For over a decade, Stab navigated the industry with aplomb and great gusto. It will be missed.
Bondi, Australia – Stab Magazine, a fun and irreverent surf publication/website, died on Wednesday. It was 12.
Its death was announced with the story EVERY MEN’S WCT EVENT IN 2015 WAS WON ON FCS FINS on its website.
Stab was best known for its affable manner and stylish mode of dress. Surfers loved its inventive photo shoots, including attaching rockets to the back of boards and towing into Teahupo’o blindfolded. Fans loved the humor, wit, high performance action, homoeroticism, naked girls and cartoons.
“I always tried to do material that fit me,” the magazine told surf historian Matt Warshaw in 2008. “I’d do a variety of material – ballads, up-tempo, and even bluesy stuff – but I stayed the same. I tried to give the fans the kind of stories they had come to expect. I think that was the reason for such success.”
Stab was born in Bondi, Australia, a suburb of Sydney, and lived its entire life there, frolicking in the warm waves and enjoying delicious $50.00 avocado toast. Toward the end it was purchased by online surf retailer Surfstitch who also purchased wave forecasting website Magic Seaweed and removable fin system FCS.
The death announcement said, in part, “Here’s a thing you probably didn’t know: In 2015, every Men’s WSL World Tour event was won by a surfer riding a set of FCS fins. Eleven events, 11 wins on FCS rudders.”
It is survived by Australia’s Surfing Life and Tracks.
To all readers whose cynicism radar was not sensitive enough: STAB still lives but is dead to us. Cause of death: Rupture of the ethics artery, clogged by the sluttiest of all commercial plugs. Rest in Piss STAB
If stab is dead then how come their website still loads faster(barely) than Beach Grit?
They are so lame, talking about fins and instead the picture be a NICE CARVE is a stupid slide. On top of this just proved the judges sucks, they don’t like power surf and scored better stupid gay tricks.
Thanks so much Chas. It’s sad how quickly they dropped to their knees, and where did all the journalists go?
thats it im buying shares in “the stit
ch”
Stab was emulating The Inertia for a while with those “how to..”, “5 things you should know about..”, “808 reasons to visit Hawaii” kind of articles.. So i guess this is a proper death.
To all who commented, thanks for a very entertaining lunch
Oh no a bit of cross promotion between brands with the same owners, won’t somebody think of the kids.
It doesn’t make the 11 out of 11 claim any less true. Definitely better than focusing their marketing around something like World Champ ADS rides FCS. Nothing would make me jump to Futures faster.
It didn’t die, they just switched URLs to https://www.surfstitch.com
All hail the savour beachgrit maximus
So you are saying mu Futures Fins are holding me back?
Yes the full based design along with the genius of trussing the fins similar to bridge structure while reducing weight and increasing strength is holding you back,ad to that lazy laminators who cut most the cloth away so they can lay them flat without spending an extra 2 minutes pushing air out,it gives them a bad rep,when It’s cheezy laminators who are the cause of blow outs.
too fuckin’ true, ay
It’s easy to forget just how refreshing Stab was when it launched. ASL and Tracks were almost unreadable, Waves – after a couple of good years – had gone to the dogs, and SW had yet to undergo its renaissance. Good writing (Fred Pawle, Chas, Derek), good pictures, good layouts, a smattering of controversy. I genuinely looked forward to its arrival on the newsstand for the first few years.
The fact that ellie jean coffee pussy has been destroyed by the whole office and that her sister is hotter,I don’t know where I’m going with this but surfstitch is whoring those poor girls out, I reckon they’ll be in some Arab’s sex dungeon as soon as they start too sag until then fap fap fap, and that’s mellow compared to most of the “I’m going to tounge punch your ass” comments on facebook, Also FUCK GSI. putting everybody but JS and Lost out of business,you know the BOXES cost almost 45 bucks as a thruster to the average joe? Who can afford to build 5 fins? oh right,and the clusterfuck of not being able to use center boxes as quad backs What in the Fuck? Fusions are like windows 8 Then they stole Fin-S’s design and called it “2” fuking con artists.
this is good commenting.
just another bitter board builder with insight in to the bullshit stitch is trying to push,ad to that the fucked fin system that needs to be promoted it’s so bad, I mean FUCK Most people on here won’t get it but if you have ever had to install them,or have been “ghost charged” for things you never ordered or received and then nearly blackballed because of their mistake,you have skin in the game. I had skin until GSI stole it from me and then started manufacturing everything in Thailand and stole my friends system without batting an eye. GSI is the worst company in the world,they are surfings Koch brothers,But stab has crossed the line.
