SurfAid Cup Malibu raises more than $127,000

SURFAID CUP MALIBU RAISES MORE THAN $127,000

PRESS RELEASE: Monday September 8, 2014

Team Firewire has convincingly won the SurfAid Cup Malibu in four foot surf at the iconic pointbreak, with 12 teams raising more than $127,000 for humanitarian organization SurfAid.

Firewire (Mark Price, Taylor Jensen, Johnny Noris, Noah Erikson and their pro surfer Mike McCabe) scored 110.77 to defeat Malaria Free Mentawai (84.30), Dave’s Team Too (81.07), SurfAiders (68.20), Malcolm Hates Malaria (54.67) and Kids Deserve Better (27.80) in the final. McCabe scored a perfect 10 on one ride.

Firewire team captain, Mark Price, said the chance to surf Malibu on a really good day with only six surfers in the water was truly memorable.

“Our heartfelt thanks to SurfAid for making that possible but, more importantly, their incredible commitment to saving lives in Indonesia is both humbling and inspirational, and we are all stoked on the modest contribution we made towards their ongoing efforts,” Price said.

Dr Dave & Crew won the fundraising with a record $26,665 and they picked four-time ASP women’s world champion Lisa Andersen to compete on their team. The fundraising team was SurfAid founder Dave Jenkins, Dan Trunk, Steve Hilton and Scott Bass. Every Mother/Every Child was second with $12,863 and IndoTeak Design third with $12,100.

Dave Jenkins said the huge fundraising result reflects both the work and generosity of many people and SurfAid’s growing and deserved reputation as a highly effective organisation.

“Of course to win the SurfAid Cup fundraising is a significant bonus for our team who raised money from some of our oldest and most committed donors,” Jenkins said. “Dan Trunk, of the SBMT Family Charitable Trust which gave us a large donation, told me they give to a lot of different charities, and usually rotate them in and out every year, but SurfAid’s effectiveness and transparency keeps us at the top of their list.

“Thanks to this great fundraising effort we can expand our mother and child health model to new villages, resulting in thousands of people’s lives being transformed.”

SurfAid USA president Karl Luber said the intersection of perfect waves and desperate suffering in the Mentawai Islands was the origin of SurfAid. “From one man’s experience, a world class organization has grown to help the people of the Mentawai, Telos, Nias, Sumba and Sumbawa create better lives.

“The SurfAid Cup at Malibu was blessed with perfect surf and the incredible generosity of the surf community. That generosity will help SurfAid continue to provide prenatal care for pregnant moms, clean water to prevent kids from dying of diarrhea, and malaria protection. Anyone who was at Malibu experienced a very powerful day in and out of the water,” Luber said.

Recent SurfAid milestones include: Building 396 new and rehabilitating 28 clean water facilities in 77 remote communities; establishing 35 community health posts; and reaching 24,000 people in Nias, the Mentawai and Aceh with a Disaster Risk Reduction program.

Dr Dave & Crew placed equal 7th in the tag team event, along with North County Surf; IndoTeak Design and Every Mother/Every Child were equal 9th; and The Hot Generation and Malaria Sucks were equal 11th.

You can donate to SurfAid here »

Besides Lisa Andersen and Mike McCabe, the other pro surfers who competed were two-time ASP world longboard champions Joel Tudor and Jen Smith, Strider Wasilewski, Brad Gerlach, Rosy Hodge, Matt McCabe, Anthony Petruso, Allen and Colton Sarlo, and Jojo Roper.

A special wildcard award was presented to Encinitas surfer Josh Sirota who ended up in hospital for an x-ray on his leg after he was run over in the lineup. Luckily it was only bone bruising and not a break.

The SurfAid Cup is part of the MSA Classic Invitational, which was presented by the Malibu Surfing Association from September 5 - 7.

MSA president John Hinkle said: “On behalf of MSA, I want to say that it is our privilege to partner with SurfAid to help in such a great cause.”

The weekend kicked off on Friday with a benefit ride at SoulCycle Malibu, followed by an Expression Session and a Benefit Night at Duke’s Malibu. The after-party was held at Casa Escobar.

ABOUT SURFAID
The mission of SurfAid, a non-profit humanitarian organization, is to improve the health, wellbeing and self-reliance of people living in isolated regions connected to us through surfing.

SurfAid’s health programs involve education in nutrition, hygiene, healthy environments and disease prevention - including mosquito net distribution.

SurfAid has built an award-winning capacity in emergency preparedness and has delivered five emergency response programs following major disasters, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2010 Mentawai tsunami.

http://www.surfaid.org/

ENDS

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