Surfing
wasn't just a sport to
Pat. It was his way of life,
his poetry, his Zen, his muse.
He fashioned his own big-wave
guns and rode the deepwater
mysto breaks of Mainland
Mexico. In quieter moments, he
took oils to canvas to paint
his best friends—the
waves, coves and swaying palms
of California and Mexico that
marked "his"
beaches. Pat drank beer with
friends and perfected his
plein-air painting, producing
colorful landscapes of his
favorite beaches. He would
return to Laguna Beach,
California, to exhibit and
sell his paintings. A legend
among the early big-wave
surfers, and popular among
collectors of surf art, he was
55 when he died in 2006 of
liver disease.
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