The Insiders' Podcast

Episode 95 - WSL News or Steph Gilmore News, What's Bigger? Luckily for you loyal listeners, you do not need to pick, we bring you a wrap up of the latest WSL stop at Portugal, where Griff and Joanne finished on top of the pack.  Along with this, we bring you news on Steph Gilmore and the new sticker that will be on the nose of her boards in the nest stage of her illustrious career ANDDDD if...

Episode 94 - What Surf Edits You Need To Watch Right Now. This is a classic, back to the roots episode. Both Darren and Matt have been blessed with a solid run of swell, so we talk surfs, boards we are using, what wetsuits we love and what surf clips we are watching to get amped to surf.  Harry Byrant's Motel Hell is a mind blower & Album Surf's latest short edit, called Currents, ha...

Episode 93 - The Sun Has Set On The Hawaiian Leg - Here Is Our Wrap We have to confess, the WSL Hawaiian leg went better than we thought! Drama, drop outs, pull ins and solid waves! Sunset didn't disappoint either. We commentate another heat, this time a women's heat, and then give our full breakdown on the event!  Have a good listen to this one. We pick apart our top parts of the Sunset...

Episode 92 - SPECIAL GUEST - An Import To Ireland That Is Well & Truly At Home Now. Darren & Matt sit down and chat to Noah Lane, an Australian who has moved across the pond and now calls Ireland home. A tube hound, heavy water, big wave pioneer, Noah chats to us about boards, waves, relationships and life! It was inspiring to get such an open, and pulled back approach to surfing and life...

Episode 91 - Finally The WSL Delivers. All Hail The Pipeline.   Wow. What a show. We are bringing you a full review of the first WSL event of 2024, the Lexus Pipe Pro, and how good was that final day?! Good enough to paper over the wall of hate for the surfing world for running some heats in terrible conditions and maybe missing some huge waves too.  Check out The Insiders' alternative commen...

Episode 90 - How To Lose Two World Champs Ion 5 Days. The Insiders Take. Maybe its pretty impressive that the surf brands and WSL seem to be making the entire core surf universe hate them more and more each day... who knows. We chat Steph Gilmore, Carissa Moore, Lisa Anderson and more!  Mixed with some chat about the WSL at Pipe, we focus on why these brands might make these decisions and why two...

Episode 89 - Pipe Predictions, Paul Evans And Porridge! This Is A Big One. We are back on air with a special guest who can talk us under the table. Wait for your favourite listening time, relax your ears and get ready for a mano a mano with England's favorite surfing scribe, Paul Evans. Vegan,  Stab journalist, WSL commentator and keen as a mustard surfer, the real question is, what doesn&apo...

Episode 88 - The Positive Power Good Surf Can Have.  Fresh off ranting last episode, after a gut full of pumping waves for both Matt & Darren, the mood has changed. Positivity is flowing thanks to out surf tanks being topped right up. The WSL season is kinda close so we speak about some early predictions, along with this we talk surfing clips that have popped up this week and more content from...

Episode 87 - Ranting About The Surf World. No One Is Safe!  Opinions that may divide the masses, or maybe you agree with us? Tune into the latest episode and finds out. We target surf companies, surfers, surf media companies, footballers and others too! Like we said no one is safe.  Hear our thoughts on the Kelia Moniz drama, our opinions on the STAB Surfer of the year programme, Quiksilver, Roxy,...

Episode 86 - Our Special Guest Is A Champion Of River, Static & Ocean Surfing. This was a SUPER fun episode to make and listening back, this might be one of the best chats we have had. Joined by Janina Zeitler, Matt & Darren talk all things riding waves, not just surfing. Listen in to hear how Janina tells us about how growing up on the outskirts of Munich, one film inspired her to take up...

Episode 85 - From Pipe To Tahiti, We Cover All The Big Things + HUGE Special Guest! Our Christmas Eve edition is a CRACKER!  Firstly we touch on all the goings on in Tahiti, discussing the controversy surround the new judging tower and what it all means!  After that we obviously talk about the final day of the Vans Pipe Masters and our stand outs from the event, what we loved and didn't love...

Episode 84 - The Start Of Pipe Season Is Here. This is a little flash episode, nothing too heavy for you punters, unlike the waves on offer at Pipe on day 1 of this years Vans Pipe Masters event.  We break down our live thoughts on the Pipe event, which we are not sure is even a comp and maybe needs to be renamed to show this... who knows.  Along with this, it was a big week for consuming surf con...

