Best Grom Performance

Best New Wave

Best Finals Showdown

Best Addition to the Trophy Shelf

Best Green Movements

project BLUE
New national initiative, project BLUE, established for the sole purpose of raising more than $1 million in support of ocean and beach protection has attracted the alliance of five leading surf brands. Industry leaders Billabong, DA KINE, Electric, Nixon and Reef have partnered to create limited and special edition products for project BLUE. For example, Reef designed a special edition project Blue Mick Fanning sandal and will donate $2 per pair sold to the Surfrider Foundation.

Each brand has committed to three years of support for the innovative new initiative, which is taking a proactive approach to protecting the ocean. Products will be sold at leading retail stores nationwide with a portion of proceeds going to the Surfrider Foundation.

Earth Month
FSM published its first “Green Issue” on recycled paper in March, an issue that quickly became one of the most popular magazines to date, with compelling features on ocean sustainability and profiles on the ambassadors of environmental conservation in Hawai’i. FSM plans to produce an annual Green Issue.

Open Space
The Trust for Public Land (TPL) formally acquired the 1,129 acres of land that sits 400 feet above Sunset Beach and Pipeline on O‘ahu’s North Shore, also known as Pupukea-Paumalu, which was once slated for development by the Obayashi Corporation. After 20 years of hard work by many community leaders and concerned citizens, the North Shore Community Land Trust (NSCLT) was able to bolster their campaign and raise over $1 million dollars with the help of Kelly Slater, Jack Johnson and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. The NSCLT and TPL organized a successful purchase of this beautiful land that will now be preserved for future generations to enjoy as open space.

Country Perseverance
The lawsuit brought by Keep the North Shore Country and joined by the Sierra Club Hawai‘i Chapter, calling for a supplemental environmental impact statement on the proposed Turtle Bay Resort expansion is still in the appeal process. The Notice of Appeal was filed on June 19, 2007 and the Hawai‘i Intermediate Court of Appeals has not yet scheduled the appeal briefs. In the meantime, Keep the North Shore Country continues their fundraising efforts, as legal battles require tremendous amounts of money. Recently, an Ebay surfboard auction featuring Andy Irons’ Triple Crown winning board brought in $2,425 (for Andy’s board alone.) And an anonymous donor has stepped up and agreed to match individual donations made between now and the end of the year. www.keepthenorthshorecountry.org


Best Buys
Volcom Stone Snags A Gem On Feb. 8, Volcom bought a slice of heaven on the North Shore’s Ke Nui Road. The famed “Gerry Lopez House” was owned by Mike Strada and inhabited by Gerry and his crew in the ‘70s. Volcom considered remodeling their original Pipe house, but decided to go big (the house was rumored to have cost around 4.2 million) and get the stylish house on the other side of the beach access. The new pad will serve as Volcom’s research and development center on the North Shore, as well as the winter home of Volcom royalty like Bruce Irons. Bruce is stoked on the purchase, "Growing up as a kid, we saw this place in all the videos and we could only dream about what it was like.” The dream has become a reality as the team moved itself in for Winter ’07. Volcom Hawai‘i sales rep Clint Moncata echoed Bruce’s feelings, "From the ghettos of V-Land to the beachfront at Pipe, never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted we would be part of one of the most famous houses in the surfing world. The new Volcom Pipe House is a reward to our Volcom Hawai‘i surf team for always believing in the brand!" Quik and the Boar’s Nest

This year Quiksilver welcomed Leif Robinson and his V-Land gym into their family. Leif and the guys at Quiksilver will be working together to give one of the most talented surf teams in the game a cross-training advantage during winter on the North Shore. The fully equipped gym, which has been host to some of the best surfers, grapplers and mixed martial artists around, will now also be training center and fitness headquarters for Quiksilver team riders. They understand the value of keeping team athletes healthy and have enlisted the best of the best for their team, including top physical therapists, trainers and nutritionists. Born and raised North Shore boy Leif is honored to be working with the team, and Quiksilver is amped as well. “We’re really stoked to be working with Leif,” Quiksilver’s Ryan Hakman says. “He's the perfect person for the job." West Side Refresher
While the rest of O‘ahu’s lifeguards were sitting pretty in their new and improved towers, the faithful ocean safety officers on the West Side were stuck in crumbling, orange relics. The old towers, which were little more than elevated benches, were no protection from the glare of the setting sun. The West Side district finally got their well-deserved upgrade this year, and you can find the much larger and cooler towers at Makaha, Yokohama Bay and other spots in the area. Best Reasons to Party Free Sunny On Tuesday, April 10, Sunny Garcia walked out of Taft Correctional Facility after three months in prison for tax evasion charges. Sunny stays positive while recounting his time away, saying it wasn’t as bad as he had expected. Talking story with fellow Hawaiians, working out and reading helped the time pass. His favorite part of his stay was receiving mail from family, friends and fans. "I have every single letter,” he said. “It meant the world to me.” The West Side Wonder, while on house arrest until October, was quickly getting back in the swing of things with a refreshed attitude and a plan to keep on doing what he does best: dominating in the water. “As far as ‘08 goes,” the six-time Triple Crown Champ contends, “I’m trying to get new sponsors and get back on tour so I can end my career on my own terms.” Andy, Lyndie and One Shiny Rock

