Stab Surfer Of The Year: Pat Gudauskas, Ryan Miller, Shane Dorian, Mick Fanning, Jeremy Flores

Day seven of SSOTY if upon us and simply put there’s no way Italo Ferreira is losing this one. It mightn’t be as prestigious as a World Title but two back-to-back years voted ‘best surfer’ by your peers is a big accolade. 

Anyway, here’s what the leaderboard looks like so far:

Stab Surfer of the Year Day Six results:
Male (Top 10)
1. Italo Ferreira (72 points)
2. Gabriel Medina (42 points)
=3. Chippa Wilson (24 points)
=3. Russell Bierke (24 points)
5. Kolohe Andino (23 points)
=6. Mason Ho (22 points)
=6. Noa Deane (22 points)  
8. Jack Robinson (19 points) 
9. John John Florence (17 points) 
10. Griffin Colapinto (13 points) 
 

Women (Top 6)
1. Carissa Moore (54 points)
2. Stephanie Gilmore (41 points)
3. Caroline Marks (25 points)
4. Moana Jones (13 points)
=5. Coco Ho (8 points)
=5. Laura Enever (8 points)

Best Junior (top 3)
1. Eli Hanneman (9 points)
2. Crosby Colapinto (5 points)
=2. Jai Glindeman (4 points) 

Best Edit
1. Flow State starring Russell Bierke (10 points)
2. Ru.Bu 994 starring Noa Deane (4 points) 
3. Left Brain Right Brain starring Chippa Wilson (3 points)

For today’s showing we hear from Pat Gudang, Ryan Miller, Shane Dorian, Parker Coffin, and Jeremy Flores.

Patrick Gudauskas 

Age: 34

Bio: Very good surfer, occasional CT guy, loves Channel Islands, has blonde hair. 

Men 

1. Ian Crane: All his Stab High shit is next level. Crane is like a Medina surfer, the guy can do anything. Then he won the WSL airshow. I’ve never seen someone do the Stalefish Three the way he does. He’s got a new move that he’s been working on, he’s so close to sticking it. He’s a throwback, surfing and hanging with him is so fun.

2. Seth Moniz: He’s put out the sickest edit. Rookie of the year. Seth is sick. 

3. Kolohe Andino: he made the olympics, he dedicated a lot of time to Homeish which was a sick edit. 

4. Russell Bierke: The edit he put out was the sickest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. 

5. Matt Banting: He’s one of my favorite people to follow on Instagram. He’s someone I watch every day that gets me psyched on surfing. And he had a sick comeback this year.

Girls 

1. Laura Enever: She’s charging like a badass. She rocks, she’s fully pushing big wave surfing for the girls and she’s been on the craziest swells this year. 

2. Tatiana Weston-Webb: Her barrel riding at Teahupoo puts her in here. I’m backing that super hard. 

3. Mahinee Ferriie (From Tahiti): I’m backing girls who are sending it and she was right next to Tati and all the boys sending it at Chopes. 

Best Film 

There And Back Again starring Nathan Florence (1 point): That was low key one of the gnarliest films ever done with all the waves he got. 

Junior

Mateus Herdy (1 point): He’s a tech air wizard. I freak on his surfing.

Ryan Miller

Bio: Photographer for surf stars the world over. There isn’t a CT event he’d dare miss. 

1. Nate Florence (5 points): Fuck, I said last year if this guy improve his performance game I would put him at #1. He must have been listening as he went out and started up his air camp just after. The guy never stops. Literally down for anything, surfing small waves, big waves, foil, lifting weights, biking, throwing knives, fishing, endless sarcasm. That is all in one day and then will wash it all down with a double cheeseburger and some uni. If he starts going all shirt off Instagram selfies with a rig like Koa Rothman I might go gay for him.

