Tom Curren brought his A-game to the SurfAid Cup. Photo: Steven Lippman
The Malibu Mavericks team, with four-time ASP World Champion Lisa Andersen in their lineup, has taken out the SurfAid Cup in a tightly contested final held in one-to-two foot surf at Malibu, California.
The Mavericks (Andersen, Strider Wasilewski, Sean Woods, and Allen and Colton Sarlo) just pipped the Surfaiders team 53.80 – 51.43 in the one-hour, tag-team final, with Peak Ocean Team third (43.30) and Mighty WindanSea fourth (42.23).
The winning difference was Wasilewski making it into the gate on the beach within the one-hour time limit to score a bonus four points.
Mighty WindanSea (Karl Luber, Tom Curren, Mark Price, Peter King and Ozstar De Jourday) won the fundraising trophy by raising $13,640 for SurfAid. The eight teams, which included Frank-n-Riders, Schatzi, Kaiser Permanente and Beck Riehle Good Surf Team, raised a total of more than $60,000 for the humanitarian organization.
The SurfAid Cup was held as part of the MSA Classic Invitational and competitors rode either short or longboards.
Three-time ASP World Champion Tom Curren was the day’s standout in the first round, scoring 27 out of 30 points for two incredible rides where his mastery of flow came to the fore. And two-time ASP World Longboard Champion Joel Tudor scored the highest individual ride of 9.73 (out of 10) for a phenomenal exhibition of his art with hang tens and switchfoots. He looked like water flowing on water.
Karl Luber, a board member of SurfAid USA, said it was a very special event. “You can’t plan or create the feeling on the beach during the SurfAid Cup, it’s magic,” Luber said.
Joel Tudor put on a magical display of the art of longboarding. Photo: Steven Lippman
“The excitement, the shouting, the unbelievable aloha, and knowing it’s all about the surf community coming together to make a real difference in the lives of the people who need it most. In the back of my mind all day was that somewhere in the Mentawai or Nias, a kid’s going to avoid diarrhea or malaria because of what’s happening here on the beach,” he said.
Malibu Mavericks team leader Michelle LeBlanc, who is also a SurfAid USA board member, said it was phenomenal to win the inaugural SurfAid Cup in the US.
“It was second only to the great feeling of all the teams raising so much money to help the people of Indonesia,” LeBlanc said. “This event helps facilitate programs that will save countless of lives and to be able to raise the money at an iconic surf location couldn’t have been more perfect.”
Lisa Andersen said she was super stoked to be part of the event. “It is always a pleasure surfing in Malibu and especially for a great cause such as SurfAid. It always feels good to give back to people no matter what the situation and I’m looking forward to next year.”
Tom Curren echoed Lisa’s sentiments. “I really liked the format and I’m keen to surf in the event again next year. I really enjoyed it,” he said.
Other pro/legend surfers who donated their time to the event to compete included Nathaniel Curran, Simon Anderson, Courtney Conlogue, Jen Smith and Harrison Roach. Each team picked a pro surfer in order of their fundraising total.
Simon Anderson, inventor of the Thruster three-finned surfboard, said it was his second SurfAid Cup event after the inaugural event sponsored by BlackBerry at Queenscliff Beach, Sydney, last year.
“It was good to finally get to Malibu and see the setup and get to surf it, even though it was pretty small,” Simon said. “Everyone had a great time as usual with this format, particularly the guys who are not used to surfing competition. They really get to feel what it’s like to be a pro surfer but in a team format where you are up against the clock and your teammates are depending on you.”
Simon said Malibu was an incredible wave for performance surfing. “The first wave I saw surfed was by Tom Curren on a 150-yard ride and he surfed it like Tom Curren the flowmaster and scored an 8-plus. That was the first heat and one of the first waves ridden, which was a pretty good way to start the event. It was also good to see some young local kids, Shane Boland and Theo Friesen, surfing in Peak Ocean Team. They were ripping it up and looked like they could take their surfing to the top level in the future.
“And it was great to see quality longboarding by Joel Tudor, Jen Smith and Harrison Roach as well as some of the other competitors. It doesn’t matter what people are surfing when they are surfing at such a high level on a wave that really suits a longboard. It was a thing of beauty that I could really appreciate. I want to thank Bruce Bekkar and the rest of my teammates on Team Kaiser Permanente for making me feel welcome. We had a lot of fun and hopefully I can come back next year.”
Besides the surfing, the fourth installment of the Board Art Benefit for SurfAid was held on September 7th and 8th at the Quiksilver Store in the Malibu Lumberyard and six of the art boards were sold.
The remaining boards will be auctioned at the SurfAid Board Art Benefit Auction presented by Sun Diego - during the Boardroom International Surfboard Show on October 6th from 3pm-5pm.
Location - Del Mar Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall - 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd, Del Mar, CA 92014
Pre-bid, Auction VIP registration or more info - contact:
Emily Taylor - 760-753-1103 - emilytaylor@surfaidinternational.org
Available boards: www.boardartbenefit.com Boardroom info: www.surfboardshow.com
Special thanks to our SurfAid Cup supporting sponsors: Skullcandy, Nixon, Spy Optic, Firewire Surfboards, Deuce Brand, Quiksilver, SurfWorks USA, Coca-Cola, StickyBumps, Clif Bar, Café Habana, Kona Brewing Company, Rosenthal Winery, Erik Abel (event artist), The Sycons (Solar DJs), Paul Goncalves (video), Allesandro Rodrigues (video), Angel Printing, Steven Lippman Print + Film, Dave Radin at SmashBox and Tony Carmona at Siren Studios.
All photos by Steven Lippman
