The Waterman’s Ball had some exciting moments this year including great stories from Lifetime Achievement Honoree Rabbit Bartholomew, inspiring tales of conservation from Environmentalist of the Year Kris Tompkins, and a feisty speech from WSL Owner Dirk Ziff.
In addition, Natasha Ziff, who is also an owner of the WSL and an avid surfer, spoke about her love of the sport and admiration of the athletes. She also said she is especially proud of the WSL’s environmental efforts and its quest to improve pay and conditions for women surfers.
The live auction took an exhilarating turn this year when the WSL and the Kelly Slater Wave Co. offered a private day of surfing at the Surf Ranch.
The bidding was fierce, and went back and forth quickly, with the price skyrocketing to about $39,500. Then the WSL jumped in and offered more days at the Ranch if the bidders would agree to pay $40,000 each.
In the end, Ted Li of Boardriders, Nick Street and Bobby Gascon of Vans, and Evan Slater of Hurley and his wife, Jennifer, came away with their own days at the ranch.
That means that that one auction item alone earned $120,000 for ocean environmental charities.
Over the years, the Waterman’s event has raised more than $8 million for charity. “For a bunch of surfers, that’s not bad,” said Paul Naude, President of the SIMA Environmental Fund.
We took lots of photos of the night, which are below in our slide show.

Ted Li of Boardriders after winning one of the private days at the Surf Ranch for $40,000

Vans Marketing dream team, Nick Street and Bobby Gascon, who won a private day at the Surf Ranch during the live auction

Evan and Jennifer Slater after they paid $40,000 for a private day at the Surf Ranch

Professional Surfer Lakey Peterson, WSL Owner Dirk Ziff, WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt and WSL owner Natasha Ziff - SES file photo

Bob and Shelley Hurley

Stokehouse CEO Paul Naude, also President of the SIMA Environmental Fund

Boardriders CEO Dave Tanner with Cathey Curtis of Billabong

Paul Naude with the honorees: Rabbit Bartholomew, Dirk Ziff, Natasha Ziff and Kris Tompkins. Kris's late husband, Doug, was also honored.

Kevin Meehan of RVCA and wife, Andrea

Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Rabbit Bartholomew and Graham Stapelberg of WSL

Chad DiNenna of Nixon and wife, Paola, with Jakue Aguerre

Deanna Jackson, Ajai Datta, and Leila Heydari of Billabong

Team Vans: Dave and Taryn Tichiaz, Henry and Trish Cosio

Sonia North and Shannan North of Billabong

Allison Roberts of Billabong and Fuzzy Schroeder of Quiksilver

Mikey Rangel, Ryan Hitzel and Drew Dolkas of Roark

Lindy Rich of Stance, Brandon Rich of Journeymen, and Mitch Whitaker of Vans

Quiksilver and Roxy, back row - Ted Li, David Tanner, Sasha Hartloff, Fuzzy Schroeder, Mike Reilly, Ryan Keenan. Front row - Cynthia Son, Jeff Brusven, John Hunt

Mike Carter, Max Beach, Bruce Beach

Mike Wallace of Billabong, middle, congratulates Wendy and Peter Booysen of iSync Solutions, left, who won a week at the Billabong house on the North Shore during the live auction

The Tokyo Olympic contingent was in town and Fernando dressed for the occasion: Tomohiro Mori, Takeshi Hashizume, Fernando Aguerre, Koji Murofushi and wife, Tomomi

New parents Jaci Schroeder and Eric Thomas of RVCA

Sarah Premo, the new O'Neill Women's Design Director, with Carrie Piccolini, Kari Johnson and Lindsay Henkels

Snowy Lonsway, the new VP of Sales at O'Neill, and wife, Cody

Josh Hansen of Hansen's and wife, Ashli, with Henry Cosio of Vans and wife, Trish

Lydia Ballesteros and Karen Sarver of Amuse Society and Steve Culley and wife, Diem. Diem is a top executive at Rip Curl.

Jade Peterson and Rip Curl's Shawn Peterson

Norb Garrett of TEN and Mark Tinkess of O'Neill

Ian Gibson and Kelly Gibson of Rip Curl

Aaron Coyle of Reef, Haley Hernandez, and Mike Matey of Reef

The Oakley table, left to right: Jennifer and Aaron Griffiths, Stephen and Erin DeMille, Kelly and Jason Prescott, team rider Tanner Waite, and the one and only Marty Mathiesen

Nanette De La Pena and Vinnie De La Pena of Vissla and D'Blanc

Cristine Olson and Lost's Joel Cooper

Vicki Redding of Vans and husband, Robert

Mark Christy, owner of the The Ranch and co-owner of Hobie Surf Shops, with Bob Hurley

Environmentalist of the Year Kris Tompkins and ISA President Fernando Aguerre

Andrea Harvey and Paul Harvey of Rip Curl

WSL announcer Joe Turpel and Wingnut Weaver

Robert Gerard of Friedman, Stroffe & Gerard with wife, Robin and son, Noah

Steven Fisher and Adrienne Belk of Surf Expo

Bryan Friedman of Friedman, Stroffe & Gerard and wife, Sandy

Aaron Tague of Agenda and Rosalie Gavagan of Enza Costa

Susie Barca, Simon Dufour of Moss Adams and wife, Shaye

Rod Tomlinson of Surf Expo and Cory Higgins of Jetty

Eddie Anaya and Mary Herbranson of Surfrider

Bob Hurley introduced Rabbit Bartholomew

Environmentalist of the Year Kris Tompkins, who along with her late husband, Doug, have helped create or expand 13 national parks in Chile and Argentina - a total of 13 million acres

Rabbit during his speech

The dinner took place on a fairway at The Ranch in Laguna Beach