Take what you want from the ESPYs.  To some they represent the best in sports from the previous year, while most would say it's nothing more than a red carpet affair for athletes to dress up and get hammered.  Regardless of your feelings on the event, we want to congratulate Maya Gabeira for having her big wave accomplishments recognized by winning the 2009 ESPY Award for Best Female Action Sport Athlete.

Gabeira has been charging Mavericks for years, and is well-respected by the Mavs crew (and by the Mavs crew we mean the ones who actually surf the wave, not the suits who have destroyed the contest).  We've partied with her a few times, and the photo below was from a remote radio broadcast we did from the International Motorcycle Show a few years back.  Gabeira's way chill and way cool.

Pictured L-R: Omar Etcheverry, Danilo Couto (who also charges big waves hard), Katrina Clark (the Godfather's daughter and great friend), Steve Blankenship, Cyrus Saatsaz, Grant "Twiggy" Baker, Maya Gabeira, the Godfather of Mavericks Jeff Clark, and photographer Fred Pompermayer.

Congrats again to Gabeira, who in addition to being arguably the top female big wave surfer in the world, is also smokin' hot.