Let’s raise a glass to some of the surfers who made 2009 remarkable.

The start of a new year is a good time to look ahead and get productive. Right now though I’m still in holiday mode: my belly is full of pork products, the fridge remains well stocked with Coopers, the sun is finally out and I’m in the mood for coasting. You can’t know where you are going unless you know where you have been, someone once said. They could be right. So let’s raise a glass to some of the surfers who made 2009 remarkable. 2010 can wait.

•    Fanning/Parko. It’s been said that there were two title winners this year. It’s true that Parko dominated the front half of the year and that an ankle injury probably prevented him from claiming an overdue WT. I know I was gunning for him. But you can’t take anything away from Fanning who deserved his second title no question. In the end there’s only room for one name of that trophy.    
•    Kelly Slater. Short arse boards and big arse rebel tours. Kelly shook up the ASP and the surfing world this year and still remained in sniffing distance of a tenth world title. Is there no end to his influence?
•    Mitch Coleburn. If you haven’t seen BS! or Modern Collective then you are missing out on some frigging amazing surfing from this fine young cannibal. Coleburn holds his own with the likes of Dusty Payne, Dane Reynolds and Jordy Smith. He goes big, he rodeo flips, he’s got some style and he surfs like a man. Grrr.
•    Derek Hynd. You probably saw photos of DH slip-sliding around on finless craft in 2009. Maybe you think it a weird, unpractical aberration. I would have agreed. But then I saw a preview of Jack McCoy’s Deeper Shade of Blue which features Hynd friction-free flying at J-Bay. It is some of the most amazing surfing I have EVER seen. The lines he takes, the skill involved, the dedication required, the passion he displays, the fact that he is an old bastard. Surfer of the year.
•    Dane Reynolds. Still the one guy you wanna watch in an ASP heat. His freesurf approach seemed to work for him at some events this year. After a string of dirty turds he made the podium at Trestles and finished third at Pipe and J-Bay.  
•    Jordy Smith. The hype on Dane’s freesurfing was largely transferred to the able shoulders of the big South African in 2009. See Modern Collective for the reason. Living up to the hype? No ones asking that question any more.  
•    Owen Wright. The biggest junior sensation – literally and figuratively – the world has seen in a long time. O creamed the Australiasian junior series, the WQS and smoked Kelly Slater at Bells. Could have won his first CT if it wasn’t for a busted ear drum in Portugal. Finally stopped growing.  

•    Rob Machado. Rob’s movie The Drifter infuriated some viewers because it was a bit corny, naval gazing and set up. Like surf movies haven’t been mining that territory for thirty odd years. It made me wanna grow my hair, move to Indo and buy a motorbike. Vrooom.  
•    Greg Long. Got a 100 point ride for a suicide drop at Waimea. Stole the show from Kelly in the final heat of the Eddie in a boiling ocean. A fitting victory for the underground charger.
•    Mark Mathews. Forced surf journalists to consult the thesaurus and find new words for big and shit-scary.

– By Kirk Owers