Spyder Surf to host SurfFest LA Surf Awards in Hermosa
LA Surf Award California Icon recipient Ted Robinson at Hammerland, Photographed by LA Surf Award California Icon recipient Mike Balzer
Presentations of the LA Surf Awards will highlight the Seventh Annual Spyder Surf Fest on Saturday at the Hermosa Beach Pier Plaza, following the Walk of Fame ceremonies. The festival and will include music by the Bixby Dicks, Fallen Riviera, Hoist the Colors, Kevin Sousa and Sand Section. Monster and surf apparel manufacturers will be represented have contests and giveaways at their exhibition booths and Spyder will present a fashion show. The LA Surf Awards will be presented at 3 p.m.
Mike Balzer. Photo by Ken Pagliaro (KenPagliaro.com)
Spyder SurfFest LA Surf California Icon Award: Mike Balzer
Mike Balzer has been a leading surf photographer since the 1990s when he began not just documenting, but instigating the revolution in surfing, away from an emphasis on contests and toward free surfing. The spring 2001 Surfer’s Journal carried 24 pages of Balzer photographs, the most the magazine had ever devoted to a single photographer’s work. But Balzer’s most important influence on surfing may prove to be as founding president of the South Bay Boardriders Club, which provides hundreds of young surfers an opportunity to learn to surf and compete locally.
Alex Gray practices at Torrance Beach for his inaugural appearance in a Big Wave Tour contest, which he would win. Photo
Spyder SurfFest LA Surf Breakout Surfer of the Year: Alex Gray
Alex Gray’s breakout moment came this month when he entered his first World Big Wave Tour event, at Nelscott Reef in Oregon, and won it with a perfect 10 on a 30-foot wave. The former Peninsula High surfer is a team rider for Body Glove in Redondo Beach
Spyder SurfFest LA Surf California Icon Award: Ted Robinson
In the late ‘80s Ted Robinson was ranked 15th on the Association of Surfing Professionals Tour, and was also a top model for Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. After retiring from the ASP tour, he pursued an equally successful professional career competing as a longboarder. He remains a top masters competitor in both long and short boards in contests such as those hosted by the South Bay Boardriders Club.
Spyder SurfFest LA Surf Breakout Surf Brand of the Year: Hurley
Bob Hurley was a surfboard shaper in the late ‘70s. In 1983, he became licensee of Billabong USA. In 1999, he co-founded his own apparel company, Hurley International. Just three years later, he sold the company to Nike. He has remained active in the company, helping it to retain its street credibility with core surfers. ER