The Insiders' Podcast

Episode 170 - Pipe Is Back! Early Comp Breakdown Is Here. The latest episode covers the newest competition, the Pipeline Challenge, new to the CS tour this year and it has everyone licking their lips - Especially Darren!  Check out our thoughts on the forecast, who could stand out, why we are so excited and what this could all mean for the 2026 Championship tour!  Little disclaimer... about 2 hour...

Episode 169 - The GOAT Files - Review Of Stab In The Dark Episode 1. Wow. We saw the teaser a few months ago but episode 1 of the Stab In The Dark with Kelly Slater just blew our minds.  The shapers took over, banter was flying all over the shop, criticising while smiling, complimenting while envious and some deep board talk too.  Do we want to go for drinks with Pyzel, yes? Is Marcio the nicest g...

Episode 168 - We Are Joined By Greatness - Margo Is On The Insiders.  A privilege and a pleasure. We sat down to chat with Margo, Margs, Margerine, Brenden.  Putting our stoke to one side, this chat was everything we wished for and more. Maybe the best episode of The Insiders to date! Darren's take on his earlier memories of Margo are: I first heard talk of Margo around ’91 at a Byron Bay Boa...

Episode 167 - New Year, New Boards & New Industry News! Insider Secret Revealed! Nothing beats starting the new year on a new board in decent waves and that is what we got!  Both Darren and Matt have been on new crafts, which we speak about and have more details coming on the boards soon!  Did you score a new board this winter? Tell us about it!  Along with this we chat about the BIG Medina ne...

Episode 166 - Let's Talk About 2025.  What a year. Across the board in surfing, 2025 has been huge & we are here to chat about it all!  Finishing with a bang, we talk about recent content, edits, films and our own surfing adventures too!  We then discuss the year in full, what and who stood out for us. We give you our picks for surfers of the year, from men, women and groms. We also choos...

Episode 165 - What's Worse? Throwing Rocks Or Riding A Scooter?!  An episode of random conversations and weirdness.  Focusing on the weirdo who rode a scooter in a wetsuit and proceeded to throw rocks at people. Have you seen it? What did you think? Listen in for our thoughts.  We also hear about Darren's super sunset session surfing 10ft French nuggets! One of the dream sessions that wi...

Episode 164 - Solo Surf Trips & How Bad Can Travelling Be? + More! Can you moan after being on a surf trip? More importantly can you moan about the locals and crowds if you travel to a place known for that?  We break it all down and give our thoughts and tips on combatting this.  Alongside this we discuss solo surf trips, the enjoyment and the caution of new spots. What are your solo surf trip...

Episode 163 - What We Think Of Snapt5. Have You Seen It?  One of the best surf films we have seen. Stacked with style, speed, consequence and pure surfing of the highest order.  With a variety of surfers, riding various boards in waves across the planet, this film ticked every box! Or did it... What was missing? Maybe women... Is that the only improvement to this fantastic clip?  Have you seen Sna...

Episode 162 - World Champ Special - The Return Of Kings & Queens.  Guess who's back... Not 1, but 4 world champs in 4 days. Yes I think the WSL done that on purpose but we all loved it!  What do we think this means for the 2026 tour? Is it lining up to be one of the best ever. A new school movement against a proper old guard. The froth is already starting to build and we have MONTHS to wa...

Episode 161 - An Honest Review Of Lost Shore Wave Pool + More!  Ever driven 10 hours for waves? Ever done it knowing the waves are happening no matter the forecast? Well Matt has now.  Matt & a crew drove from Newquay to Edinburgh for guaranteed waves. Here the thoughts on the trip to Lost Shore and how it went. Along with this, we have episode two of STAB's Electric Acid Surfboard Test w...

Episode 160 - Ryan Burch Masterclass + Can You Watch To Much Surf Content?!  New episode, a classic, where we talk about some of the best new clips and edits that are dropping online as well as the latest insider news and our surf mishaps too!  Ever picked up the wrong board and found out at the beach? Yes, we have and we talk about it.  We also dissect the amazing YouTube clip for Ryan Burch, whe...

Episode 159 - WHAT THE F**K JUST HAPPENED?!  Wow. With no WSL Championship tour we were worried the surf world might feel a bit sleepy but that is not the case!  In this episode we have a lot to talk about! At the time of recording the CRAZY incident that went down at the GB Cup had just happened so we had to discuss this with the information we had available!  Along with this, we review the hotly...