2. John John Florence (4 points): Run away world title before he got hurt. If that bubble gum knee didn’t explode in Brazil the guy would have won the whole thing by Tahiti. He puts in a dominant performance out of the water on the down days around the events. Never one to lay around on the couch working out his thumbs. Guy is always out learning something new about some weirdo shit like beekeeping or battery powered cars. 

3. Italo Ferreira(3 points): With John out Italo filled the vacuum of being the peoples’ champ. You just can’t hate on this guy. He transcends all national flags. As clutch as it gets at Pipe to finish the season against the best guy out there was the most huge dick moment of the year. 

4.  Seth Moniz (2 points): Didn’t even know what to expect from this guy on tour. Came on his rookie year and just went to work. Hard hat and tool belt on just fucking guys up. Support crew like I’ve never seen before. Guy would roll down to the beach with half on Waikiki in tow! Continually impressed to from the positivity his support crew provided.

5. Gabriel Medina (1 point): I just love the ice cold blood that flows through his veins. Nothing rattles this guy and he takes shit from no one. Gabe is bar none the most interesting person on tour. Easy to hate as the dark knight but willing to do whatever it take to win. I so respect this guy as he is ready to give it his all. 

Women

1. Carissa Moore (3 points): This year she put her game face on at the events and just murdered chicks. Blood dripping from her jaw on the comp days and then Mother Teresa on the down days. 

2. Stephanie Gilmore (2 points): If Caroline was not yet on tour Steph might have been world champ. Outside of Maui, Caroline ate her lunch every time they drew each other. The best thing the WSL has ever done is the Rising Tides young girls surfing event and Steph was the only person that showed up for every single one. The future of women’s surfing has a beautiful path ahead single handedly paved by Steph. All hail the queen. 

3. Coco Ho (1 point): Pretty limp dick performance on tour but fuck was she fun out of the jersey. I’m pretty sure she is bipolar. Her highs are the best on tour and her lows make you want to lock her out of the house and throw away the key while she pounds on the door. If you want a good time, all the WCT gossip and a coffee shop that looks beautiful but has shitty food call Coco. She has all of them dialed. 

Best Film

There and Back Again starring Nate Florence (1 point): I actually didn’t really watch any surf videos this year. This one might win by the default of my watching it twice. If Erik Knutson’s name is in the credits it has to be the best of the year anyways. No need for me to watch the others. 

Best Junior 

Crosby Colapinto (1 point): Not sure if this kid is even a junior. He’s huge! Guy seriously surfs on a WCT level. Some of the shit I’ve seen him do on the free surf days around the events is actually better than the bottom half of what the tour guys are doing.

Shane Dorian

Age: 47

Bio: Big wave guy, also very good in small waves, enjoys hunting when not surfing. 

Men

1. Italo Ferreira (5 points): I’m so baffled by his approach. I just think that his whole approach and mindset to the way he rides wave is just so exciting, and I just dig it. I like watching him more than anyone else. He’s just so powerful and explosive and fast and unpredictable and instinctive. I feel like he surfs with a lot of heart, and I don’t know, it really speaks to me.

2. Gabriel Medina (4 points): He’s like undeniable. He’s just incredible. His resolve and determination. He got a wave at pipe just now, and got as deep as you possibly could have gone, and did a massive ollie straight air on a step up and stomped it. It’s like he just brings a totally different gear to surfing. 

3. Jack Robinson (3 points): I feel like his performance at Sunset, in particular, was totally unprecedented. That level of surfing out there, and I just feel like he changed the game in one heat. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve been watching Sunset events, and Sunset performances forever. And I feel like it brought a resurgence of how important Sunset is. As it’s really neat to see someone bring so much attention to Sunset, because I feel like that kind of went away in past years, and it’s so sick to see how well he surfed out there.

4. Chippa Wilson (2 points): I’m like a low key air guy fan, and I just dig his approach. I feel like it’s really unusual. I feel like there’s a lot of guys who are doing airs, and there’s a lot of similarities between most of those guys, but I feel like Chipper super fresh. love watching his edits, and the one he just dropped recently was loonies. Looney Toons! I fucking love his surfing.I feel like Chippa, every year is unsatisfied with what he’s done in the past. And he approaches it totally new each time. He wants to do something totally different. I feel like that type of thinking is really different. It’s awesome. 

