RIP: RICKY GRIGG

Legendary big-wave surfer, waterman and oceanographer dies at 77

Ricky Grigg, one of the first wave of Californians to make their way to Hawaii to tackle the North Shore's challenging surf, died Wednesday at his Waialae Iki home from pneumonia. He was 77 years old.

Grigg was born on April 12, 1937 in California and started surfing at nine years old. After finishing his B.S at Stanford in 1958, he moved to Hawaii and began charging big surf all over the North Shore, including Waimea Bay with guys like Eddie Aikau and Greg Noll. His best contest result was winning the 1966 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship and he starred in numerous surf films through the sixties. 

Grigg's ocean knowledge went beyond riding waves. He earned a master's degree in zoology and a doctorate in oceanography and became a professor at the University of Hawaii in 1970. In between teaching, surfing, diving and researching, he wrote two books, In The Beginning: Archipelago, The Origin And Discovery Of The Hawaiian Islands and Big Surf, Deep Dives and the Islands: My Life in the Ocean chronicled.

"Ricky really was, for lack of a better cliche, a pioneer that really was a waterman," friend and fellow surfer Fred Hemmings told Hawaii News Now. "His breadth of knowledge of the ocean really goes beyond just riding waves."

Grigg surfed into his 70s, and passed with his wife at his side. He'll be greatly missed by the surf community. 

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