ZERO6 arte/desordem [art/mess]

Andy Irons - The End of the Party

Hawaiian Andy Irons is dead. He was 32. Andy, the three-time world champion and the only a surfer to challenge and beat Kelly Slater at his peak, had been diagnosed with Dengue Fever, a mosquito-borne disease. Andy caught the disease in Puerto Rico, where an outbreak of Dengue Fever this year has resulted in 8381 confirmed infections and 29 deaths.

Too ill to compete in the WT event there, he left the island and flew to Miami where he was put on a drip by a doctor. Andy wanted to see his own doctor in Hawaii, but on the connecting flight from Miami to Dallas he began vomiting. He left the flight and checked into a hotel room at the Grand Hyatt, DFW. Andy was found dead in his bed by hotel staff when he failed to answer a wake-up call. He was pronounced dead at 9:46am, CST. An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow at nine am to determine the cause of death. If a toxicology test is required, it may take up to three months to complete.

Kala Alexander, 41, a world-renowned big-wave surfer from Andy’s home island of Kauai, was nine when Andy was born. “He was born in my mom’s sister’s car on the way to the hospital. I’ve been there since day one. I’ve held him in my arms all through his years in diapers. I knew something serious was up when Andy didn’t show for his heat in Puerto Rico. I had a bad feeling.”

Kala added: “I don’t know who let him check into a hotel room and not a hospital. You need a nurse. A friend. Anyone.”

Andy's wife Lyndie is six weeks away from giving birth to their first child, a boy, Axel Jason Irons.

"I've had my fair shares of hills and valleys, but my life's been radical and exciting. Stuff that kings would die to do. Straight up, fucken A. The lifestyle we've got and the life I've led since I was 17, I can't even tell my friends. I try and tell stories and they think I'm making it up or saw it in a fucking movie. Straight up. It's the life I wanted since I caught my first wave." Andy Irons, October 12, 2010. – Derek Rielly (with additional reporting by Sam McIntosh)

Mourners around the world have shown their grief in numerous ways. The Puerto Rico Search event called a lay-day out of respect for Andy, with all surfers, event organisers and hundreds of admirers paddling out for a memorial ceremony. Nine-time world world champion Kelly Slater was amongst those who attended the ceremony: "A few weeks ago I had a friend going over to Kauai to see Andy, and I said send him a message: When Andy surfs angry he smashes people and tell him to come to PR angry, focus that energy and use it," Slater said. "So my friend called him and said he told AI the message and AI said he’s ready and I was so looking forward to see him surf this week. Just to see him."

"There aren’t words to describe," Slater said. "Unfortunately I’ve been through this with friends. There’s nothing that can make it better. You just have to feel it and process all those memories."

One particular memorial was crafted by Justin Jay in an unlikely location, downtown New York. "It's such terrible day for the surfing community," Justin said. "This is a guerilla wheat paste installation that I did last night as a tribute to Andy from the City of New York. Please feel free to forward to anyone who you think might appreciate knowing that we’re thinking of Andy here in New York City." – Elliot Struck

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