Passages; R.I.P. Gaulden Reed

Surfing pioneer and sportsman Reed honored at seaside ceremony

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 25 November, 2007 : - - Daytona Beach -- The ashes of surfing pioneer and all-around sportsman Gaulden Reed were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean Friday afternoon at SunSplash Park.

Dozens of friends, surfers and admirers of the 89-year-old Reed, who died of cancer Nov. 6, gathered on the blustery beach just after 1 p.m. and watched as his grandson Renny Herrero, his great-granddaughter Isabella Herrero and others dropped Reed's remains into the choppy sea.

A native of Volusia County, the beach was Reed's playground and he found joy in every moment he spent there. He was a pioneer of the surfing scene here, paddling out on his 14- to-16-foot-long plywood board with a mahogany nose.

"That baby would catch any wave," he once said. If the waves weren't good, he'd paddle out to where the big tarpon run and spend his time on the water fishing. For years, he made an annual trek to Hawaii for the Buffalo Big Board Tournament, but it was his love for surfing off Florida's East Coast that landed him in the inaugural class of the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in Cocoa Beach.

At least four surfers -- including local champion Mimi Munro -- donned wetsuits and plunged into the water with their surfboards to honor Reed. As the surfers paddled out, four planes flew overhead and performed the missing man formation, in which the third plane separates from the other three.

Reed's daughter, Rebecca Herrero, a pastor and psychotherapist from San Anselmo, Calif., talked about her father's life and accomplishments. She also read a poem about freedom and the ocean, written by world champion surfer Frieda Zamba of Flagler Beach.

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Lyda Longa

Passages - Surfersvillage