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Welcome to The Insiders. Join Darren Broadbridge and Matt Hayes in 'The Insiders,' a podcast that takes a candid look at the world of surfing. With their years of experience in the industry, Darren and Matt provide insider knowledge and expertise on everything from foam, liters, fin setups, shapes, and more. They've seen the industry from the inside and continue to watch it from the outside, sharing their perspectives on surfing's relentless sport, passion, fashion, art form, waste of time, life wasting, joy-giving, core-charging activity. Tune in for their best tips and tricks to help stoke your fire and keep the passion alive. With 'The Insiders,' you'll get an exclusive look at the world of surfing from a couple of frothers who won't let the fire go out!
About us: Darren unpacked trucks for Quiksilver in the heyday then moved to the dream: Managing a surfboard factory with a motley crew of the worlds best shapers. Then seeing the surf tourism industry booming he jumped ship: Just intime for the Pandemic, proving to himselfonce again, you just can't see into the future Somewhere in the last ten years while he was doing his best to sell surfboards for Euroglass to the biggest mover of fibreglass in Europe, Boardshop. Matt picked up the phone. Matt has sold more surfboards than you have had hot dinners (Self-diagnoses surf nerd and board freak). We talked foam. Litres. Fin Setups. Shapes. Futures. FCS. FCS2. Fixed. Finless. Boardless. Aimless. The full circle. And we still are talking this: We stopped working together: But we never stopping talking surf together.
177 Episodes
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Episode 177 - The Best Comp IN THE WORLD! On The Ground Report Of The ABB's! Darren is in Australia at the perfect time, right when the ABB grand final is on, so of course he went and of course, the surf nerd Matt is watched on YouTube too! This event is the best! The culture, the fans, the surfing, the commentators, EVERYTHING, and this year delivered everything and more! Legends, like Occy and Parko were there. Junior world champs, STAB High winners, CS battlers, QS grinde...
Episode 176 - Kelly knew, surely he knew? Did he know? The last instalment of Stab In The Dark X, with Kelly Slater only means one thing, the last review of Stab In The Dark X, with Kelly Slater from us. One of the greatest series STAB has ever created will now forever been clouded by controversy. We want to focus on the wider picture, the insight into Kelly, the shapers interviews, Episode 3, the surfing and almost everything else was on another level. Sam Mac and STAB have smash...
Episode 175 - Special Guest - The Most Stoked Surfer Ever! Dane Gudauskas. Its with great pleasure to bring you our chat with the legend that is Dane Gudauskas. This one is a journey! Trying to list everything that we discuss would be impossible, but you can for sure listen in to our chat where we cover: Board design Riding different Craft Grinding the QS with his brothers.Relationships with Dylan GravesWorking with CIA love for all things surfing. Wetsuits and much...
Episode 174 - SPECIAL GUEST - A Chat With Ryan Lovelace This was a special one, especially for a surf nerd, board geek like Matt. We are honoured to have had the chance to sit down and talk all things boards and surf, and more, with the genius that is Ryan Lovelace. We talk about the origins of Love Machine Surfboards. Hand shaping Vs Machine Shapes. Industry nonsence. A general love of surfing and surfboards and more. Listen in to hear how unique the Love Machine files are, learn...
Episode 173 - We aren't crying, you and Kelly are! Best Episode EVER! Did we ever think we would describe a Stab In The Dark episode as deep, emotional, heavy, inspiring and gripping, but that is exactly what Episode 3 of the Kelly Slater SITD is. Yes we get to see the GOAT surf his best yet, with two boards standing out, in our opinion, but more so, the insights from the shapers take the spotlight again. Britt Merrick started the series being a bit, well of a moron, but this epis...
Episode 172 - Surf Trip Stories, JJF News & The Latest On Pipe. When you have a surf trip planned to one of Europe's best wave, can you cancel if you had a bad sleep?! Not if you are an Insider! Hear all about Darren's latest trip and yes, there is drama! Matt talks about his less glamorous trip to Wales and scoring waves after a pro has given him some tips. We bring you our thoughts on the news JJF is not coming back to the tour. Good on you John! Lastly, Pipeline has b...
Episode 171 - SPOILER ALERT - Episode 2 Review & A Board Is CUT! It's here and we are back reviewing episode 2. We get to see more of the amazing shaper chat, and some maybe over the top digs and banter but most importantly we get to see the GOAT surf his first 2 boards. The way this guys mind works is on another level, working out boards and waves faster then chatGPT could. Without spoiling it, in this episode you see the most awkward and self destructive review of a surfboar...
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 hours after recording this the WSL announced the wild cards, so we speak as if they are not...
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 guy ever? Is Dan Mann so relaxed because he never has to go back side? Yes to all of the...
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 Boardriders barbecue — before the name was really a name. Everyone was saying he’d progressed t...
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 news, Yago joining Vissla and other big moves in sponsorship throughout the surf wor...
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 choose the edit or film of the year for us and why too. Lastly, we pick the board of 2...
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 winter can deliver. We also discuss a board from Mark Phipps that both Darren and Matt h...
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 tips? Further to this, Darren's film of the year from Harry Bryant, called Roast...
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 Snapt5? Tell us what did you think? Snapt5 was not the only thing we review, we...
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 wait. What do you think of the four surfers returning? Do you think they will still be on top ...
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 with Mikey Feb to discuss, have you seen it yet? We also talk general surf talk and more!&nbs...
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, where he tests and rides multiple of his incredible shapes and gives instant feedback...
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 anticipated Stab EAST with Mikey Feb, and we are a little underwhelmed but finger...
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 surfing of the year, Tosh Tudor releasing another mental edit and more! Tune in to hear about ins...
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