The Drop

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

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 14

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 identic

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The GOAT and the Stab's cofounder in one podcast? Yeah, we got that! Kelly Slater and Sam McIntosh join this edition of The Drop to give some behind-the-scenes details of our new Stab in the Dark series. Episode 2 drops this week, and reveals Kelly's first bite of the apple. Historically, a forbidden fruit — but in this case, oh so sweet. SITD X release schedule: Episode 1: Jan 13 Episode 2: Jan 27 Episode 3: Feb 10 Episode 4: Feb 24

We've never made anything like Stab in the Dark X with Kelly Slater. Mikey and Buck break down episode 1, alongside some 2026 predictions, a golf v surf turf war and a quick trip to Ukraine.

Breaking: Episode 1 of Stab in the Dark with Kelly Slater premieres this Tuesday. This. Tuesday. And yes, it's as good as the teaser implies. We also missed a lot over the holidays. Shall we recap?

The last Drop of 2025 is a heavy one. A reigning world champ parts with his headline sponsor. The WSL calls off the day of the event at Pipe. Stab gets in a bidding war with a major surf brand (and loses, then wins). And Stab Surfer of the Year gets a facelift.

Where does localism end and insanity begin? Particularly in the Canary Islands, where a crazed, scooter-riding, rock-wielding man just went full Joe Namath on a visiting surfer. Buck and Mikey break this down along with an exclusive Kolohe Andino interview, Nate Florence's Austrian torture chamber, Mikey Feb's broken board theory, the world's best artificial wave and some exciting news from Hawaii.

Sorry we're late, tech difficulties! And if you missed last week's ep, that's probably our fault as well. Something happened where it didn't upload to Apple pods until yesterday, so now we've got two eps in two days which I guess is better than nothing. Maybe? I'd say it won't happen again, but it probably will, so thanks as always for coming along for the ride with us. For now

Depends who you ask. If it's Mikey C or Buck, well, the answers still vary. This week the boys break down 14 more titles returning to the CT, a new ep of EAST, and a couple real thinkers: 1. Is Chat GPT ruining surf culture? 2. Who has the right to protect a wave? It's a heady ep, one that might come up in your next (therapy) session. But in the end, it's only surfing. Don't think too hard.

At 33, Carissa Moore will be the first mom to return to the CT since the mid-2000s. Mikey and Buck discuss her legacy and chances of winning another world title against today's new class of champions. Also, the boys get wrapped up in a wavepool imbroglio that took Billy Wilson 4 months to investigate. Our apologies to anyone named Nick. Snapt5 dropped exclusively on Stab Premium this week, along with a note from Sam McIntosh about what we've been up to and where Stab is heading in the next six months.

In the same week, Joel Tudor took on a major airline (and won), Jaleesa Vincent wrote an explicit rap song about her Pussy (surfboard), and a world junior champ put his life savings into a luxury sunglass brand. Just when you thought surfing was gonna be just fine, Paul Evans joins the pod to excoriate children and tell us when, precisely, our little hobby went tits up. Buy Veia boardbags (with wheels) if you, unlike Paul, prefer convenience to chaos.

What really happened at the GB Cup this week? Mikey and Buck do their own research and reveal the truth behind the headlines. We also ride shotgun with Mick Fanning, drive deep into the Atacama Desert, and find ourselves face-to-face with surfing's most digitally-inept superhuman. If you listen to this pod, you can support us by supporting: Veia, FCS, Living in Sunshine.

One man's miracle is another man's marketing ploy. It was kind of a dark week in surfing, from fake pregnancy announcements to brain tumors to death, but at least we have a little EAST sugar to help it all go down. Mikey and Buck break it all down and give away a new Veia leash to one lucky listener (who we hope is not an incel).