Mavericks surfers mourn death of Sion Milosky

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (KGO) -- The surfing community is mourning the death of big wave surfer Sion Milosky of Hawaii, who died at Mavericks on Wednesday. His friends say he lost his life doing what he loved.

Milosky's wife went out into the waves at Mavericks on the back of a jet ski Thursday to make peace with the surf break that took the life of her husband. Milosky's friends and family from Hawaii gathered on the beach with flowers to pay tribute to the big wave surfer who was rising to the top of his sport.

"You could just tell by the way he rode waves he was fearless and had the skill and the ability to do it," Mavericks Contest founder Jeff Clark said.

People at Mavericks the day Milosky died say he was held down by a series of waves up to 40 feet high.

"Just one of them is really hard to take, two of them is going to put you at the edge, maybe, and then the third one, we don't know how many but if you don't get to come back up to the surface, eventually you're going to black out and probably that's what happened," surfer Grant Washburn said.

The only other surfer to have died at Mavericks was also from Hawaii. Mark Foo drowned while surfing in 1994. There is a makeshift memorial to Foo on the beach at Mavericks, already one has also been made for Milosky.

Milosky leaves behind his wife and two young daughters. His drowning follows the near-drowning of surfer Jacob Trette in January.

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