Do You Want To Be Like Hughie Vaughan?
Swatch’s ‘Become a Nine’ contest will give you a chance.
You’re Hughie Vaughan.
It’s late May, 2025. It’s been a week since Stab High Japan, and you’ve spent a few hundred dollars of your $20k winner’s check on fried chicken sandwiches for yourself, friends, and family, never skimping on chips on the side. You see an online contest called ‘Become a Nine.’
You enter. You win. Somebody calls you and says you need to get to Texas in two weeks.
It is only at this point that you realize Waco is quite far from North Shelly Beach.
“I almost didn’t go,” said Hughie. “I didn’t really think much of it when I entered. I just threw some clips out there, and I guess they liked it. We were still filming the Ritual film then, and I wanted to focus on that. But after talking with them a bit more, I decided to go.”
You proceed to do the best air ever landed in a wave pool. A contract with Swatch noncoincidentally comes your way a month later. You bring the same air to Stab High, land it in front of a sold-out crowd, and win another $20k. You still get the closing clip in the Ritual film.
Not bad.
The trouble is that you, reading this, are not Hughie Vaughan. The good news? You’ve still got a chance.
This year’s Swatch Nines surf event is heading back to Waco Surf from October 8 – 10, and the ‘Become a Nine’ contest is currently open until the end of the week. The details? Sure.
1. Post: Upload your best surf reel (9:16, max. 1 min) to your Instagram profile.
2. Tag: Tag @thenines.cc and use the hashtags #SwatchNines & #BecomeANineSurf.
3. Send: Save the video and send it via WeTransfer to [email protected] with the subject “BA9 SURF 26”.
4. Details: In the email, include your full name, email, phone number, age, IG handle, and a photo of yourself. (Under 18? Include your parent/guardian’s name and contact info!)
Deadline: Sunday, September 13th.
As always, Swatch’s surf team — Coco Ho, Noah Beschen, and Hughie Vaughan — will help pick a winner. So, what does Hughie want to see in your entry?
“Just do something fucking big,”
There’s your brief. Off you go.
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