A paddle out for Sean Collins, founder and president of Surfline, is scheduled for this Sunday, January 8th on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.
Collins, 59, suddenly collapsed while playing tennis last Monday afternoon, December 26, in Newport Beach. He was declared dead a short time later at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach. Since then, the tributes have been coming in from around the world, with the surf world saddened at his unexpected heart attack.
Collins, who began surfing in Seal Beach when he was 8 years old, was one of the most influential surfers of our time, developing the forecasting system that first started out as a phone service, then the world’s largest surf website. These forecasts and real-time views of beaches reach 1.5 million surfers a week, with more than 500,000 people logging onto the website each month.
Before Surfline, surfers spent much of their time behind-the-wheel on “surfin’ safari” journeys in an aimless search for waves, hanging out on the beach for weeks at a time, dropping everything, including work and relationships, when the surf came up. Collins’ forecasts changed all that – now, surfers could use their time more efficiently, eventually giving rise to a breed of plugged-in surfers who make their living through high-dollar contests or by chasing monster swells.
Collins sold the company about a decade ago but stayed on as chief forecaster and president, spending much of his time traveling the world searching for surf.
The celebration of Collins’ life is open to all who want to join, but those not familiar with waves should beware because of the forecasted big swell for that weekend. Those who don’t surf can watch from the pier. It will start at 11 a.m.
There will also be a simultaneous paddleout in Hawaii at 11am at Ehukai Beach Park. (Surf depending, alternate location Sunset Beach).
To keep posted and for more info, join the Paddle out for Sean Collins Facebook page.
Feel free to bring flowers and leis to throw out into the ocean for Sean.
A fund has also been set up that the family will direct to various causes Sean would support. Please make checks payable to OCCF, memo “The Sean Collins Surfline Charitable Fund”.
Send to:
Orange County Community Foundation
4041 MacArthur Blvd, Suite 510
Newport Beach, CA 92660
