Muere Chris Brown

Chris Brown, campeón junior del ISA en 1988, integrante del CT durante tres temporadas, falleció ayer a los 48 años en Santa Barbara, California, por causas que aún se desconocen en este momento.

Nacido en Los Angeles, Brown se trasladó muy pronto a Santa Bárbara donde empezaría a hacer surf a los 10 años. Muy pronto empezó a despuntar en competición ganando el Campeonato Mundial de Surf Amateur de 1988.

El estilo fluido y suave de Brown fue comparado con el del tres veces campeón del mundo, Tom Curren, que también era de Santa Barbara, y le llevó a clasificarse para el CT en 1988, siendo nombrado Rookie del año en aquella temporada. La presión del Tour le pasó factura, y pasó al semi retiro de las competiciones durante el siguiente año, volviendo en 1992 y completando la de 1993 en el puesto 23 del CT.

En aquella época Brown le empezó a gustar el surf de olas grandes y compartió baños con Jay Moriarty. De hecho, fue testigo de la famosa caída de Moriarty en Mavericks.

Una vez retirado del surfing profesional Brown prosiguió su vida como pescador en Santa Barbara aunque continuaba surfeando siempre que podía.

Deja una hija.

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It’s taken me a couple days to even want to think about it. Chris Brown and I were nearly inseparable as teenagers. This guy was just such an excited, happy light in my childhood. He introduced me to #AlMerrick and @cisurfboards. My brother and I stayed with Chris and his family on the Mesa in SB a couple summers and traveled to Mexico, Australia, England, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and beyond with Chris and his dad, Dave. We used to sit in his house and just goof off all day listening to his brother play every heavy metal song we knew on his guitar. The day I got my first Al shape when I was 16, Chris and I drove back and forth twice in the same day to Lompoc to surf cause SB had no waves. We’d listen to GnR in his brown truck. He used to mess with #JoshBradury when Josh would follow us in his car by waiting at a turn signal, pretending his car had something wrong with it, even getting out to check the engine, until the light was very yellow and then jump in and take off, leaving Josh stuck for another light! Haha. Chris and I shaped a board together in his parent’s backyard, each shaping a rail. Being from the east coast and riding @matt_kechele shapes, I had thick, rounded rails while Chris had been schooled on the finer, precision rails that worked well at Rincon. When we finally felt the board we laughed and decided we had to have Chris reshape mine down to feel like his rail. He actually won a #PSAA event on that board cause Al was gone for a month somewhere and he had broken his favorite board. I felt a huge sense of pride that he had competed on that thing. Chris, Sean, and I made ourselves wooden boards to ride the ice plant down the Mesa in front of his house. I guess the waves were so flat all summer we had no better ideas. We would skate down the steep hills to the Channel Islands shop to pass time when there was nothing else to do. It was so exciting being from the east coast, knowing Chris, and then getting to know the Channel Islands family. It was truly life changing for me. Chris surfed like Tom Curren (@curfuffle). You would see the lineage in every wave he rode and being around that style as a kid was so inspiring....

Una publicación compartida de Kelly Slater (@kellyslater) el 22 Ene, 2019 a las 11:00 PST

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We are going to miss your big smile and enthusiasm CB. I really looked up to Chris Brown as a youngster, he was one of the only guys that could beat @kellyslater in the late 80s and early 90s. He went on to charge Mavericks and become a Commercial fishermen... what a legend. Thanks for your friendship over the years Brahda. Ps. I have no details on what happened.

Una publicación compartida de Keith Malloy (@thetorpedopeople) el 20 Ene, 2019 a las 10:49 PST