NEWS///09.12.07

As a newcomer to the SURFER staff, I really didn’t know what to expect of the Surfer Poll. But as the buck-naked Bra Boy with a wily look in his eyes bull charged through the crowd and onto the stage to accept the worst wipeout award, I knew this would be no ordinary night.

     On Tuesday, September 11, SURFER Magazine hosted the 35^th Annual Surfer Poll and Video Awards. Saturated with a medley of professional surfers and important surf-industry personnel, the invitation-only event was, in the words of eight-time world champ and 2007 Surfer Poll winner Kelly Slater, “…the best event put together in surfing.”

     To mark the 35^th anniversary, SURFER Magazine cut no corners to ensure that this year’s Surfer Poll would be one to remember. Hosts Sal Masekela and Benji Weatherly played off each other the entire night, cracking one-liners and quick-witted remarks. The show kicked-off with the worst wipeout award handed out by Aussie skater Jake Brown. (The guy who fell 40 feet into the flats of an X Games mega-ramp and walked away.) After a clip ran of Brown’s infamous wipeout, the entire crowd replied by giving him a standing ovation. As Brown announced Bra Boy Richie Vas as the wipeout winner, the aforementioned exhibitionist sprinted up to the stage and in a quintessentially nasal Aussie accent yelled, “Richie couldn’t be here tonight, but this is what he would have wanted to do!” The crowd erupted in a fit of whistles, hoots, and cheers. Apparently, going naked is in. Halfway through the show, Angels and Airwaves took the stage and blew the roof of the building with an amazing performance. 

Other all-time moments included a mildly inebriated Bruce Irons accepting his fifth-place Surfer Poll award. Like his heat win in the first round of the Boost Mobile Pro, Bruce was in perfect form throughout the night and kept the crowd in stitches by repeatedly referring to Sal Masekela as Ricky Williams. Outside of the event, Hawaiian Supergrom Koa Smith interviewed Surfer Poll winners for the Surfermag.com Web cast. If the pro surfing thing doesn’t work out for Koa in the future, the kid’s got a surefire career as a journalist ahead of him.

Let’s not forget that there is a video aspect to the Surfer Poll awards, and this year, the videos definitely made their presence felt. In the running for the Movie of the Year category were Trilogy, Young Guns 3, Down the Barrel, Mixed Tape, and Sipping Jetstreams. Unfortunately, there could only be one winner, and this year, the award went to the ridiculously progressive surfing of Quiksilver’s Young Guns 3.

On the ladies’ side of the Surfer Poll, Carissa Moore made her way to the podium multiple times to accept the video award for Best Female Performance and her third-place Surfer Poll finish. The first place award would go to classy South American ripper and women-of-the-hour Sofia Mulanovich.

And then there were the men. Slater continued his dominance on the sport by taking his 13^th Surfer Poll victory and followed with a very comfortable acceptance speech. Second place went to Mick Fanning, (his alter ego Eugene took a backseat for the night) and third place went to Andy Irons. In the end it was an amazing night for the surf industry. Here’s to 35 more years of the Surfer Poll.

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