We love Keala Kennelly because she's smart, sweet, self-effacing, and spins a mean record. Oh and did we mention the chick can surf? She was runner-up for a world title last year and finished second at SG's 2004 Queen of Surf competition, but Keala's first-class attitude makes her second to none in our book.

Name: Keala Kennelly
Age: 25
Hometown: Oahu, Hawaii
Stance: Goofy
Sponsors: "Billabong, Spyder, Spy, Converse, Red Bull, Island Style. Urban Decay gives me some makeup, and Toyota of Orange gives me some cars sometimes."

Years on the World Championship Tour (WCT): "Seven, I think. Actually, it might be my eighth year."

Goal for this year: "To do better than last year."

Career highlight: "The highlight of my career was probably winning the Op Challenge in 2001 in Indonesia, that specialty winner-take-all event. I thought that was one of my biggest highlights. And, of course, winning the Tahiti [WCT] event four times."

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Influences: Andy and Bruce Irons, Rochelle [Ballard], and Lisa Andersen

Motto/mantra: "Don't try, just be. If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours."

Favorite break: "Teahupo'o, because it's the most perfect barrel there is."

Favorite movie: "I have so many. I really love Four Rooms -- it's a Quentin Tarantino flick that has Madonna in it. I like comedies, so Something About Mary was really funny. Scary Movie 2."

Favorite song: "My favorite song right now is a remix by Danny Tenaglia, a Grace Jones song called ‘Feel Up.' Other than that, I love tribal house stuff to dance to. Lots of chunky beats and live drum sounds." And is that the kind of stuff you listen to when you're not dancing? "No, if I'm just cruising I like Massive Attack and Lenny Kravitz and Lamb and Portishead and Everything but the Girl and Garbage. I like Zero Seven, Lachiba."

Favorite websites: www.satelliterecords.com, www.westelm.com

If you could be any pop star, who would you be? Madonna

If you weren't a pro surfer, what would you be doing: "I'd probably be in the music industry or I'd be owning my own business. It'd be a really sick club or bar or something like that."

Biggest fear: "Not being happy, being unhappy—not being satisfied with myself. Also losing family and friends—that's my biggest fear."

When the surf is flat, you: "Hang out with friends, go to Borders, spin records, work on little projects around my apartment, go music shopping, make CDs—stuff like that."

As far as the spinning goes, do you spin at clubs, or is it just something you do at home? "No, it's a hobby of mine. I don't take it too seriously and I don't try to go and perform. Deejaying is a lot like surfing in that if you don't do it for long periods of time you get rusty at it, and I'm not the type of person who likes to perform in front of a lot of people if I don't feel confident in what I'm doing."

One word that best describes you: "I don't know—that's hard. I'd say ‘fun.'"

Do you enjoy this lifestyle, the travel and everything, or does it get pretty old? "For a while, it was starting to get really old for me and I was kinda getting over it. But I think I realized that I'm so used to it that if I stay in one place for too long I start to feel really trapped, so I found a new love for it actually. I've totally rekindled my flame for the traveling and the surfing, but it does get old after a while when it's one place after another and you've worn everything in your suitcase and you're just completely sick of your clothes."

How confident are you that you can take the title this year? "Well, last year I was so close, so I definitely know I can do it and it's possible—within my reach. But everybody is surfing incredibly well and I think it's really hard because the top five or six always end up pulling each other in heats and knocking each other out, so that's tough. Everybody is going to have some high results, and everybody is going to have some low results; it's just a matter of having a strong year all year. Like, last year I had an incredible year, but if you look at my results I either got first or I got ninth. I either had an insane contest or got knocked out early. To be world champion, basically things have to go your way all year long. They can't just go your way for part of the year for a couple of contests, and then all of the sudden you pick up a couple bad results. Luck has to be on your side the whole way through, and unfortunately I got really unlucky in France last year."

What aspect of your job do you enjoy most? "Just having the freedom to make my own schedule. And being able to surf all over the world and being able to surf the best waves in the world with one other person in the water. I actually really look forward to heats just because the world itself has become such a crowded place for surfers -- the lineups are just so ridiculous now that I really look forward to competing and being on tour and being able to have that 30 minutes of being able to catch just about any wave I want."