Soon we the fans will be voting to cut Nike's nine Chosen semifinalists into the three last crews standing. But how well do we really know these ruffians? It seemed only prudent to hit the top surf crews with a penetrating questionnaire.

Today's answers come from Kyle Thiermann, Matt Myers, Austin Smith-Ford and Kyle Buthman of the Get Rad! crew.



Q: Who's the smartest member of your crew?

Matt: Buthman is a caveman, but somehow he's a genius on Final Cut Pro. He's producing Quiksilver's next movie.

Austin: Thiermann is pretty smart, he convinced a ton of people to move 340 million dollars out of Bank of America into local banks because BofA funds coal power. BofA doesn't like him very much. They sent him an email saying so.


Kyle Thiermann: Matt's the man! He's a Junior Guard instructor so he's found a way to get paid to bronze at the beach, work out, stare at chicks in bikinis, and hang with cool kids all day.


Kyle Buthman: Austin's super street smart. No matter what our crew gets into, he can always figure a way out. Plus he got straight A's in high school.



Q: Who drives the best car?

Buthman: Well, Thiernann's car looks like a chick car, mine looks like a Mexican field worker's truck, and Austin's is the nicest. But I'm gonna go with Matt 'cause his red van is priceless. It's got a 12-inch subwoofer that bumps the beats and can hold like 20 of our friends!


Q: What's one of your crew's finest moments?

Austin: Last winter the Santa Cruz Harbor mouth was going off. It's a dangerous wave 'cause it breaks over concrete jacks and if you fall you slam! There was a full moon and low tide at 11:00 p.m. Thiermann and I dragged a generator and flood lights out to the jacks in an attempt to score a perfect night sesh with no one around. There was just one little problem: our generator died after five minutes, so we just charged it in the dark. Pretty all time.


Q: What's an embarrassing crew-member story involving a girl?

Thiermann: Oh god, I was kissing this girl a few months ago. All of the sudden I had full on nasal drip. My nose started spewing saltwater all over her face. She freaked out! I saw her the other day and she wouldn't even acknowledge me.


Q: If you guys were a band, who would you be?

Matt: We are in a band. It's an '80s hair metal cover band. We call ourselves Tigers & Unicorns. We're playing at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk next week. Come check us out!


Q: If you had to come up with another name for your crew, what would the backup name be?

Buthman: Tigers and Unicorns, duh!


Q: What's your crew's official drink?

Thiermann: Pabst Blue Ribbon. Liquid courage.



Q: If you could choose your winning surf trip in the Chosen contest, what would it be?

Buthman: We'd travel by boat to J-Bay, but not straight there. The longest route possible, hitting every good wave in between. I don't think that would fly, though... But seriously, we all decided on a Mentawais boat trip on that Young Guns boat, what's it called? The Indies Trader IV?


Q: If your crew could get sponsored by one company, who would it be?

Matt: Jet Blue, so we could fly to the best surf spots in the world, and sky dive in!


Q: What's a good crew-member fight story?

Thiermann: I'm two years younger than my friends, which is a big difference when you're a grom. Austin had his 15th birthday camping trip in Big Sur. I was 13 and the youngest kid there. There was a sketchy dog at the campsite everyone was scared of. Buthman, Matt and Austin thought it would be funny to tie me up in a chair and smear peanut butter on my face and have the dog lick it off. The dog ended up biting me in the ass. I still have a scar.


Q: If you could add a celebrity to your crew, who would you pick and why?

Austin: Charlie Sheen, 'cause we're both winning!