The addition of rock stars and snappy speeches helped liven up this year’s Waterman’s Ball, the annual fundraiser for the SIMA Environmental Fund.
Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction, a founder of Lollapalooza and an avid surfer, received the Environmentalist of the Year award. He had one of the funniest acceptance speeches ever, and played a surprise set with Robert Trujillo of Metallica and Peter DiStefano of Porno for Pyros.
Waterman of the Year Stephanie Gilmore was charming and genuine during her speech, and added some excitement to the night by buying Robert Trujillo’s bass, a surprise addition to the live auction, for $10,000.
And the tribute to Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Doc Paskowitz was touching, inspiring and funny, too.
There was also a newsy element to the evening when SIMA announced that Rip Curl USA CEO Kelly Gibson is the next SIMA President, taking over for Doug Palladini, who held the position for six years following the passing of Dick Baker.
We have lots of photos from the evening above in our slide show.
