Every year Stab gives a dozen of the best shapers alive the same brief, collects what they build, paints the rails and stamps a number on each one so nobody can tell whose is whose, and hands the lot to a pro to ride blind. This year the pro was Ethan Ewing, the trip was Sumbawa, and it ran over five episodes and two waves.
He picked board #020202. It turned out to be a Haydenshapes.
The model is the DarkNoiz. We have it on the rack in Deerfield Beach, along with the Nova in two constructions.
The short version
Ethan Ewing picked the Haydenshapes DarkNoiz as the winner of the 2026 Stab in the Dark, filmed in Sumbawa. The winning board was #020202, a 6'1" x 19.12" x 2.60" rounded pin at 31.4 litres, shaped by Hayden Cox at Mona Vale in Australia. Dan Mann of Slater Designs finished second. Island Water Sports stocks the DarkNoiz at $779 in 5'9" through 6'2" with Futures boxes, the Nova FutureFlex at $879 from 5'7" to 6'0", and one Nova CarbonYx at $1,149 in a 6'0". Surfboards here are in store pickup only, we don't ship them. Call 954-427-4929 to check a size is still on the rack.
Why a blind test is worth paying attention to
Pro surfers get paid to ride what they ride. That's not a scandal, it's just how the sport is funded. It does mean a rider telling you his board is unbelievable isn't exactly disinterested information. Strip the logos, paint the rails, stamp a serial number on the deck, and that problem goes away.
Twelve boards went to Sumbawa. Five made the final. The shapers who put their names in included Jon Pyzel, Matt Biolos at Lost, Britt Merrick at Channel Islands, Jason Stevenson at JS, Marcio Zouvi at Sharp Eye, Dan Mann at Slater Designs, Stretch, and Darren Handley at DHD.
That last one is the interesting bit. Handley has shaped Ewing's boards for years. Given a stack of unmarked boards and no way of knowing which was which, his own surfer didn't put him in the top two. Neither did Biolos, or Merrick, or Sharp Eye. Mann took second. The board Ewing kept coming back to belonged to Hayden Cox, who had entered Stab in the Dark six times before this one and lost six times.
What Ewing actually said about it
"What I really liked about this board is it wasn't too tracky with the round pin, you could make split second decisions and change your mind. And it wasn't like you were locked into that line you have, which I really loved about it."
Ethan Ewing
Worth unpacking, because it's the opposite of the usual complaint about the shape. A rounded pin holds. That's what you buy it for, and the price you normally pay is that it commits you: you set a line off the bottom and the tail keeps you on it whether you still want to be there or not. Tracky.
What Ewing is describing is a board that gave him the hold without the commitment. He could change his mind halfway through a turn. For a surfer whose whole reputation is built on rail work, that's the thing worth having, and it's a much more specific reason to pick a board than "it felt good".
The board
Haydenshapes call the DarkNoiz their most refined rounded tail, built for faces from 3ft to 12ft.
The rocker is fast with its lowest point sitting slightly behind centre, which is what stops the board pushing water instead of driving. The rails are low apex, set just below neutral. Underneath there's a rolled vee at the entry, a single concave under your front foot, a double through the fins, and a vee double out the tail. Three Futures boxes, no quad option.
Cox shaped the winning one at Mona Vale, on Sydney's northern beaches, without knowing who'd be riding it or against what.
Watch the breakdown
Haydenshapes filmed a walkthrough of the winning board. Nine minutes, and better than anything we could write about what the shape is doing.
The Navy Edition
The version we stock is what Haydenshapes call the SITD Navy Edition, finished with navy painted rails. That's a straight lift from the contest, where every board got its rails painted so no one could pick a shaper by looking. Cox won a competition designed to make his work anonymous, then put the anonymity on the production board. It's a good joke and a good looking surfboard.
Sizes and volumes
Haydenshapes build the DarkNoiz in two or three widths at most lengths, so a 6'1" isn't just a 6'1". Here's every option across the lengths we carry.
| Length | Width | Thickness | Volume | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5'9" | 18 5/8" | 2 3/8" | 26.5L | |
| 5'9" | 19" | 2 7/16" | 27.75L | |
| 5'10" | 18 3/4" | 2 7/16" | 27.5L | |
| 5'10" | 19 1/8" | 2 1/2" | 28.75L | |
| 5'10" | 19 1/2" | 2 9/16" | 30L | |
| 5'11" | 18 7/8" | 2 7/16" | 28.5L | |
| 5'11" | 19 1/4" | 2 1/2" | 29.75L | |
| 6'0" | 19 1/8" | 2 1/2" | 29.5L | |
| 6'0" | 19 3/8" | 2 9/16" | 30.75L | |
| 6'0" | 19 7/8" | 2 11/16" | 32.5L | |
| 6'1" | 19 1/4" | 2 9/16" | 31L | |
| 6'1" | 19 1/8" | 2 5/8" | 31.4L | #020202, Ewing's board |
| 6'1" | 19 5/8" | 2 5/8" | 32.25L | |
| 6'2" | 19 1/2" | 2 9/16" | 32L | |
| 6'2" | 19 7/8" | 2 5/8" | 33.25L | |
| 6'2" | 20 1/4" | 2 3/4" | 35L |
The DarkNoiz is meant to be surfed at roughly your normal shortboard dimensions, not shrunk. If you're on a 6'0" at 30 litres now, that's about where you'd sit here. Each board carries its own dims on the stringer, so ring us and we'll read you the exact spec of whatever is left.
