Home | Sendoffs | Unique Funerals | Ash Fight!
No dress code needed at a surfer's funeral celebration.
A traditional surfer sendoff is heavily influenced by Hawaiian traditions. The ceremony involves fellow surfer friends and family doing what is called a paddle out. A paddle out has surfers go to the deceased’s favorite shore, swimming out and sitting in a circle on their surfboards. The mourners then go around the circle remembering the person, and the whole ceremony is usually very reverent and respectful.
However the standard paddle out was not what one unnamed surfer received after his death. Pseudonym Tequila Tom enjoyed tequila and partying. When his friends gathered for his paddle out ceremony, they brought along a large bottle of tequila. After a few laps of the mourning circle the bottle had been drained and the comments about Tequila Tom became less and less reverent but more and more funny. As the surfer buddies laughed about a life well-lived, one who carried his ashes got ready to spread them in the ocean, as was planned.
That’s when things went a little off track, as the man went to spread his friends ashes he missed the ocean. Instead, the handful of ashes he had went straight into the face of another surfer. Before long the group was having an all out ash fight. But while this may seem disrespectful to some, for the partying Tequila Tom and his friends, it seems just right.