Episode 83 - The Inside Scoop On Europe's Most Exciting New Wave! Did we just say Europe has a new wave, yes. Did we just say that a Wave pool might be the most exciting new wave... Yes!  Why? Well we haven't ever had a wave pool using The Perfect Swell tech, and we do now. Coming to Munich soon, this pool might just blow the lid on what we should expect from pools.  Michi joins us. He i...

Episode 82 - A Week Of New Waves, Cancelled Contracts & World Records - Hear Our Thoughts. In the last week we have seen some footage from Kelly's new Wavepool in the Middle East, yes it is new footage, even if it looks exactly like Lemoore. Timing on this is questionable to say the least, but also, is it out dated tech, is it boring to watch and even boring to surf? We chime in with our...

Episode 81 - Telephone Calls With A Surfing Legend - Who's The Special Guest? Darren was a little way into a catch up call with his friend and surfing all star Roby D'amico, they where talking all things surfing so Darren hit the record button and this is the result. A chat about Italian waves, Roby's surfing, what is coming up for him and previous experiences that he has faced! Kno...

Episode 80 - World Surfing Update. What Is Happening In The World? We are back, both coming from unusual locations to record this for YOU! We talk all things surfing. With the lack of WSL action and controversy, we can focus on more important things! Hear about Darren's travels to a classic surf spot and his trips on travelling. Catch up with the actions from the GB cup surf event and then tu...

Episode 79 - Look Who Is Back On The Insiders'! SPECIAL GUEST! One of the best, most fun chats we have had and we had it with a very special guest, our good friend Mr Kale Brock is BACK! Darren, Kale and Matt talk all things France at this time of year. We speak with Kale about the last year in his life, since we last spoke, how his start to France has been like this year, line up behaviour a...

Episode 78 - Exclusive - The Officially Unofficial Review Of The Quiksilver Festival From the sand, Matt & Darren review this year's best surf comp as it happened in front of our very eyes.  The very first Quiksilver festival saw French royalty Jeremy Flores invite one of the best line ups, to come and feast on the world class beach breaks found here in South West France.  World renowned...

Episode 77 - The Return Of LOB. Liam O'Brien Joins Us Again Once again we have had the fortune of sitting down and speaking with Liam. We wanted to get hi back on to discuss his first full year on the WSL after his initial rookie year was ruined. Without knowing, we arranged to speak with LOB and then he released his amazing new edit, Wandering, so we got to chat competitions and all things W...

Episode 76 - J Bay Was Too Big This Year So Its Been Cut! Rumours are swirling as to why the WSL have cut J Bay, arguably the best stop on tour. Whether the reason is money, the Olympics or our theory, that the waves where too big compared to all others this year. Maybe the South African jewel made the rest of the  waves look even worse... who knows, but we are not happy with this latest move. Add...

Episode 75 - Picking The Bones Out Of The Ripcurl WSL Finals Day, An Insiders Review.  Is it fair? Is it right? Is it the best wave? Is it truthful? Probably not but it was undeniably fun and gripping. No one saw Ethan going that well with his injury, it felt like a lot of people almost forgot how good Filipe is. Caroline stepped up when no other did and ripped too! The judges where on point all d...

Episode 74 - Birthday Waves At La Nord. A week or so ago, Darren had a Birthday, and he was gifted the gift we all would want, waves at his favourite spot. For Darren that means scoring La Nord, and doing so in the sun on his Birthday will be hard to top. Hear directly from the man himself about the waves and scoring. Along with this Matt speaks about his 3 board travel quiver which includes an As...

Episode 73 - Rate The WSL's Year? Hear Our Thoughts. What have you made of the WSL this year? A lack of waves of size, a heap of grovelling, E Lo getting sacked and Fat Pip not taking off at even small chopes! Matt & Darren chat all things WSL. The final 5, thoughts on the Tahiti event and more!  Also, you hear what and how is right when it comes to surf skates and wave pools! Do not miss...

Episode 72 - The End Of The Season Is Closing In, Will Chopes Fire?! This episode breaks down what the end of the season for the WSL will look like.  Darren & Matt break down the picks for who might come out triumphant at Tahiti. Will the GOAT go out with a bang? Do you think the top 5 will have a shake up, on either women's or men's side? The cursed forecast looks like it might stri...

Episode 71 - All Things New At Album Surfboards - Matt Parker Joins Us. Recently Matt got the chance to sit down and chat with shaping extraordinaire Matt Parker of Album Surfboards.  It was a pleasure to chat, we talk new models, working with new surfers like Margo, Laura Enever, Koa Smith and more.  Hearing how Matt works with these surfers to continuously develop and evolve was intriguing.  Mat...