What’s It Like to Coach Four Cali Stallions on the Goldie?

You can catch their warm-ups, freesurfs, and Matt’s hilarious sound effects in the video above, documenting their trip to Snapper for the Gold Coast Pro, astutely filmed and edited by Brady Lawrence. Before the event started, Matt unveiled a technique I have not seen a coach use: cash as an incentive for good effort in practice heats. Nolan got the memo and pocketed $100.

We get to hear Nat's reaction and take on the controversial 4.03 that the WSL later admitted was underscored in the Round of 32. You can see Nat and Matt’s bewilderment as they get the news on the sand.

“I had to try to laugh it off because in my eyes it felt so far from the actual score it felt like a joke,” Nat said. “I was getting blown up on my phone by a lot of people. A lot of guys on the CT were sending me messages telling me to go speak with someone and understand what just happened. Because that was really bad.

“These contests are so hard and you put so much effort and time into preparing for them to do the best you can,” Nat continued. “It’s also hard to map out a good heat and have it play out the way you want to. Just to not have made many heats in the past year then have this one come down to that, that’s what hurt the most. But I just have to let it go and move forward and know that my surfing is really good. It feels the best it's been in a bit.”

On the bright side, Nat’s 10-turn gem from the day before (at the edit's 15:46 mark) was a beauty to behold (and a 9.33) and brought Matt to profanity. The crew later blew off some steam at the Fisher concert on finals day. Now, they’re off to Narrabeen, hopefully with Brady in tow.