Professional surfers and surf industry VIP’s recently came together for the most anticipated surf event of the year, the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) annual Waterman’s Ball.  The event raised more than $500,000 to help protect and preserve the surf industry’s most valuable asset — oceans and surf breaks around the world.  At the Ball, SIMA honored surfing icon Lisa Andersen as “Waterman of the Year,” Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam’s front man, as “Environmentalist of the Year,” and Randy Rarick, North Shore pioneer and surf contest guru, with the “Lifetime Achievement Award.”  Eight-time world surf champ Kelly Slater and seven-time world champ Layne Beachley also received “Special Achievement Awards” in honor of their record-breaking world championship title victories.
 
Funds raised will go directly to supporting specific programs of 16 non-profit environmental organizations that address water quality and ocean pollution issues, defend beaches and surf breaks from development, and provide public education on ocean conservation. Beneficiaries include: Surfrider Foundation, Ocean Institute, WiLDCOAST, Heal the Bay, Orange County CoastKeeper, Surfing Education Association, Alaska Wilderness League, Seymour Marine Discovery Center, Algalita Marine Research Foundation, Save the Waves Coalition, Reef Check, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, SINADES: Natural Systems and Development Civil Association, Friends of the Foothills, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, and the North Shore Community Land Trust (NSCLT).


 “Keeping our oceans clean and protecting our surf breaks is not only crucial to the surf industry but vital to the health and well being of our planet and children,” said Paul Naude, chairman of the SIMA Environmental Fund Board of Directors and CEO of Billabong USA.  “The Waterman’s Weekend festivities gives our industry and opportunity to raise funds for the SIMA Environmental Fund as well as honor those in our industry who have accomplished so much with their dedication to the environment and sport of surfing.”


Lisa Andersen “Waterman of the Year”
Andersen is a true icon of the sport of surfing, helping build the popularity of her sport and gaining the respect of male and female surfers alike. Since charging onto the scene in 1986 when she won more than 30 NSSA trophies in under a year, over the course of her career Andersen has racked up numerous honors including four consecutive world championship victories from 1994-1997. As an athlete, Andersen is celebrated as an inspiration for today’s generation of women surfers; by still serving today as the worldwide ambassador for women’s surfing she continues to advance the sport for her peers and those who will follow in her footsteps in years to come.
 
“Lisa is the epitome of women’s surfing and you cannot think of the sport without thinking of her contributions to it,” said Dick Baker, SIMA president. “She has been given many titles – legend, trailblazer, world champion, icon and ambassador – and I believe Waterman (of the Year) is another well-deserved title as she possesses all of the qualities of a true waterman.”
 
“Surfing professionally has been an amazing journey for me and the entire industry is like my family. The surf industry has supported me though my successes and failures,” said Andersen.  “I'm grateful to the industry for its encouragement to be the best surfer, woman and mother I can be. Most importantly, I'm grateful that the companies represented in this room have made professional surfing a real career for women and that they continue to advance the sport for girls and women across the world.”
 
Eddie Vedder “Environmentalist of the Year”
Best known for his musical talents but also a notable force in the world of environmental advocacy, Vedder and his band, Pearl Jam, are active in many environmental causes.   Most notable to the surf industry are the fights to save Trestles and Hawaii’s North Shore. Vedder supported the Surfrider Foundation by donating $1 from every ticket sold for Pearl Jam’s L.A. shows in 2006 to the Save Trestles campaign through Pearl Jam's Vitalogy Foundation. In addition to the Save Trestles campaign, Vedder and Pearl Jam staged a concert on the North Shore of Hawaii in December 2006 to raise money for the North Shore Community Land Trusts’ “Campaign for Pupukea Paumalu” to help save the North Shore from development.


“It’s strange to be recognized for doing environmental work because it’s like getting an award for breathing – it’s just something you have to do in order to stay alive,” said Vedder.  “But what’s really important is to be here tonight with the people (environmental organizations) that do the real work. As a band we help raise visibility and we donate a minimal amount of money, but if the environmental movement is like a wave, the nonprofits are the surfboard steering us on the wave, and we (the band) are like the wax just trying to make things stick with the public.”
 
Randy Rarick “Lifetime Achievement Award”
Rarick has affectionately been called the Forrest Gump of the surfing world – someone who has had a hand in every significant event in the surf world in the past 40 years. Taught to surf by the legendary Rabbit Kekai at the age of 10, Rarick has seen and done it all from owning a Dewey Weber shop in Hawaii, to surfing in the early professional competitions becoming Hawaiian state champion in 1967, to shaping and glassing more than 8,000 surfboards. And that is just scratching the surface of Rarick’s life as a surfer. Having surfed in more than 60 of the 100 countries he has visited, Randy has surfed in more countries than any other surfer. Many times he was the first surfer to ever paddle out in a new break. After a four-year surf adventure around the world in the early ‘70s, Rarick returned to Hawaii in 1975 and helped form International Professional Surfers where he served as director until 1982. Following that, Rarick helped create the Hawaiian Triple Crown, perhaps the best-known professional surf contest. Rarick still manages the Triple Crown today, shapes boards and enjoys being a surfer.
 
“Randy is one-of-a-kind,” said Baker. “He has dedicated his life to surfing and is forever part of surfing’s heritage. He’s done it all and is respected by all. Randy exemplifies the spirit of surfing, and it is our honor to recognize him with the Lifetime Achievement Award.”
 
Slater and Beachley “Special Achievement Awards”
World Champions Kelly Slater and Layne Beachley will also be honored with an award of Special Achievement to recognize their record-setting world title wins. Securing his eighth and her seventh world championship titles this past year, Slater and Beachley have accomplished something few athletes ever will and the surf industry is proud to call them its own.