Now the awkward part
The DarkNoiz wants 3ft to 12ft with something behind it. South Florida, most of the year, is not that.
September and October can be excellent. A winter nor'easter will deliver. The rest of the time you're paddling out into waist high and soft, and a board built to hold a rail at a Sumbawan point is going to feel like a lot of surfboard underneath you.
The Nova is the board for the other forty weeks. Haydenshapes describe it as a small wave driver and it behaves like one: a wider outline so it carries through the dead sections, extra foam in the nose and tail so it gets moving off the mark, and a medium rocker so it doesn't feel lifeless once it does. Ride it two to four inches shorter than your usual shortboard, or just match your normal volume and take whatever length that lands on.
It's a five box board, so you can run it as a thruster on the days with some shape to them and switch to a quad when it's small and you want the extra drive.
| Length | Width | Thickness | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5'7" | 19 5/8" | 2 1/2" | 31L |
| 5'8" | 19 3/4" | 2 9/16" | 32.1L |
| 5'9" | 19 7/8" | 2 9/16" | 33.2L |
| 5'10" | 20" | 2 5/8" | 34.1L |
| 6'0" | 20 1/4" | 2 11/16" | 36.4L |
Look at the gap. A 5'9" Nova is 33.2 litres against 26.5 for a 5'9" DarkNoiz, and it's more than an inch wider. That difference is the whole point of owning both, and the reason we'd steer most people here first.
So, plainly: if you're buying one Haydenshapes board and you surf here, buy the Nova. If you travel to swell, or you're stocking the quiver for the back half of hurricane season, the DarkNoiz earns its space.
FutureFlex, CarbonYx and PU
The Nova comes in three constructions, and they don't ride the same. FutureFlex is the one Hayden Cox is known for and the reason he holds a patent: a stringerless EPS core, biaxial glass, epoxy, and a parabolic carbon frame running around the rails. Tom Carroll rode the first prototype back before it had that name.
| Construction | What it is | How it rides | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polytech (PU) | Traditional PU core, E-glass, polyester resin | Heavier, planted, predictable, holds its line | Waves with real push |
| FutureFlex | Stringerless EPS core, biaxial glass, epoxy, parabolic carbon rail frame | Lighter and springier, sits high, makes its own speed | Small and weak surf |
| CarbonYx | The most advanced of the three | Sharper and more reactive, more drive underfoot | Surfers already pushing hard |
For everyday Florida the FutureFlex is the easy call, because making your own speed is basically the job here. CarbonYx is the step up for someone who's already good enough that the board is what's holding them back. The DarkNoiz we stock is PU, which suits it, since it's a board for waves that already have energy in them.
What's on the rack
These arrive as single boards in single sizes, so the run thins out fast. Prices and live availability sit on each product page.
| Board | Price | Sizes | Fins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haydenshapes DarkNoiz | $779 | 5'9", 5'10", 5'11", 6'0", 6'1", 6'2" | Futures, 3 box |
| Haydenshapes Nova FutureFlex | $879 | 5'7", 5'8", 5'9", 5'10", 6'0" | Futures and FCS II, 5 box |
| Haydenshapes Nova CarbonYx | $1,149 | 6'0" | Futures, 5 box |
Fins are separate, as always. We stock the Haydenshapes HS template through FCS if you want the shaper's own foil, and plenty of other options if you don't. If you're still working out how these shapes differ from each other, start with our guide to surfboard shapes.
Come in and we'll size you off the boards themselves rather than off a chart. That tends to go better.
And the Hypto Krypto
Hard to write about Haydenshapes without it. The Hypto Krypto won Surfboard of the Year at the 2014 Australian Surf Industry Awards and then quietly turned into one of the most ridden shapes of the last decade, on the strength of being fun in rubbish waves without embarrassing you in good ones. We keep it in stock. Used ones come through the board wall fairly regularly too.
Pickup only
Every surfboard we sell is in store pickup only, these three included. We don't ship boards. You buy it here and collect it here, which at least means you get hands on the actual board and someone to talk you through the size before you commit to it. Since we're talking about single boards in single sizes, ring 954-427-4929 before you drive down.
About Haydenshapes
Hayden Cox started shaping in Sydney in 1997, aged fifteen. FutureFlex, the parabolic carbon construction he developed and patented, ended up licensed to surfboard companies around the world, and the brand now reaches roughly seventy countries. He is forty four. This was his seventh attempt at Stab in the Dark and his first win.
Come and look at them
The Haydenshapes rack is at our Deerfield Beach store, the original shop since 1978. Hours and directions for all four stores are on the locations page, and 954-427-4929 gets you someone who can put a size aside while you're on your way.
Stab in the Dark photography by Nate Lawrence and Dylan Roberts for Stab Magazine. Board photography courtesy of Haydenshapes. Stab in the Dark is a Stab Magazine production and the full series is at stabmag.com.
