Andy

I haven't written in a long time - largely because I just haven't felt up to it - haven't felt inspired to. I've been out to surf a few times since I last posted but I've also just gone up to the beach and stared at ocean unable to find myself motivated by what I was looking at to get in. On several occasions I've walked up over the dunes to find total garbage conditions but still plopped myself down in the sand or on the railing and just gazed out across the ocean. It really is peaceful and beautiful - I forget sometimes how much I love the beach and the ocean and I'm afraid I take for granted sometimes just how much I do love it because it's right there all the time. How many times have I complained about the lack of surf in this blog when you're sitting in an office somewhere hours away from a beach wishing you could go and look at the ocean 10 times a day if you felt inclined or take a walk across the street to eat your sandwich on the beach for your lunch break. I'm sorry for doing that to you - I'll try to be more thoughtful in the future and paint the picture you want to read about because for the most part it's true. This is a beautiful place - it's not perfect but we're fortunate.

Andy Irons died today and it's really got me thinking. So much so that I'm up at 2:30am writing about it. If you don't know who Andy Irons is - he's a professional surfer from Hawaii who won the world title 3 times. That's not an easy feat and there aren't a lot of guys who have won the title multiple times but he's one of them. Andy was one of the headlining team riders for Billabong and a big rival of the famed Kelly Slater - there has been a lot of press over the years about the rivalry between Kelly and Andy being a bitter one but if you look at the more recent press you'll see that Andy and Kelly had a lot of respect for one another and I'm sure in the coming days you'll see print from Kelly to further justify this. Andy was a superstar in the surf world - that may not be the same as say Brad Pitt or LeBron James - those guys can't go anywhere without being mobbed. Andy can probably walk through an airport or a mall without being followed by 1000 screaming fans but if he's near the beach people are going to know who he is and at a contest he's going to be harassed for autographs. At home in Hawaii I'm sure Andy can't really just run out to the store without being noticed - the guy was loved and respected in the surfing world. He has a beautiful wife, Lyndie, who is pregnant and due to give birth to their first child (a boy) in a month, and a brother, Bruce, who is also a big time respected surfer. Andy died today - alone in a hotel room in Dallas, Texas. There's already some speculation that his death may be drug related but he had withdrawn from a contest currently going on in Puerto Rico because he was sick. He was on his way home to Hawaii and apparently was feeling too sick to make a connecting flight and checked into the hotel in Dallas and was found dead by hotel staff. 32 years old, professional athlete, pregnant wife, on top of the world, living the dream. Dead. Alone. In a hotel room thousands of miles away from any surfable waves. If his death turns out to be drug related or not (the initial reports said he contracted Dengue Fever in Puerto Rico and died from that), it's no way to die. I'm sure he was just feeling awful, just wanted to get home and lie in his own bed and have his wife stroke his head. I'm sure he talked to her on the phone before he got in bed in Dallas and I'm sure she felt horrible for him that he was alone and feeling bad. I'm sure they both told each other "I love you and I'll see you soon - everything's going to be alright." Andy isn't going to have the chance to even hold his baby boy, or push him into his first wave, or cheer for him at his first surf contest, or show him how to fix a ding.
So I'm sorry that I complain about the lack of surf sometimes, and I'm sorry that I don't always appreciate what I've got right in front of me. Thank you's, smiles, and I love you's are things that we shouldn't hold back on because we really never know how things are going to turn out.
Rest in peace Andy