This summer, three-time world champ Andy Irons proposed to girlfriend Lyndie Dupuis on the heart-shaped island of Fiji, where they met six years earlier. With the help of Kai Garcia and wife Kanoe, Andy proposed like a true sweetheart: down on one knee with “Will you marry me?” written in the sand. “It was so romantic and perfect!” says Lyndie. Bruce and the boys were on hand to celebrate with champagne after Lyndie’s teary acceptance. Thinking back to the first time he met Lyndie, Andy was already head over heels. “I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen,” he recalls. “I felt [love] the first time I met her.” Golden On July 13, 1957, Michael Ho was born. In the 50 years since, one of surfing’s friendliest and most genuine legends has done it all. He’s won the Pipe Masters with a broken wrist, stayed on the ASP’s top 16 for 10 consecutive seasons and raised two of the next generation’s most promising young surfers. A life as accomplished as Mike’s deserves to be celebrated, and this summer the North Shore came together to do just that. “Turning 50 alone would have been alright,” says Mike, “but turning 50 with the amazing party my brother put together was mind blowing.” Music, ‘ono food and good people made the party at Derek’s Pupukea home one of the best and most well-deserved of the year. “I had the best time of my life,” Mike recalls. “Just seeing all my old friends from school and my family together was crazy.” Best New Surf Grinds

Mendo Mate Mate has been around for centuries. It’s the national drink of Argentina and Uruguay, and is a common social beverage in many parts of South America. This year the organic, caffeinated liquid has grown in popularity among surfers, and is fueling some of the most active water sportsmen around. Flynn Novak is known to “Power It” before big go outs, and Chris Owens, paddle boarding superman, is an avid mate drinker as well. The beverage is prepared by steeping dried yerba mate leaves in hot water, and is traditionally regarded as a drink of health and friendship. Acai Chances are if you’re not an acai lover, you know someone who is. The dark purple berries, which are native to tropical Central and South America, have become a staple of many surfers’ diets. After harvested from palm trees, the berries can be mixed into juice blends, smoothies, or placed in a bowl under a bed of granola, bananas and honey. Some even like the frozen treat raw. Acai can be found everywhere from Jamba Juice to your local health food store. Surfers are fans of the dark purple, mildly sweet snack. “I love acai!” confesses Carissa Moore. With numerous nutritional benefits (they’re said to have a high content of vitamins B1, B2, B3, C, and E as well as contain iron, phosphorous, calcium and potassium), it’s no wonder that the berries have become such a popular part of health conscious surfers’ diets.

Best Mystery

The Great Wall of Kammies
It’s hard to miss the wall where the North Shore's Kammies Market used to be. It’s big, ugly and is a reminder of the loved and missed shop that served the North Shore’s residents and visitors for almost 50 years. Rumors about the reason for stalled construction have been floating around since construction abruptly stopped. We asked Quiksilver's Glen Moncata to fill us in. “We are still trying to get approval from the city and county to build,” explained Glen. It turns out they had received approval for the project before building began, but a mainland contractor tore down all four of the original building's walls, which was in direct violation of a building law. As of today, they're trying to get the property rezoned. “Basically, it was our fault for not having the right people doing it. [Our contractor] didn’t understand the laws well,” said Moncata. The original plans to open a Quiksilver store and a deli on this plot are still on the agenda, and they're hoping to open a post office as well, which would make Sunset Beach an "official" town.

Best Moment on the WCT

It’s Not Cold. It’s Just…Chile

Rip Curl, known for pioneering major events at exotic, sometimes unknown locations was at it again this year with the Somewhere in Chile contest at the end of June. Though not quite as secret as last year’s tube-fest in Mexico, but nevertheless harder to find than, say, Trestles, the event was another success with “El Gringo” delivering cold-water pits for all competitors. Not surprisingly, with the waves chilling resemblance to Teahupo’o or Pipe, local boy Andy Irons won the event, his second Rip Curl Pro Search victory in a row.

