Stab- Brad Flora in 'Thrash The Process' SEOTY

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Brad Flora has always done things his own way.

Ever-talented on a surfboard, Brad spent most of his East Coast upbringing losing comps to kids with half the ability because he refused to pass up an air section.

When he got a little older, Brad moved to California. Rather than going vegan and riding a mid-length, he partied into the wee hours of night and surfed when the morning glass had shattered.

Eventually, he grew bored of that and returned home to Maryland to become a plumber.

One day, presumably with his arm halfway up someone’s toilet, Brad said fuck this, I just want to surf, and started putting out clips (via iMovie), shaping his own boards (“dog-shit plugs”), and got picked up by a brand who supported his lifestyle (Rusty).

Nowadays, Brad sells his dog-shit plugs (Thrash Craft Surfboards) to zealous customers and surfs whenever he’s not injured. As you can probably guess, he still refuses to pass up an air section.

Last year, Brad spent over three months in Indonesia surfing and filming with his pals Rolando Montes (who you’ll meet soon in Stab Highway and Carlo Coral. The resulting film, Thrash the Process, blew us away.

This is how a clip edited in iMovie and filmed on self-made boards became our fifth Stab Edit of the Year entry in 2022. Watch the film above and get to know Brad better below.

Stab: The edit is really, really good. So congrats on that.

Brad Flora: Thanks dude, I wasn’t sure to be honest. When you’re working on something for so long, you just get so over it. Even now, I was like, Okay, stop driving yourself crazy. 

Tell me about your trip to Indo. When did you go? How long were you there, etc?

I left a year ago. I got there, was quarantined for four days and went straight to Deserts. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be there. Everybody was like, Oh my god, Indo during COVID, there’s no one here. So that’s what I was expecting, then I got to Deserts and it was packed! [laughs]

There’s not even any Deserts footage in that video.

No, I surfed for maybe like an hour… I was over it. I love Deserts, I was just kind of thrown off. We went from there to Krui straight from Lombok and stayed for ten days maybe. Then we cruised back to Bali and after that we went to Sumbawa and got stuck there all summer. 

Did you just stay at Yoyos the whole time? 

Yeah, we stayed there from the first week of June to the last week of August. 

Oh my god, that’s a long time. 

It was sick. We went over for a week and everybody was like, Hey, dude they’re gonna close down Bali, it’s going to be on lockdown, so get back over here… And we were like that sounds like a fucking terrible idea. We’ll just get stuck here, you know? 

Who were you with? 

It was me, Rolando “Rolo” Montes and Carlo Coral. We were just bunking up and sharing a room all summer. 

You guys were there for three months. What were you doing every day? Does surfing actually keep your interest for that long or were you doing other stuff? 

We’d pretty much wake up, surf every morning then cruise around. We went to this one crazy waterfall that was at the top of the highest peak of Sumbawa. It was the trippiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Yeah, there was not much going on other than surfing to be honest. [laughs] 

You guys make it over to Lakey’s? 

Yeah, we went to Lakey’s twice. The first time we went was sick. There was no one there and we were way under-gunned. It looked firing from the beach and me and Rolo were thinking Oh yeah, let’s go try airs out there. When we got dropped off, this mutant came through and spit so hard. And I only had a 5’6”… 

It looks like you got that one left as good as it gets. 

The swell direction wasn’t perfect, so there weren’t multiple sections, but the single sections were crazy. That was for sure some of the best waves I’ve ever seen. 

It looks like you’re riding all your own boards in this clip, is that right? When did you start shaping? 

Yeah, that’s right. I made my first board when I was 14. It was a dog-shit plug. But it was sick to do. I made a few more a couple years later and kind of became obsessed with it. It was fun and a good way to kill time. Then I kept getting hurt and had my hip surgery. I was doing plumbing at the time and wasn’t liking it and was like, What am I going to do with my life? It was a good opportunity to get better at something, so I just continued doing it. 

So, if your first board was a plug, where do you think your boards are at now? 

I’ve hand-shaped almost 600 boards and I glass and sand all of them myself. So they’ve come a long way. You learn so much from making a shitty board. 

You’re obviously sponsored by Rusty. Is shaping your side job?

Yep, that’s it. 

How many boards do you make for yourself every year? 

Uh, a lot. [laughs] 

The way you surf, I don’t doubt it. Who inspires your style and approach? 

Man, I don’t know. Anybody who likes going fast and is not really predictable. Like Chippa [Wilson] is so good at it. And Eithan’s [Osborne] fucking incredible. 

What’s your goal when you paddle out for a surf? 

Just trying to go big and make it not look like shit. I guess that’s like everybody’s goal. 

Do you feel like growing up on the East Coast prepares you for surfing waves like Indo? It’s obviously the polar opposite, but maybe those fast-twitch barrel skills that come in handy from time to time. 

It’s better than growing up not knowing how to get barreled at all. But it’s definitely not the same. Indo is much more consequential. You’re in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere and there’s dry reef and if you go down on it, you’re gonna get fucked up. That’s definitely not gonna happen at home. 

Did you have any injuries while you were there? 

No, I actually was pretty good this year. I hit the reef a few times but not enough to get stitches or anything. 

That’s good. Anything else you want to tell us about your film? 

Trash Craft, order a fucking board. [laughs]