There are a lot of ways to die while surfing. This is not a subject to be taken lightly, as seemingly every year, we tragically go through the surfing-related death of surfers ranging from hometown heroes to elite-level pros to beginners just trying to figure things out. The list of tragic losses in surfing unfortunately grows by the year as well.
The recent death of Mikala Jones, who suffered a life-ending fin cut in Indonesia, was another reminder that even the greatest are susceptible to mortal injury at the hand of a wave. In 1994, Mark Foo’s death at Mavericks shocked the surfing world. Through the years, the list of lost surfing heroes keeps growing—Malik Joyeux, Sion Milosky, Todd Chesser, Peter Davi, Kirk Passmore, Donnie Solomon—big-wave legends, both world-famous and underground.
You’ve got names like Blake Dresner, a highly capable charger who was dealt the unluckiest hand while surfing a smaller day in Mainland Mexico during a routine closeout tube ride through a standard wipeout. Things went sideways underwater, and Blake became tangled up with his board, the fin hitting him in the neck, causing a traumatic surfing injury that cut this promising young man’s life short in the blink of an eye.
For all the horrific tales of death in surfing, there are also miracles. Survival stories that baffle the mind.
Surfing deaths seem pretty random, the luck of the draw in many cases, while others happen in obvious death-defying situations. When your job is to push the limits of what is humanly possible in the big-wave surfing world, you will “almost die” a lot.
Garrett “GMAC” McNamara has survived nearly a dozen or so near-death surfing experiences. One close call came during a wild session at Mavericks in 2016. The day was described by veteran Mavericks’ rescuer and photographer Frank Quirarte as “too wild and woolly for paddle-surfing”. Quirarte has seen it all at Mavericks. He’s seen surfers die there, knows the risks, and as a witness to GMAC’s near-demise, has stayed with
