What is now known as Stab in the Dark, a surf contest in which a surfer, initially unknown, tries out boards and chooses a winner, was invented by a Brazilian ex-pro turned journalist named Alex Guaraná.

In an edition of Fluir magazine, in 1996 or 1997, maybe a little more or maybe a little less, he asked a series of shapers to make him an unidentified board and he tested them in different conditions, talking about the pros and cons of each one.

Even the one she tried in perfect waves, going against the myth that all boards work in good waves, forced her to use it in small waves.

It is not that Guaraná invented gunpowder. If one wants to hold a board tournament, there are few recipes; one of them is not knowing who made them in order to avoid any bias.

But it is worth reporting it because today, with about 10 years of existence of this excellent entertainment product that Stab has and that together with the WSL shapers ranking is one of the most prestigious in the world of board manufacturing, it is worth paying tribute to one of its inventors and that the credit does not go entirely to the English-speaking boys.