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Letty's Blog
Blog / News - Wednesday - Aug 15, 2012
Nowak's Rob Machado's painting being…
The guests viewing the 2012 silent…
Nowak with SIMA President Fernando…
The crowd viewing the art section…
A beautiful view of Salt Creek from…
The beginning of the 2012 Waterman's…
The surf industry's annual gala this past weekend at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel brought together the sports celebrities, athletes, professionals, characters,and brand leaders raising over $400,000 donated to 20 environmental organizations that stand to protect our oceans, beaches, and waves. More importantly, the people came together to honor the late Sean Collins with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of legendary Jacques-Yves Cousteau, as Environmentalist of the Year, and last but definitely not least, Shane Dorian, as this year's Waterman of the Year.

The beautiful event began with a silent auction, that then later turned into an exciting life auction as everyone sat for an evening of detection and celebration. The live auction was produced of twelve items, including a commissioned portrait by Letty Nowak, which alone brought in $15,000. Also including a trip to the Vans Triple Crown in Turtle Bay, an Audi Allroad, a dive trip to Tahiti with Jean-Michel Cousteau.

The annual trio of awards began with an emotional tribute and life time achievement award to Sean Collins, who singled handedly created the mechanism for forecasting waves among many other attributes to the surfing community. “Sean Collins is responsible for bringing more stoke to the world than anyone else over the last 25 years,” Even Slater once explained. Next followed the Environmentalist of the Year Jean- Michel Cousteau who was honored for his life-time dedication to the protection of the worlds oceans, and for his many accomplishments including convincing former U.S. President George W. Bush to set aside 140,000 square miles in northwest Hawaii as the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The final of the evening brought to the stage 11-time world champion Kelly Slater to present Shane Dorian with this year's Waterman of the Year award, who is famously known for holding the world record for the largest wave ever paddled into, a 57-footer at Jaws.