Episode 158 - Back With A Bang. News On Slater, Stab & More! We had a couple of weeks off, visiting the Quiksilver Festival, surfing a lot and in Darren's case, working like a mad man!  This doesn't mean we have been missing out on anything at all! Did you catch the Stab In The Dark teaser that was live for half a day? Have you copped some of the Stab High madness? JJF dropping the s...

Episode 157 - Another Special Guest - What Is It Like Working With The Florence Brothers?! Here we have it, we are joined by Ned Hart and what a guy he is!  Do you want to hear what it is like to surf Shipstern's Bluff or Molly's in Ireland? Ned talks us through his beat downs and best barrels. We also chat about what it Is like to work with the Florence Brothers, Pyzel and how Monster s...

Episode 156 - Special Guest - Don't Call It A Comeback, Or Do?  We are stoked to bring you our recent chat with the legend that is Jayce Robinson.  After recently setting Instagram into a spin by announcing a "comeback" to chasing waves and swells, we had to get Jayce on for a chat and this is one of our favourites.  Without an agenda, this is a casual chat about almost EVERYTHING w...

Episode 155 - Did Fiji Flop? Our Honest Review Of The WSL Finals Day.  What did you think of the WSL Finals day at Fiji? Overhyped? Better than before? Glad to see it gone, you tell us... and we will tell you.  Listen in and hear our thoughts on the build up, hype, commentators, the waves, the surfers and more!  We review the day alongside the final 5's years in general. Molly was clearly sur...

Episode 154 - Fiji Final Five & Storm Erin Special. The WSL Finals are upon us, we are praying Fiji lights up and we get an epic showdown to end this Final 5 chapter of the WSL.  All eyes on Cloudbreak or maybe Restaurants? (Inside Info) for the final's day. Who will take it out? Will the world number one's hold on? Is Jack Robbo going to go full Sharman again and win from the first...

Episode 153 - What To Watch?! - A Special Edit!   It may feel like a lot of the talk around the surf world right now is about Tahiti and Chopes, but there is a very good reason.  Yes the WSL where just in town, but more so, two back to back mental swells and these swells where captured best by the genius that is Tim Bonython and his Swell Chasers.  Released in a two part edit called Liquid Thunder...

Episode 152 - Chopes Chat - Our Instant Review On The Final WSL Stop Before Fiji.  What an event, wow. Pumping waves, big barrels, some dog moves and movement in the top 5 before Fiji.  Tune in for our thoughts on the judging, how well a 12 year old handled herself, bold claims on who will be world champ and more!  This is our fast, flash initial thoughts the morning after the event the night befo...

Episode 151 - T-AH-HO-PU-OO - A Flash Episode Our Predictions & Preview Its pumping, we are a day or two late in publishing this because its pumping in Europe as well as Tahiti so you can not blame us, but we still have the end of the party to be excited for!  During round 1 we spoke, gave our predictions on who will take out the event and what we think the waves will be like for the rest of t...

Episode 150 - Mason Ho, Move Over! There's A New Froth Lord In Town - SPECIAL GUEST If you think Mason Ho froth's out, you need to meet Robbie, our Special Guest for this episode. A human ray of sunshine and an all round core lord!  Robbie caught my eye when I saw his videos translating normal surf items from Spanish to English and even to Aussie! I wanted to know more about this guy so...

Episode 149 - SPECIAL GUEST - The Man Responsible For The Best Edit In Years.  You heard that right, this edit is a MUST see, what edit you ask? Friction Of Perception by Liam O'Brien. We are stoked and super lucky to have the chance to share a yarn with Liam. Darren held a chat and spoke a lot about this edit.  The speed, style, waves and reckless abandon all adds up to what we are calling t...

Episode 148 - We Told You So! Review Of The Best Comp This Year, J-Bay! How good was that! Pumping J-Bay, world class surfing, unexpected winners, people melting and more! J-Bay delivered like it always does.  Did we expect and predict a regular foot take over, yes... Did the goofy foots (men) go mad? Yes... was it amazing to watch, for sure!  From Yago's early 9+ scores for rail work with in...

Episode 147 - The Best Comp Of The Year Is BACK! Our J-Bay Preview Missing from last year, our favourite event of the year is back. If anyone ever wants to send us there to do on the ground reporting and commentary we are willing and happy to do so!  For now we will stick to our podcast from home. In this episode we discuss previous stand out performances from the likes of Matt Wilko and Julian Wi...

Episode 146 - An Insiders Current Affairs Report - What Is Going On!  We cover all the key events and give our opinion on some craziness and more!  Want to hear what we thought about the French free surfers pushing the German surfer in the competition, or our opinion on the WSL event at Rio... we discuss. We also have a chat about the two HUGE airs that recently went down at the Swatch nines event...