Western Australia’s surfing community is mourning the loss of one of its own today, celebrating the life of 47-year-old Aaron Beveridge with a paddle-out at one of his favourite breaks.
Aaron Beveridge was surfing at Surfer’s Point in Prevelly, near the mouth of Margaret River, three hours south of Perth, on June 7 when he got into trouble and fellow surfers lost sight of him.
Search efforts were hampered by rough weather and ultimately suspended indefinitely on Monday, pending any new information.
Many locals have continued patrolling land and water hoping to bring his body home.
Today, they braved the seas for a different reason — to honour the legacy of man who earned more friends and barrels than most would in twice the years.
Mr Beveridge’s family invited competent surfers to meet at the surf break where he was last seen and participate in a paddle-out — a tradition in which surfers form a circle in the water and observe a minute of silence for lost loved ones.
Others honoured him from land, with his family laying a wreath on the shore of the ocean that served as his home away from home.
Big character made an impact
Having surfed the area for years, Mr Beveridge, better-known as “Azza”, was enough of a presence to be immortalised in the pages of surfer anthology The Nomad Files.
Pictured with his eyes on the water, he had a mug of coffee in one hand, a biscuit in the other, and a paper on his lap “studying the new morning swell” from his maroon 1988 Ford Falcon sedan.
“While millions, even billions, of people scramble around our world racing for buses, trains, and planes, speeding to work, honking, cussing, and stressing, one man sits alone,” author Jordan West wrote of a 29-year-old Mr Beveridge close to two decades ago.
According to Mr West, the 6-foot-5 surfer “from the North Island of New Zealand’s ragged edges” could not understand why so many people disappeared into the rat race.
At the paddle-out he was remembered as someone who lived life in the moment.
Mr Beveridge is survived by his three children.
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