Best Moment on the WQS

The Dynamic Duo

The ‘QS is frickin’ hard. And it just gets more competitive every year. But there are those standout surfers who seem to make the tour look simple. Take South Africa’s Jordy Smith and California’s Dane Reynolds for example. They had their ‘CT seeds locked by the middle of the year. Jordy definitely could’ve stopped while he was ahead and still easily made the cut, but instead kept destroying contests to make the company with the highest bid want a piece of him even more. Dane Reynolds’ free surfing (before he decided to try out for the WCT) had surfers the world over slow-moing his segments in Young Guns flicks to grasp such art. Put it this way, these to guys will definitely make the Top 44 for ’08, but will only have competition with the top 10. Period.

Best Retro Movements

Beach Boy Is So Hot Right Now

Call it novel or call it a movement, SUP or Stand Up Paddle surfing is gaining momentum each day. Practiced by Duke Kahanamoku and Leroy Ah Choy in Waikiki during the ‘60s, paddling into waves with a paddle while standing on the board was quite popular until it died out with the arrival of the Hot Curl era in the ‘70s where shorter, lighter, faster was all the rage in the lineup. But the C4 Watermen, along with Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama and the Makaha wave riders among others have brought back this lost surfing practice and are currently breaking boundaries with its resurgence. Ikaika Kalama surfed (and got pitted) in 8-foot Teahupo’o this year. Laird no longer takes airplanes from country to country; he’d rather SUP.

Vintage Breaks the Bank

The fourth biennial QuiksilverEdition Hawaiian Islands Vintage Surf Auction reached record heights July 21 with over $650,000 in sales and a 94 percent sell through rate. By comparison, the previous Vintage Surf Auction held in 2005 turned over $300,000— a record at the time. A portion of sales from this year's auction will be donated to the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation Scholarship Fund. Record-breaking prices were fueled by a stellar turnout of surf stars from the 1960s and '70s who were in attendance to auction off their own personal equipment. Among them were four-time world surfing champion Mark Richards, Pipeline Masters champions Gerry Lopez, Hawai‘i’s Rory Russell and Australia’s 'Sultan of Speed', Terry Fitzgerald.

Best Swells of the Year

“There wasn’t much big swells, but the August swell in Indonesia at Desert Point was not very big, but perfect 6- to 8-foot barreling all day long, 400-yard barrels all day.”— Ikaika Kalama

Jason Childs – photographer

“Everywhere I went this year was pretty damn good! From Tahiti to the Philippines, Bali, even late season Pipe was cracking! Hard to say which one was better. Pretty damn good summer!”— Rico Jimenez


“It was September [at Puerto Escondido]. Perfect offshore, 10- to 12-foot back and 20- to 25-foot faces, like 20 people out and really uncrowded. Really good day for paddle-in surfing and tube-riding Mexican Pipe. For really huge waves, it was mid-August in Western Australia. It was 60-foot faces. We got Cow Bomby really big. I was partnered up with Mark Visser from Australia and Ian Walsh.” —Jamie Sterling

Stewart Gibson – photographer


“Pipeline! December or January. I’m not sure, but I think it was before the [Monster Energy] contest. The conditions were really windy and 10-foot double-ups on the first reef. However, I got a sick one where I barely made the drop and somehow got spit out. That’s why it was so epic: making the impossible possible!”— Randall Paulson

“For me it was at the start of the summer, a perfect south swell that hit the reefs of the Big Island. My friends and Isurfed all day to take advantage of the perfect swell. The swell only lasted a few days but they were my favorite days of the year.”— Tonino Benson

“This year I've been to Indonesia, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand. The best swell I experienced was in the Mentawais, Indonesia. The captain of the boat knew of a secret wave that would be perfect for the big swell. The boat pulled up in the morning but the swell hadn't started to hit yet. We searched the rest of the bay for another wave to surf, and we came upon a right. The swell started to funnel in the bay and both the waves turned on. We towed into the left, which was thick and barreling. Then we surfed the right that turned into a cyclopsing barrel from the low tide. It was a sick day of surfing.”— Alex Smith

“I went to Bali with Alex King, Kaimana TKTK, and Tom TKTK, but the waves weren’t all the great. We partied hard and I got a bunch of retarded stories. The best waves I surfed though were on Maui. Kai Barger, Billy Kemper and I scored this secret spot with no one out all day. The waves were like 3 to 5 feet, super consistent and it was just us out. It was probably the best spot on Maui. No one really knows about. The wave itself is pretty hard to get to. You definitely need four-wheel drive vehicle and the drive sucks, but for us, it was worth it.”— Nalu Wallace

“[Cow Bomby] was by far one of the biggest swells I surfed all summer. It wasn¹t the best ever, but it was a slow summer for Tahiti and everywhere else so it was definitely the biggest. It was late August and the conditions were stormy and dark, which wasn’t too appealing, but it still had really good size so it was fun.”— Ian Walsh

Best Reason to Start Asking Questions

CONTEST PERMITS DENIED

Event: Monster Pipeline Energy Pro
Running Since: 1984
Standard: More than 100 surfers compete to gain or keep their sponsorships and qualify for local seeds into the next Pipeline Masters event.
Contest Promoter: Reid Inouye
Holding Period: Traditionally Jan. 27- Feb. 9 each year.