5. Filipe Toledo (1 points): He’s just like a personal favorite. He had kind of a trippy year. Threw his back out, and he had some tough breaks, but I feel like his surfing just went up another level again this year. I mean it’s hard to say stuff about Filipe that’s never been said before. He’s definitely in my top five.

Women 

1. Caroline Marks (3 points): Consistency wise, her performances were insane. With the tour being mainly rights it forces her to showcase only her backhand, but there’s never been a woman with a backhand even nearly that gnarly, and it’s just so fun to watch her every time she does it. It’s baffling. I feel like her backhand is better than some of the men’s backhand. So that in itself is just rad. There’s quite a few guys on the CT who, if they had her backhand, would actually go up a notch. Which is radical. That’s not saying anything bad about the men, it’s just to say how gnarly Caroline is.

2. Carissa Moore (2 points): I just love how much power she has, and it’s fun to watch her win being from Hawaii, and seeing her be world champion again is just badass. It makes me feel good.

3. Stephanie Gilmore (1 point): Steph, her performance in Bali especially was super cool. Especially that, I think she got a 10, but that one wave, she had that rad kick stall, and got super barrelled. I feel like her surfing is just timeless, powerful, and graceful, and it’s absolutely a pleasure to watch.

Best Film

Flow State starring Russell Bierke (1 point): Whenever you see a surfer surfing with tons of commitment, it’s cool. There’s only a certain amount of years, and there’s a window in somebody’s life where they can surf with that much commitment, just feeling like you have nothing to lose, and at your peak physically and mentally. And I feel like that’s where Russ is now. I liked his edit the best this year. It was the most mind-blowing and intense. 

Best Junior 

Eli Hanneman (1 point): He’s got so much technical perspective. He’s a very complete surfer. I mean he’s not a complete surfer, there’s still some holes there, but I feel like he’s really working on them. He’s got to pipe a lot during the winter now. He’s out there pretty much every day, and surfing really heavy waves, like Log Cabins. So he’s working on his weaknesses a lot. And I don’t know, he’s just such a freak in smaller waves and medium size waves.

Mick Fanning 

Age: 38 

Bio: Shark fighting, big hacking, good looking gentleman who is impossible to dislike. Oh, he’s also a 3x World Champ. 

Men 

1. Italo Ferreira (5 points): You can’t really go past Italo. To take it the Title all the way down to the final and have the year he had, that was incredible. He made five finals, which is huge. On top of that, the surfing he was doing outside of competition is incredible as well. He’s number one for sure. 
2. Gabriel Medina (4 points): That kid surprises me each and every year. He’s just incredible. Me and Parko always sit there just in awe over how good he is. Not only as a competitor but the way he can switch it off and the way he goes about life. People just judge him on what he does when he’s got a competition shirt on, but he’s a great kid. 
3. John John Florence (3 points): For what he did at the start of the year, and having gone through the same injury that he’s gone through, it’s incredible for him to come back and surf the way he did at Pipe. I think people forgot what he did at the start of the year, he would have won the title. 
4. Seth Moniz (2 points): He came on and had big expectations. In the places he was meant to shine, he shined. 
5. Ethan Ewing (1 point): For him to pull it all out in Hawaii and qualify, he just came out as a straight lion. He knew what he had to do and did. He went ham in Hawaii. I’m super proud of him and stoked that he’s back to where he should be. I think this time around he’s going to show the real Ethan. He surfs so good. 

