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John John Florence + Dane Reynolds Recall The Best Session Of Their Lives Mar 13, 2026

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This podcast is also a video, watch along here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_uNAACqhF0 Subscribe to Stab Premium: https://stabmag.com/pricing/ EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Two thousand and twelve. Kony. The predicted apocalypse didn’t come, as foretold. Spewing. 18-year-old John John Florence and 26-year-old Dane Reynolds meet in Japan for Dear Suburbia, scoring what they both still swear are the best waves they’ve ever seen. “The perfect combination of power and shape,” says Dane. “It felt like you could do anything you wanted.” “It was barreling off the takeoff, and you came out with so much speed and just had this perfect bowl bending at you,” adds John. It was the first and only time they ever went on a trip together, and possibly the last time they talked. John chalks it up to them moving through time at different paces — John getting on tour the year after Dane had already left it behind. Dane dove into filmmaking, John grew into the world title chase. Nevertheless, Dooma’s question, “why don’t you guys do trips together?” leaves them both a little quizzical. Now, 14 years later, both have left the tour. Both left the mainstream surf industry’s big payouts to launch businesses that speak to their own vision of what surfing should be. Both of them now reunite on a one-hour talk show, StabMic, to discuss all of it. Except, John’s on a boat. A fancy new one, too. There are, of course, many differences in their paths, different choices and conflicting visions of the surf industry. They get into it, though, talking about Dane’s time on tour and their shared aversion to certain aspects of competition. Some of it might surprise you, like Dane admitting his favourite part was the attention, and then there’s this quote from John: “I just wanted to destroy everyone and win everything.” Almost Machiavellian, don’t you think? This is Episode 5 of StabMic. Enjoy.

The Final Challenger Series Podcast Mar 09, 2026

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Mikey and Buck break down the 2026/27 CS changes, Stace and Vaughan Blakey preview the final event of 2025/26.

Was Kelly Slater’s Stab in the Dark Rigged? Sam McIntosh Weighs In | Stab Mic Ep4 Mar 06, 2026

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How long can Kelly Slater, star of Stab In The Dark X and, less famously, the greatest competitive surfer of all time, remain the topic of conversation at stabmag.com? Indefinitely, one suspects. He is, after all, the most fascinating and formidable of lab rats. But for our fragile neural circuits, let’s linger on Kelly one last time, in all his scheming, elegant, slightly terrifying glory. This week, Stab co-founder Sam McIntosh joins Dane and Dooma at the Stab Mic desk. They start where the conversation had no choice but to go: Kelly’s selection of his own shaper, Dan Mann, as the shaper of the decade, and the fallout that ensued. Though Sam encouraged him to cut his own shaper’s board, which is the gentleman’s agreement for every previous edition of SITD, Kelly was naughty. He raged against the system and left his Mann in play. Sam defends him: deceptive, mercurial, infuriating, sure. But a liar? Must be a brilliant one. We’re treated to SITD marginalia: Sam marooned on the beach counting Kelly’s 147 waves, navigating the small cruelties of doing business with Kel, while Dane recalls a Hawaii heat where he had Kelly on the ropes, head held to the flame, until Kelly conjured a buzzer-wave and clipped him anyway. The lads also muse with perverse delight over Kelly’s body, debate his T-shirt size, his multiple invites and refusals to Diddy parties, the possibility of his name in the Epstein files, and the tale of Sam getting slept by a former pro surfer. Enjoy the episode.

Kelly Slater + Dane Reynolds Talk Lineup Psychosis And The Untold Stories Of SITD X Feb 27, 2026

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Watch the latest episode of Stab in the Dark X starring Kelly Slater here https://stabmag.com/stabcinema/watch-... Any genuinely endearing conversation might hinge on seating Dane Reynolds next to someone improbable and letting the room do the work. Last week: the reigning world champ. This week: Kelly Slater, calling in from New Zealand. Four months post hip replacement, the greatest surfer of all time admits he can barely lift his knee into a car some days, but he insists the robo-hip already outperforms the real one, which had been dragging him through agony for the last four years. He’d been surfing through pain the whole time. Laird Hamilton personally rang to convince him to get on the operating table. A wellness check, from one absurdly fit old-boy to another. He also reveals that during Stab In The Dark X, his back seized up for four days straight. Bedridden and unable to walk without looking like a pretzel. But you can’t keep a good goat down. He still paddled out, still tested six nearly identical boards, all while wrangling Snapper crowds and soft Gold Coast walls. Remarkably, Kelly admits to not having watched a single episode of SITD X. Not one. Just the Instagram clips. That’s it. Is this the surf equivalent of Johnny Depp claiming he’s never seen one of his own movies? Similar star power, frankly. On the topic of SITD, Kel talks candidly about the awkwardness of judging shapers while owning a board company himself, and why he never publicly burned a design, even when it deserved it. More interesting is his philosophy: shapers shouldn’t try to guess what Kelly wants. He wants what they actually make, otherwise it’s just pasteurised performance foam. From there, the gents get into lineup politics, snowboarding double blacks, and the simple economic reality that waves are limited, egos are not, hence grown men hissing over them. The ISA’s new Olympic qualifying system gets a light public flogging. And yes, Kelly is a believer in the machine. Put Olympic surfing in a wave pool. Standardise it, industrialise it, flip the switch and hear the system roar.

Surfing World Champs vs. ISA Feb 25, 2026

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Has Fernando gone too far, or are CT surfers being petulant little children? Mikey and Buck share their thoughts on the recent ISA/WSL kerfuffle, along with: - a SITDX ep 3 breakdown + finale update - an industry report with more sticker changes than a used car lot - Italo's secret sponsorship trick - One of the world's best waves' sale price - and more!

Stab Mic: Dane Reynolds Interviews Yago Dora Feb 21, 2026

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The reigning world champ gets grilled by his childhood hero on all things surfing and life. We listen in like Watergate. This is episode 2 of the Stab Mic — watch the full video version on Stab Magazine's Youtube channel.

StabMic: Dane Reynolds On The State of Surfing in 2026 Feb 14, 2026

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The first (aired) episode of StabMic is here, and with a massive guest to kick things off. Watch the full show with visuals on stabmag.com or the Stab Premium app.

Stab Writer Saves Drowning Children In Santa Cruz Boat Crash! Feb 11, 2026

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The week of Holden Trnka is upon us. Buck and Mikey discuss the Pipe CS event (which Holden covered from the tent), a wildly under-rockered boat storming the Steamer Lane lineup (which Holden not only witnessed, but assisted in the life-saving efforts that followed), whether or not Instagram reels are killing our surf boners (Holden says they are), and oh yeah, a few hints about the NEW EPISODE of Stab in the Dark X starring Robert Kelly Slater.

Exclusive Interview: John Florence On Why He Left The Tour Feb 04, 2026

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Massive three-part ep incoming! Not only did John Florence sit down (exclusively) with Stab's co-founder Sam McIntosh to chat about his recent departure from the tour, and what he'll be doing to grow his brand(s) in the meantime... This ep also features a Kelly Slater Stab in the Dark ep 2 breakdown, where Mikey and Buck discuss board theories, shaper rivalries, and the first elimination (spoiler alert!). Finally, we chat with our guy on the ground in Hawaii about what's been happening in and around the Pipe CS event.

Why JJF's Out, Raglan's In, And A Pipe CS Preview Jan 28, 2026

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Is John John really leaving because of Raglan? Depends on who you believe... Stace G and Mikey C break down all this week's WSL news, plus provide a forecast + picks for the upcoming Pipe CS event.

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