Surfers form a circle to offer prayers for Malik Joyeux Photo Bruno Lemos - Lemosimage.com
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Passages: Malik Joyeux R.I.P.
Photo sequence of Malik Joyeux's final wave at Pipeline on 2/12/05 at 10h09 - Click here
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 4 December, 2005 : - - Tragedy rocked the surfing world when 25 year old Tahitian surfer Malik Joyeuz was killed in a freak wipeout while surfing Pipeline. The Tahitain surf star claimed the Billabong XXL award for the best tube ride at Teahupoo, Tahiti in 2003. His loss is a devastating blow for the surfing family who will remember him as a brave, fearless warrior and great ambassador for the sport.
Malik Joyeux's last wave at Pipeline on 2nd December 2005 at 10h09 (Hawaii time) was captured by photographer Cameron Nelson. Check the photo sequence at Vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com
Malik Joyeaux. Teahupoo, Tube of the Year 2003/04 photo Sean Davey/Billabongxxl.com
Grieving in Wake of Fatality at Pipeline
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 4 December, 2005 : - - The death of Malik Joyeux at Banzai Pipeline on Friday cast a pall along Oahu's North Shore. "Everybody around here, from surfers to lifeguards to friends of his … are really grieving right now," said Pat Kelly, a lifeguard lieutenant with Hawaii's Ocean Safety Division. "It just shows that this can happen to anybody."
Nobody knows exactly what happened to Joyeux in the moments after what witnesses described as a violent wipeout. He took off deep on one of the larger waves and the thick lip pounded the surfer as he was attempting a bottom turn. Its force broke Joyeux's board in two and tore his leash from his ankle.
He failed to surface and a widespread rescue attempt was launched by lifeguards, surfers and scores of people watching from the beach. Many of them swam out and drifted in the current, probing with their feet. About 10 minutes passed before one of them discovered Joyeux's body underwater, 200 yards east of the surf break.
Efforts to revive him failed. His death was the second this year at Pipeline. The other, in February, involved photographer Jon Mozo.
"All I know is that he was an insane brother," Raimana Van Bastolaer said of his close friend. Laird Hamilton described Joyeux as "a very positive and happy person, always stoked." Hamilton said he was not shocked that a top-caliber surfer had lost his life at Pipeline.
"It's a bone crusher," he said of a wave that jacks up so suddenly and steeply that surfers often get hung up on the face and are sent with the lip over the falls and onto the reef. "I saw guys carried out of Pipeline daily," Hamilton said.
"I saw one guy who had the top of his scalp torn off like a boiled egg after it's been cut with a knife. I've seen guys with broken arms, broken backs and even broken necks. I once went over and landed on my board and split my head open like it was tomahawked. Now with the crowds you have people putting themselves into more critical positions, going deeper and deeper, and other guys dropping in on you".
Joyeux's death has put a damper on the Pipeline Masters, the season-ending third leg of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, which begins Thursday. But the premier surfing contest of the season, celebrating its 35th anniversary, will go on as planned.
Malik Joyeux 1980 - 2005 : photo courtesy Ultrasport.no
Pro's death reminds amateurs about surf safety and helmets.
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 3 December, 2005 : - - Lifeguards say deadly surf accidents make others more safety-conscious in the days that follow. But out at Pipeline on Saturday, surfers were back on their boards one day after the wave took a life. Sets aren't as big today as the swell that killed 25-year-old Tahitian Pro Malik Joyeux, but it's enough to knock these regulars down time and again.
"Looks like they're just charging in as usual," says Ron Replogle. "I guess it shows just how dangerous these conditions can be for even the best." "I don't see a single helmet out here today in light of what happened yesterday," Replogle said. "So obviously it didn't scare too many people."
Parents think kids or amateurs might wear helmets if they saw the pros in them more often. "It's all about influence," says Cindy Replogle "The younger people see what the professionals do or the older ones do, and that would probably be the only way that would happen."
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Passages - Surfersvillage