Women 

1. Carissa Moore (3 points): Watching her put it all on the line was awesome, and for her to come out and win her fourth title the way she did was really cool. I love the way that she just dropped the mic too, and goes yep, I’m taking the next year off. That was boss. 
2. Caroline Marks (2 points): She’s just a no bullshit girl. She just goes out and doesn’t care about it. Win or lose, she’s always smiling. 
3. Stephanie Gilmore and Lakey Peterson (.5 awarded to each): Some of the highlight moments that Steph had this year were truly incredible. At the Keramas event she rode the best wave hands down between guys and girls. // Lakey’s had two incredible years and she fell short just a couple of times. She surfed great all year so hats off to her. 

Best Junior 

Crosby Colapinto (1 point): He stepped up this year and that wave he got in Hawaii was insane.

Best Edit

Red Monkey Full Moon starring Mick Fanning and Mason Ho: I heard Mason picked this too, so I’m gonna put it in!

Jeremy Flores

Age: 31

Bio: French, a Pipe Master, a father, and has very good post heat interviews.

1. John John Florence (5 points): Even though he got injured the surfing he was doing at the first half of the year was beyond what anyone has done this year. 

2. Mason Ho (4 points): He rips in big waves, small waves and he’s the only person that puts out clips that get me stoked. He makes you stoked, and I haven’t seen any other free surfers that I watch that make me as stoked as Mason. 

3. Ethan Ewing (3 points): The way he was surfing this year reminded me of the old days of the Triple Crown. I’m a huge fan of the way he surfs. 

4. Matt Meola (2 points): Every year he’s doing the craziest airs. Like his knees much be so fucked. In France he was sending himself off the most fucked up air sections, he’s fearless. I don’t think anyone is doing what he’s doing in the air. He’s super skinny and I don’t know how he doesn’t break his legs every single time. He’s still mastering his ways of surfing. 

5. Griffin Colapinto (1 point): he’s just so good man. In a single free surf Griffin could put together just as a good of a clip than the guys that spend a year making one. He’s that good. 

Girls 

1. Steph Gilmore (3 points): Steph’s just the best surfer girl ever. You put her on a long right wall and you’d hate to be in her heat… or even on a surf trip, I’d be stressed to paddle out with her on a right point break because she will put you to shame. 

2. Coco Ho (2 points): Coco has the best energy ever. Everytime your around her you laugh and smile. She surfs really good, she rips. But what’s best about her is her energy

3. Johanne Defay (1 point): She’s a training machine. She went from having no sponsors and struggling to being on of the best surfers in the world. She put her head down and smashed some of the best girls in the world

Best Junior 

Kauli Vast (1 point): All the big swells at Teahupoo this year he was the first one out in the dark before all the photographers and filters were there. That’s how you know he’s gnarly, he wants it bad. Like if I’m gonna risk my life I just want to know that I’ll get the shot. 

Best Film

I don’t know, honestly, I haven’t really watched any clips this year. I haven’t seen most of them so I don’t think I can cast a vote. It’s not that I don’t like them, I’ve been around too long. [Laughs] I don’t watch web clips in my free time anymore. 

Stab Surfer of the Year Day Seven results:
Male (Top 10)
1. Italo Ferreira (85 points)
2. Gabriel Medina (51 points)
3. John John Florence (29 points)
=4. Chippa Wilson (26 points)
=4. Kolohe Andino (26 points)
=4. Russell Bierke (26 points)
=4. Chippa Wilson (26 points)  
=5. Noa Deane (22 points) 
=5. Jack Robinson (22 points) 
6. Ian Crane (17 points) 

Women (Top 6)
1. Carissa Moore (59 points)
2. Stephanie Gilmore (49.5 points)
3. Caroline Marks (29 points)
4. Moana Jones (13 points)
5. Laura Enever (11 points)

Best Junior (top 3)
1. Eli Hanneman (10 points)
2. Crosby Colapinto (7 points)
3. Jai Glindeman (4 points) 

Best Edit
1. Flow State starring Russell Bierke (11 points)
2. Ru.Bu 994 starring Noa Deane (4 points) 
=3. Left Brain Right Brain starring Chippa Wilson (3 points)