Sofia Mulanovich © Kizzy O'Neil
The Surfer Poll and Surf Video Awards
Nov 02 2006 / Los Angeles, CAMy idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person.
- Andy Warhol
People are only glamorous if you don't see them. Like the movies used to make people years ago. There is something about people on screen that makes them so special; when you see them in person, they are so different and the whole illusion is gone.
- Andy Warhol
After the three-day blitz of the Action Sports Retailer Trade Show in San Diego, Monday was a brief rest day and then Tuesday was the first day of the Boost Mobile Pro Presented by Hurley. Because all the pros were in town for the contest, and all the industry types were around for the Action Sports Retailer Show, Surfer Magazine decided to have their annual Surfer Poll and Video Awards on a school night.
Surfer has been running the Surfer Poll since the 1960s, with a gap during the too-cool 70s when popularity polls weren’t considered soulful. In 1996, Surfer combined the Poll with the Surfer Video Awards and that night has mutated into a really big show that is now held in front of thousands at The Grove in Anaheim. It is webcast on www.surfermag.com and packaged as a one-hour show on Fuel TV.
The Grove at Anaheim can seat as many as 2500 people, and the partiers came in like a fast-rising tide of tattoos, piercings and cleavage – real and fake. Soon enough, The Grove was a room full of noise and dangerous boys and girls as a flood of well-dressed men and hot-dressed women showed up for the surfer social event of the year.
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After two hours of intense snacking, drinking, schmoozing and socializing, they opened the doors. VIPs took their $1500 tables while everyone else scrambled for whatever they could get. Veterans knew this show would be loooooooooong – because it always is – and they rushed the hardest to take a seat. The proceeds from those VIP tables raised $20,000, which was split between the Surfing Heritage Foundation, which aims to preserve, present and promote surfing's heritage for future generations, and the San Onofre Foundation, whose mission is to assist California State Parks in protecting and preserving both San Onofre and San Clemente state beaches. Since the government has decided to create a toll road near Lower Trestles, the most immediate concern of the San Onofre Foundation is to improve access to the area by creating safe and environmentally friendly walkways.
The show started with speeches by Surfer publisher Ricky Irons then Gene Brown, Suzuki Automotive’s Vice President of Marketing, presented the Surfrider Foundation with a 2007 Suzuki Grand Vitara and a 2007 Suzuki SX4. He also presented Pat O'Connell with the keys to a 2007 Grand Vitara and pledged to donate five cents for every mile that Pato drives in a year, up to 20,000 miles.
The Video Awards began with a montage of action set to a song by Muse and then Garret Macnamara won the Worst Wipeout award with a horrible fall from a doubled-up lip at a new big-wave discovery called Shark Park.
Australian Nathan Hedge won the Best Tuberide award for a long trip through a left barrel at a place no one could identify. Later at the bar, when someone asked Hedge where the wave was, he said, “Can’t tell you, mate. It’s a secret.”
The Video Awards were cut in with some of the Surfer Poll awards and a musical performance by Tim Curran and friends – and some people are calling Tim Curran the next Jack Johnson.
Brian Connely won the first ever "Breakthrough Filmmaker" award for his film, My Eyes Won't Dry. Dane Reynolds finished second to Slater in a First Round heat earlier in the day at the Boost Mobile Pro, but that night he took two awards: winning Best Male Performance and Movie of the Year with his film, First Chapter.
The Sofia movie won Best Documentary, and Sofia Mulanovich won for Best Female Performer, the video Secret Machine won for Best Cinematography, and Santa Cruz surfer Tyler Smith was presented with the Heavy Water Award presented by Corona for his charging at Ghost Trees during the winter of 2005/2006.
The Sofia movie won Best Documentary, and Sofia Mulanovich won for Best Female Performer, the video Secret Machine won for Best Cinematography, and Santa Cruz surfer Tyler Smith was presented with the Heavy Water Award presented by Corona for his charging at Ghost Trees during the winter of 2005/2006.
Because the Surfer Poll and Video Awards are combined, it is a long show presented to an audience that collectively suffers the ADD of all young people in the 21st Century. While some stayed glued to their chairs and the screen, others were glued to the bar in the lobby outside, and by 10:00, the place was buzzing in more ways than one.
The Women’s Surfer Poll winners had Layne Beachley in fifth, then Rochelle Ballard, Lisa Andersen, Chelsea Georgeson and Sofia Mulanovich. For the men it was Cory Lopez in tenth, then Damien Hobgood, Mick Fanning, C.J. Hobgood, Taj Burrow, Bobby Martinez, Bruce Irons, Rob Machado and Andy Irons in second.
No one was too surprised when Kelly Slater took the stage as the top vote getter for the 2006 Surfer Poll. Although maybe Slater was a little surprised, thinking Andy Irons might have edged him out this year: “This award is a little more heartfelt this year,” Slater said as he accepted his award. “Winning this award for the second time in a row and having my friends and family here to share it with me is wonderful.”
The show was over, but the cruising and schmoozing continued long into the night.
- Ben Marcus
