When I found out my Irish film Waveriders (written by me and directed by Joel Conroy) was nominated in the final five for the best documentary at the SURFER POLL AWARDS in LA, I thought it might be a fun trip to fly over and simply soak up the atmosphere.  The awards are the Oscars of the surfing world; a night when the Who’s Who of surfing come together in their glad rags to celebrate the past year and party together.  Gabe was also nominated in the Heavy Water category for big waves, which is a huge accolade for a European surfer so we thought, let’s go and at least have a chance to dress up and party with our friends.  Never in a million years did we think we would have to take to the stage in front of surfing royalty to accept the award.

 

I chose the Quiksilver Women NYC dress for the night.  Silk, double layered and floaty, it is so easy to wear and effortlessly glamorous.  I teamed it with the tuxedo jacket, which Marta had given me hot off a fashion shoot the day I left France.  Sleeves rolled up, high shoes on, camera in my bag, I was ready to take pictures of all the winners!

 

The event really is fantastic.  A red carpet greets the surfers at the door of the huge venue, which is lit up like the Disney fantasyland castle.  The Top 44 and the industry bigwigs have never looked so smart and the girls go all out on the glamour.  A few commented on my outfit with Californian enthusiasm – ‘Oh my God, girl, that is so cute!’ – ‘I love your outfit, it’s fly/fresh/hot (and other great American compliments)!’  Buzzing, I took my seat at a table of our lovely friends, next to Kelly, making sure he had space to slip out and accept his number one surfer award.

 

The other films up for best doc were ‘One Track Mind’, ‘Fly in the Champagne’, ‘Echo Beach’ and ‘Musica Surfica’.  Commentators on Fuel TV called it the toughest year yet.  Benji Weatherley announced the winner while Gabe and I predicted one of the others.  When Benji said, ‘This film comes from the country with the best pint in the world…’ everything seemed to go into slow mo.  Gabe gasped, Kelly looked at me speechless and our whole table slowly erupted.  Flapping with excitement, I basically threw my camera at Kelly and said, ‘Take pictures!’  He very kindly did.

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Pat O’Connell bounced into the aisle to hug us as we were staying with him, I gave a speech thanking the surfers in the movie – Gabe, Richie, Kelly, the Malloys and Kevin Naughton – and Gabe thanked Quiksilver. 

 

We were then squirreled away backstage for Fuel TV and photos where everybody was thrilled for us.  I think I was hugged by everyone in the surfing world!  The event was everything we could have imagined.  When I first wrote the treatment for Waveriders in 2001, I never thought 8 years on we would have won several film festivals, an Irish Oscar and now the Surfer Poll.   I still haven’t stopped smiling!