SWIM/SURF
Stephanie Gilmore, 2nd Woman to Win SIMA Surfing Award
The Surf Industry Manufacturers Association announced last week that Stephanie Gilmore, a six-time winner of the Association of Surfing Professionals’ women’s tour, will be honored with its Waterman of the Year award. Gilmore is the second woman to be awarded with the honor. Lisa Andersen received the trophy in 2007.
The award will be presented to the Australian surfer at the 26th Annual Waterman’s Weekend Aug. 14–15 at the palatial Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point, Calif. The event is a fundraiser for SIMA’s environmental causes as well as an industry powwow, and it typically attracts participation from the top manufacturers and retailers in the surf business.
SIMA also announced that it will honor an entertainer with its Environmentalist of the Year award. Perry Farrell, who gained notoriety singing and writing songs for rock bands Jane’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros and founding the Lollapalooza music festival, will receive the award. Farrell is an avid surfer and supporter of the environmental organization Surfrider Foundation. The foundation presented Farrell with its Keeper of the Coast award in 2004, said Paul Naude, SIMA’s Environmental Fund president.
“Determining who to honor as Environmentalist of the Year is taken very seriously by the SIMA Environmental Fund board of directors every year,” he said. “With Perry, it was a very easy decision to make as he loves to surf, has come to Waterman’s with his family frequently and backs it all up by getting involved. Perry loves the ocean, and his work with the Surfrider Foundation is worthy of our thanks.”
SIMA’s 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented posthumously to Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz, who died in November 2014. He left a career as a medical doctor to take his brood of nine children surfing around the world. His evangelism for surfing and a healthy lifestyle inspired a 2007 documentary, “Surfwise,” and a line of beachwear. He founded the Paskowitz Surf Camp, which is said to be the world’s first surf camp, and successfully convinced many to try the sport of surfing.
