As if local surfers needed another reason...

As if local surfers needed another reason to party. In the past week, they’ve toasted both the wave-riding displayed at the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach and the newest inductees to the Huntington Beach Surfing Hall of Fame.

Party on!

Surfer magazine in San Juan Capistrano got into the mood by throwing a party of its own--its 25th Annual Surfer Poll and Second Annual Surf Video Awards--Saturday night at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana.

The invitations--strictly “nontransferable”--were sent to international surfing bigwigs: well-sponsored surfers, well-heeled retailers and well-intentioned environmentalists. About a thousand folks showed up, said magazine editor Steve Hawk.

“It was great because we had both great surfers from the old days [like Bruce Brown, Peter “P.T.” Townend and Corky Carroll] and more contemporary surfers,” Hawk said. “It wasn’t an autograph-seeking crowd, so everybody got to relax and have a good time.”

The poll shines the spotlight on the best male and female surfers, based on readers’ votes. For the men, it was Kelly Slater of Florida, winning for the fourth year in a row. Lisa Andersen, also of Florida, picked up the top spot for women, her third year running.

As for the videos, a reader favorite is the worst wipeout captured on film. This year’s Red Badge of Courage winner came from the feature film “Triple C,” with two brave surfers taking a head-first tumble from a 10-foot breaker at Hawaii’s Waimea Bay.

“It’s the shore break that goes right down into the sand,” said Hawk, clearly amazed. “It’s like they just dropped off the face” of the wave.