Laird Hamilton, Greg Noll, Stacy Peralta and the Surfrider Foundation Kick Off the Upcoming Release of Riding Giants.
Wednesday, June 30th, 2004
New York, NY - With over 300 Surfrider members in attendance the New
York City Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation welcomed the Riding
Giants to the east coast with a member-only Q&A and after-party to
benefit the Chapter's Rockaway Public Access Campaign.
Fresh off the plane from Hawaii, Laird Hamilton, Da Bull - Greg Noll,
Director Stacy Peralta, Jeff Clark and Darrick Doerner answered
questions from the near-capacity crowd at the Coral Room for more
than an hour. The biggest ovations of the evening repeatedly went to
Da Bull, in a definite show of respect to the innovator of big wave
surfing.
"The event was a gigantic success," said Joel Banslaben, Chair of the
NYC Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. "The Riding Giants support
for our organization was amazing and the crowd and Giants crew really
enjoyed a great evening."
Questions asked by Surfrider Members ranged in topic from the content
of the movie, a history of riding big waves, to the issue of public
access for the ocean. When informed of a lack of any legal surfing
beaches in the entire City of New York Laird Hamilton emphatically
responded saying "Everyone has a right to access the ocean!"
After the Q&A the Riding Giants and Surfrider Members enjoyed an
after-party at the Coral Room sponsored by Absolut, Rheingold, Sony
Classics and GQ to celebrate the upcoming release of the documentary
on July 9.
The event raised funds for the Rockaway Public Access Campaign of the
NYC Chapter. In Rockaway, Queens, Surfrider has been working with
local community organizations, government agencies and elected
officials to create the first legal surfing beach in NYC. Recent
changes in the State Health Code were the first step in gaining legal
access for all waveriders - but to date surfing still remains
illegal. The NYC Chapter will continue to work to assure that
everyone has a right to access the ocean.
For more information please go to:
www.sonyclassics.com/ridinggiants/
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