The sister is a bit thicker with a rounder booty, plus Ellie has a weird coffee stain birthmark on her guts
I noticed that but I thought it was the photogs old cum shot just laying around. and yeah I dig the thickness on the sister plus the fact that she hasn’t been ran thru like the team running thru a hallway to the field at a football game.
GSI? They make thai HS’s and Moderns… what the fuck do they have to do with FCS????
SHI you mean?
They also own FCS do some research.
I’ve only had an account with them for like you know 15 years,they manufactured eskimo foam and own FCS while producing Chinese or thai boards it’a huge conflict of intrest but maybe look in to parent companies,sorry BRUH, But I am right on this one. My lawsuit against FCS even says it’s a sub. of “Global surf Industries” because they tried to charge me 1200$ for blanks that were never delivered shortly after Eskimo discontinued making foam due to problems like mine,and the fact that half the blanks looked like they had been shot by a shotgun with hundreds of holes,cheap fuks,Only PU foam I’ve ever had to spackle to even make glassable. aslo they gassed like a Mexican. But I’m not sure if you as a non board builder understand any of what I just said.
Thanks for the info… at the level I deal with them, they represent themselves separately as GSI and SHI.
I only ride Futures anyway, FCSII is shit and I know a whole bunch of people losing their fins with new boards, imagine when the system ages a little bit and gets a bit of wear and tear… plastic fins all over the ocean!
“Let the salt sort them out!” I agree
Cant you just get tanked up on coopers red at the Beachie and have a good old fashioned slap fight? actually maybe it should be the Stuffed Beaver for old times sake.
with regards to impending death of stab, joel turpel released this statement “stab will hop on the sled and reset.”
I believe a similar statement was made after JFK took a bullet to the head.
When JFK was shot, Turdpell said “and he goes down…”
“A little splash…”
And these: “It’s always great to see someone taking a bullet to the head” and “Despite the bullet… Lee Harvey and Jack are great friends and love traveling together, playing ping pong… ” Yes that’s Turpel
its been boiling for way too long now
And in real surf news, Mick set to announce that he won’t compete full time on the WSL this year
Coming up!
Because he’s signing with…. Futures?
That or the life rattling changes he’s experienced.
Wah. Maybe we should all take a year off.
yeah a brothers death and a near death experience is really cause for a weineken.
He’s going travelling with Derek Hynd to experience the joys of fin free gliding
Goddammit! Why do they keep taking the Bowies (Stab, The Surfline Forums, Lewis Samuel’s career) and leaving us the Biebers (The Inertia, Transworld Surf, Surfer)?
Can dear BeachGrit be Willow Smith?
Hmm how about Scott Eastwood? Emerging from the looming shadow of his father before him, still a handsome cocksman with the world for the taking, if only he can prove himself…
…That or Borat. The weirdly smart clown prince…
Sold!
At this point I just read transworld business.
f’reals or for laughs?
looks like it’s still going.
Is it though? Is it still going?
dunno, the website is up and live.
it’d make sense to cull the mag but why cull the website if surfstich just wants a cheap way to advertorialise?
…oh Shep! Satire! Chas, pull the nice man out of his whirlpool!
hahaha, i’m fucking drowning here. I thought it might have been actual breaking news.
Is it still up now? Check now.
to be fair stab has been on life support for the thinking surfer for a while, list articles of the best surfer instagrams, daily john john updates, poorly written articles bagging out brazzos. i would argue though that their support with the modern ‘wears deus singlets with sleeve holes down to their waist’ surfer is going to keep going from strength to strength however
There’s no such thing as a poorly written article bagging out brazzos!
kind of a conflict of interest with JJF from what I heard…He rides futures.