David at WindanSea
DAVID P. ANDERSEN
Surfer and fisherman, 30
Services for David P. Andersen, a skilled surfer and fisherman,
who died while spearfishing off the coast of La Jolla, are scheduled
for 11 a.m. Saturday at Coast Vineyard Christian Church in La Jolla.
Mr. Andersen, 30, died last Saturday, apparently after spearing
a 45-pound white bass in the waters off Hospital Point, said longtime
friend and fellow diver Mark Del Muro.
"He died doing something he totally loved," Del Muro said. "He
was an absolute, pure surfer and all-around waterman."
Mr. Andersen, a lifelong La Jollan, graduated from La Jolla High
School and attended San Diego Mesa College. He was employed as a
mechanic, working on inboard and outboard boat motors, at H & H Marine
Center in the Morena District.
Mr. Andersen also worked at various times as a boatman on
Tavarua Island, a remote recreation spot in the Fiji Islands,
transporting clients to rare surf and spearfishing areas.
He was a longtime member of the WindanSea Surf Club. Following
the Saturday church Service, Mr. Andersen's ashes will be scattered at
sea in a ceremony off WindanSea Beach in La Jolla.
Survivors include his mother, Dorothy Andersen; sister, Leslie
Andersen, and fiancee, Christy Zemba, all of La Jolla.
As a postscript, I would like to add that over 200 people attended his memorial service, and over 100 surfers paddled out to the reef at WindanSea to lay him to rest. It was a very moving experience and a tribute to how well-loved this man was.
David's ashes being scattered at
WindanSea by his fiancee and friends.
After the catharsis of the ceremony, everyone paddled and surfed in to the beach and celebrated his life with a huge party that lasted all afternoon and included barbequeing and eating the giant fish which he died spearing, as would have been his wish.
Aloha David!
Tom Tweed, Woody Brown, Don Oakey, Paul Elder
His mother said that the lifeguard who found him told her David was discovered on the bottom with the fish resting on his chest. The white sea bass is now stuffed and resides over the doorway between the two dining rooms at the El Ranchero Mexican resturant on La Jolla Blvd., frequented by David and many of his friends.
Some thought it strange that the fish was the main meal at his wake, but as Jon Roseman put it, "David would have been really upset if nobody ate it, he would have said, 'after all the trouble I went through to get this fish, you'd better eat it!'"
Joe