Just saw this.
https://www.surfer.com/features/rest-in-peace-george-downing-1930-2018/
George’s youngest son and I are classmates and friends. Kainoa told me Gerry Lopez was working on a video biography of his father. I hope he got all he needed.
Aloha George, you will be missed.
I just read this in an e-mail sent from a buddy clipped from a surf report. The thing about these giants is, that they leave giant shadows as well. No one that surfs has not been influenced by his water knowledge. A true pioneer. A true Hero. He will be missed indeed.
No kidding.
The era of real watermen… yes Laird is one modern day example of one, and there are definitely others, but the world has changed where the recollection of surfers after the real forefathers, Kahanamoku, Blake, Simmons, Velzy, Quigg, Kekai, the Aikau’s unnamed beach boys as well as luminaries too many to mention.
Downing’s company was rarefied air… cohorts like Van Dyke, Peter Cole, Jose Angel, a younger Kanaiapuni, the Ho family, on and on… it’s different now.
Those days are gone forever, and they become more rare as time goes along. That’s not to say all the young upstarts are in the process of creating their own special histories… they definitely are.
But George’s day has a special flavor savored by some, but remembered by few.
His ship has sailed… bon voyage to where the soul eternally rests.