“We got a letter saying we didn’t get the permit application for our event, but we can’t find out why, what’s the reason behind it, and based on all the criteria we had to follow. So, I’m baffled,” Reid Inouye said after he found out the permit was denied in August. The permit and subsequent holding period Inouye applied for went to the promoter of the Pipeline Body Surfing Classic. It is a much smaller event, which did not get a permit to run their event last year. Shortly after receiving the news of denial, Inouye sued the city.

Lester Chang, the city’s parks director, would not comment specifically on the suit, but said that when it comes to issuing permits the city has to consider three things: concerns of local residents, recreational users and those applying for the permits. Chang added that the city also rates community givebacks and diversity.

The city said that the demand for permits is growing, but there are only 16 days available during the stretch from October to March. It has also been 20 years since the city’s rules were written and many in the surf community think it may be time to update an archaic system.


Event: Women’s Pipeline Pro
Running Since: 2004
Standard: All-inclusive event for women ready to test their Banzai skills.
Contest Promoter: Betty Depolito
Holding Period: March 1-10 each year.

The City and County of Honolulu denied the application for use of ‘Ehukai Beach Park and Pipeline for the Women’s Pipeline Pro in March as well. The women’s Pipe contest featured divisions for shortboard, longboard and bodyboard wahine riders.

“I am very concerned about the future of the Women’s Event at Pipeline because the rules are being redesigned and they appear to favor the big money events,” contest director Betty Depolito said. “I can understand all points of view though. There are several groups that would like to have an event at Pipeline, it’s the most prestigious surf spot in the world and offers a great viewing arena. I spent many hours building the contest and it has seen major growth. I was once on the community committee to establish rules for the community as well. As a recreational surfer, it’s already hard to get those good days and any good waves period. So it is yin-yang for sure.”

Bethany Hamilton voiced her disappointment, “Sure there will be other waves and other days, but not at Pipeline. The crowds don’t allow women the chance to perform, train and free surf to really get to know the break. The tiny window of opportunity this event allowed us women to enjoy for a moment, all to ourselves, one of the most special waves in surfing!”

Best Female Performance

Underdogs Have More Fun

She’s from the West Side. She’s a young mother. She surfed on the WCT in 2004 and 2005 but never made it past the third round in any event. Infamous for being the most progressive female to watch free surfing but unable to translate that inimitable talent to contest results, Melanie Bartels failed to qualify for the 2006 WCT and spent the year climbing her way back up the ranking on the WQS. On Dec. 1, 2006, Bartels the underdog entered the Roxy Pro Hawai‘i at Sunset Beach as a last minute wildcard, and advancing through to the finals, met her match in fellow wildcard, Stephanie Gilmore. Gilmore was in the lead throughout the final heat, until, with just 14 seconds on the clock, Mel caught a great wave and won her first-ever ASP Women’s WCT event.

“The contest at Sunset was just the beginning,” Mel told FSM post-competition. “There will be many more to come. [Doing well in competition] is important because it gives kids from the West Side hope. As long as you believe in yourself and set goals, you can achieve anything. Just keep trying and never give up. You can get out of poverty, make money, you can do something you love. You can enjoy life.”

Queen of Chopes Drops In

Keala Kennelly is one of the most dynamic surfers of all time. On the WCT since 2000, KK won the Billabong Pro Tahiti contests there in 2000, 2002 and 2003, earning the name “Queen of Chopes.” But her free surfing at Teahupo‘o really solidified her reign when she made the history books as the first woman to tow in there as well. So when ASP tour officials decided not to hold the women’s contest in Tahiti anymore, the Queen felt dethroned to say the least. Disappointed at losing what she felt was the tour’s most exciting contest venue, and feeling the time restraints of competition didn’t showcase her best surfing, the 28-year-old decided to give up her spot on the 2007 world tour and pursue other projects.

She relocated to LA and was a regular on the HBO show, John from Cincinnati (recently cancelled.) When not filming, KK’s sponsor Billabong has her flying around the world for their adventure division—Shane Dorian type of stuff— seeking out the best waves in the world for photo trips and not really worrying about contests. You won’t be seeing the charismatic goofy-foot donning a jersey any time soon, but you’re guaranteed to see KK popping up on a screen or adventure spread near you in no time.


A Hui Hou
Jeremiah Johnson
Don Ho
Bobby Ah Choy
Emery Kauanui, Jr.
Ron Cassidy
John Kelly