Ethan Ewing might not be the World Champion, but he is everyone’s favorite surfer right now. Even Britt Merrick. So when Stab announced his appearance as this season’s SITD surfer, excitement filled the room. Remember, Surfing is a very small room in the grand scheme of things.
Stab really had to do right after the whole Kelly thing. And what could go wrong when Ethan Ewing is the test pilot? Having Taj Burrow as the Host of the season, that’s what could go wrong.
This is not a knock on Taj at all. Ironically enough, he was also everyone’s favorite surfer at one point. The idea of him hosting was, well, ideal. The issue is that for the entire trip, Taj was riding the exact same board that Ethan chose as the winner. “Unknowingly”. Chas Smith claims he got confirmation that Taj is on the payroll of the brand that won. So spoiler alert, I am about to tell you who that is. I assume you probably know by now anyways.
HaydenShapes is the Winner of Stab In The Dark with Ethan Ewing.
Is this a back-to-back inside job by Stab? Did they have a horse in the race? Has HaydenShapes been spending a lot of advertising dollars on the site? Would I even be asking these questions if Kelly hadn’t fucked around in the last series? Such predicaments.
Stab is now backed into the corner of that tiny little room, and all of the villagers in this room have torches and pitchforks at the ready.
Kelly knew it was a Dan Mann!
Stab is hand picking the winners!
Taj pushed Ethan towards the HaydenShapes!
David Lee Scales of Surf Splendor said he had noticed Taj’s influence early on, citing the gestures or faces he would make at Ethan’s guesses of the shapers. This is only what we saw on camera. These guys were staying together, drinking beers, chatting overnight, the whole bit. Even if Taj wasn’t directly notioning anything to Ethan, it would be easy to slip little hints towards that board throughout a 5 day trip.
I don’t know if this was an oversight by Stab. I don’t know why they chose to use Taj as the host for this specific series. One thing I do know is that DHD made the Final, but Sam McIntosh (owner of Stab) had already said he would not allow Handley to win, since he regularly shapes Ethan’s boards. Did Ethan know this before eliminating that board in the Final? There is so much left behind the scenes.
Ethan looked genuinely surprised when making the phone call to the winner and hearing it was Hayden Cox picking up the other end. I do believe that Ethan was uninformed and was trying to find the best board. A guy can hope. I think this comes down to Stab. Why even involve Taj in this when he has ties to one of the competitors? It leaves this door open for questions, especially after that Kelly Slater / Dan Mann debacle.
Speaking of Dan Mann, he earned the runner-up. Pretty solid notch for him, and quite convenient timing, might I add. What a storyline all around, hey? I guess that’s what we can do – instead of asking any questions we can smile and clap. Look, it’s still great entertainment. The best surfer on the planet testing boards in crazy good waves. Everyone wants to see that. Good job.
Congrats HaydenShapes. Incredible Surfing Ethan.
Brendan Buckley, fuck off.
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield