Mike Stewart's legendary status in the sport of bodyboarding is already set.

He can now add another title to his growing status as a waterman.

Stewart was one of two men to receive the Quiksilver Waterman Award two weeks ago. North Shore lifeguard Gerald Balaker was the other recipient.

Stewart is a nine-time former world champion in bodyboarding, and has been a top-10 competitor for more than 25 years. But the award had nothing to do with that.

Stewart, who is from Kailua, Kona, was honored for an extraordinary rescue he made in the rough North Shore surf earlier this year.

"Mike has won so many awards in his life, but this one was really special because of what happened," said his wife, Lisa, who accepted the award because Mike was in the Canary Islands competing in a bodyboarding contest.

Lisa actually started the process when she spotted a man waving his arms, drifting out to sea. Problem was, the sun was setting and the lifeguards in the area had shut down for the day.

She alerted Mike, who called 911, then grabbed his bodyboard and started paddling out — through wave-face heights that were 30 to 40 feet high that day.

Stewart eventually reached the man — a surfer who lost his board in the big surf — and figured out a way for them to share his bodyboard.

Thanks to the 911 call, the last lifeguard on duty that day was able to get on a personal watercraft and find Stewart and the troubled surfer in the surf.

Stewart's wife accepted the award at the opening ceremonies of the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational In Memory Of Eddie Aikau at Waimea Bay. When the story was announced, the crowd of about 500 — including the world's best big-wave surfers — gave Stewart a rousing ovation.

"It was really overwhelming," Lisa said. "Just to see that response was so rewarding."

AUSTRALIAN PLAYER WINS BODYBOARD TITLE

Ben Player of Australia clinched the 2007 International Bodyboarding Association's world championship this week.

Player placed second at the final event of the year this week at the Canary Islands. It is his second world title in the last three years.

Brazil's Uri Valadao, who won the Canary Islands contest, finished No. 2.

Among the Hawai'i competitors, Mike Stewart finished the year ranked No. 9, Kaua'i's David Hubbard is No. 10, and his brother Jeff Hubbard is No. 11.

Jeff Hubbard won the world championship in 2006.

Many of the world's top bodyboarders will compete in the Ledges Pro at Kahului Harbor, Maui, next week. The contest will not count on the world tour, but will be the final event of the 2007 United States tour.

The first event of the 2008 world tour is expected to run at the Banzai Pipeline in February.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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