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Wednesday, June 20, 2001
Big-wave surfing lost one of its big-time legends

Andrea Wall
Thrust ardently into the chilly Pacific, Pillar Point Harbor is a temple of sorts to surfers around the world.
   They don't go there to pray, or worship a higher being. They go to experience the kind of rush that can send chills down the back of your neck. The kind that after you paddle out - arms cold and stiff from the water - you consider turning back, because as you stare that 30-foot wave in its foaming white face, it just doesn't seem like such a good idea.
   The kind of rush that only comes from surfing Maverick's.
   Pillar Point is home of the Maverick's - known throughout the surfing community as one of the best places to catch big waves consistently.
   It was 1994 at Pillar Point, when a polite 16-year-old kid from California quietly paddled through the cold, crisp waters, caught a 20-footer and wiped out so stunningly that the image made the cover of Surfer magazine and posters worldwide.
   Jay Moriarity had arrived. A legend at 16.
   And a mere seven years later, he is gone. His entrance onto the surfing scene was as frantic as his exit, and both came early.
   Last Friday, Moriarity was in the Maldives - a group of islands west of Indonesia - for an O'Neill International photo shoot.
   According to Swell.com, he and some other people were free diving - diving below the surface without gear - but his dive partner returned to the boat early, leaving Moriarity alone.
   After substantial time had elapsed, his friends started to worry and decided to return to the diving spot to check on Moriarity, only to find him floating face down - one day before his 23rd birthday.
   "He will definitely be missed on the big-wave surf scene," said Cliff Schlabach, president of the Texas Gulf Surfing Association. "He was fearless."
   It was that fearlessness that made the Santa Cruz native one of the best big-wave surfers of all time.
   He surfed 30-foot swells as a teenager, while the big boys - Ken Bradshaw, Mark Foo and Brock Little, among others - were learning the treacherous ropes of the Maverick's. Foo never left there. He died while surfing Maverick's four days after Moriarity's famous wipeout, giving the coveted surf spot a bit of infamy.
   Moriarity was an outstanding waterman by even the highest of standards. He spent as much time in the water as most people do working, and he still died at the hands of it.
   A famous waterman in the 1960s and 1970s - Jose Angel - had a similar experience. Angel, who appeared on the first cover of Surfer in 1960, was free diving near Maui at Shark Ridge in 1976. He was nearly 300 feet down when he died.
   Angel, Foo and Moriarity - three men who made their life and fame from venturing into strong undertows, huge waves and turbulent waters - met their deaths in a similar fashion.
   "Water is like that," Schlabach said. "You can never be sure. Just because you are an expert in surfing or diving doesn't mean something strange won't happen. And when it happens to the best watermen we know, it should make all of us surfers take notice. The game is dangerous."


Contact Andrea Wall at 886.3631 or walla@caller.com

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