I was introduced to Todd Chesser a year ago, an hour before sunup at a Baja California toll gate on Mexico 1 near Ensenada. Chesser had taken a redeye from Hawaii, arriving at 3 a. After surfing Todos Santos, he would. But Chesser never made it into the water at Todos Santos. The swell never quite materialized. The waves were only feet, which impressed the heck out of me but seemed to depress everyone else.
It was then that I realized that, for Chesser and others who spend their winters chasing monstrous waves wherever they might be, surfing is no longer merely an entertaining way to spend a day, a form of expression or even a way of life. It is an addiction, for which there is no cure. The thrill is proportionate to the danger involved. The greater the risk, the greater the rush. Despite the closing of North Shore beaches because of dangerous surf, Chesser and two others had paddled out to a spot near Waimea Bay to ride thunderous breakers measuring feet from the backs, with faces closer to Chesser reportedly was caught inside, stood on his board and dived down to try to make it under one of the waves.
But it held him under so long that by the time he surfaced, he was either semiconscious or unconscious. The other two surfers saw he was in trouble and paddled to his side, but another set rolled in and scattered the group. When the set cleared, Chesser was nowhere to be found. A search was begun and lifeguards later found his broken surfboard. Beneath it was Chesser, tangled in the rocks near Waimea. He could not be revived.
And Solomon had died a year to the day after Mark Foo, a famous professional surfer from Hawaii, got buried alive by a mammoth breaker at Mavericks, a big-wave spot in California near Santa Cruz. He was an only child. His father was killed in an automobile accident when he was an infant, after which his mother, Jeannie, decided to get a fresh start and move to Hawaii with her only child. They were close. She was working as an announcer at surf contests; he was getting paid by sponsors to be seen riding big waves.
All gave touching, tearful accounts of their experiences with Todd. I wanted to just go over and hug her and let her know how much we all care, so I did.
