two Percent’s “Smooch” Starts With Kanye, Ends With Crosby, Lives Up To The Hype

A visual representation of California's world-class surf renaissance.

Dec 2, 2023

The Electric Acid Surfboard Test Starring Shaun Manners, Episode Two

Solitude at last.

Dec 1, 2023

“It’s A Huge Cash Prize And We Never Make Money Anymore — We’re All Only Thinking About Winning”

Nine young talents respond and reflect on their 2023 Vans Pipe Masters invites.

Dec 1, 2023

The Floater: Relevant Roof Ride Or Unflushable Turd?

Careful what you wish for, floater haters. Because in a surf world without them, Kelly…

Nov 30, 2023

Full Frame: Portuguese Serendipity 

Torrey Meister by Joao Bracourt, somewhere in southern Portugal.

Nov 28, 2023

Red Bull No Contest Drops Anchor In Tahiti, Gets Treated To Region’s Deadly/Non-Deadly Waves + Address Tower Controversy

Featuring the first man to surf Teahupo’o, the Spartan, and two (likely) future Olympic medallists. 

Nov 28, 2023

Russell Bierke’s SEOTY ‘Snapped’ Noa Deane + Conjured Demonic Screams At The Opening Prem In Milton

‘Not many people treat big, solid waves like a fucking play pen,” explains Noz.

Nov 28, 2023

The 10th SEOTY Entry Features The Odd 13-Second Cathedral

Watch ISA World Junior Champ Grayson Hinrichs in 'Surfish'.

Nov 26, 2023
Advertisement