Australian Noa Deane backed up his reputation as one of the best aerialists on the planet by winning the Stab High, a tournament that quickly became the defining one for the sport that is experiencing a new boom.

And the setting was perfect for it: The Waco, Texas pool, with the best aerial section in the world and the 20 best aerialists.

Everyone tried to look relaxed but you could tell they all wanted to win, and it was clear that the win was important to Deane: “I’m traveling, I don’t know what to say. It will be great to see what happens in the future,” he said, adding praise for the young Hawaiian, Eli Hanneman, who is 15 years old and came very close to taking over the party thanks to some incredible frontside backflips and high backside reverses.

First place earned Deane $25.000.

Eithan Osborne won the prize for the highest aerial and earned $20.000. He left with a smile from ear to ear, saying that it was the best event so far and that he hopes there will be more like it.

The final result was as follows:

1st: Noa Deane 150,33
2nd: Chippa Wilson 149
3rd: Elia Hanneman 142
4th: Eithan Osborne
5th: Mason Ho 91,66
6th: Ian Crane 79

Hector Santamaria: "I do it for love"

The only Hispanic in the competition, Héctor Santamaría, started well on the right, doing two high aerials, one without rotation and the other with, which the judges awarded very low 44 and 48 points respectively.

Santamaría was a victim of surfing in the first series of the day, those same aerials later on were rewarded with at least 60 points. Then, on the lefts, Hector tried four times to do a rodeo and in none of them was he able to do the grab, if he had completed them he would have been close to making it to the final.

It was a highlight of the event's vibe, though, with everyone repeating his phrase the whole time: “I do it for the love.”

Acid Drop and beer drops

Prior to the final, there was the special event, Acid Drop, organised and judged by Nathan Fletcher. Basically, you had to jump off the wall of the pool and land on the wave and keep surfing. No one managed it, although Mason Ho and Harry Bryant came very close.

On the first wave Cheyne Magnusson landed clean on the crest of a wave and broke his board dry.

Dion Agius went there with a beer in his hand that he never let go of, except to jump, he had been chatting with two girls for a while. In the first jump they arranged for the girl to jump and lift her bikini, in another for her to jump from the wall down.

The beer at one point became a problem (at one or more) because the surface became slippery for jumping.

At one point some Stab boss showed up to say the party was over and Nathan Fletcher said they would split the prize money.

Two seconds later, Mason was surfing in the grand final.

                        Comments from surfers and commentators

"Wave pools are the best thing that ever happened to surfing," Mason Ho said in an interview for the webcast. "There are moves I'd given up on doing, but with a pool I can now try them." Chippa Wilson said, also live, that he got bored after the second wave in Slater's pool and that's not the case here.

Bobby Martinez, the controversial former CT, was one of the commentators. He didn't live up to expectations because while it was great that he was honest and very critical of the maneuvers, he didn't know half of the people at the event. And it was an aerials event that had 20 of the most renowned aerialists on the planet. To make matters worse, they put him with a skater/snowboarder who didn't know much either. There were several times when they didn't know who Eli Hanneman was, who ended up placing third and fighting for the championship title.

                        The pool party got out of hand

Stab has been announcing for quite some time that there would be a pool party... If you add the party that several surfers had all day to a real party, with everything paid for and with everything going for the money, things are not going to end well:

 

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Hugs for everyone at funnest surf event of the year! @kaelwalsh @harrybryant @jay_davies @chippawilson @stab_high

A publication shared by Beach Grit (@beach_grit) the 23 Sep 2018 has 2 lasers: 03 PDT

                       The inevitable comparisons

It is inevitable to compare an event like the Stab High with the one at Slater's pool, and the reality is that everyone has their own pool to do their event. It would not seem logical to do a CT in the Waco pool, just as it does not seem logical to do an aerials event in Slater's pool (waiting 300 seconds to see a maneuver, the 70 seconds between waves in Waco were quite long).

As far as fun is concerned, Waco seems to be more exciting because the format is attractive: Five hours to decide a winner with a bunch of crazy aerialists. The Surf Ranch Pro is four days of long waits and equal waves in which it takes a long time to see an exciting moment. On the other hand, what is at stake, the CT world title, is an added element that makes this tournament interesting.

They are different things, and although it is inevitable to compare them, each one has its own audience and its own championship.