Eight years ago today, on December 26th, 2011, Surfline’s founder Sean Collins died from a heart attack while playing tennis in Orange County. His legacy lives on at Surfline and at beaches around the world, and he’s still greatly missed. To honor the anniversary of his passing, we’ve resurfaced a video and reflections from surfers whose lives he affected below. (More stories about Sean’s life and legacy will be unveiled in 2020 — Surfline’s 35th anniversary.)
*Note: Most of the quotes below were gathered at Sean’s paddleout in 2011.
“Got to spend a few quiet moments with Sean at the US Open. He was congratulating me on the success of the event and on our company. Being a huge Surfline fan, I responded in kind. He quickly reflected on his career, his successes and failures. His conclusion was that he was the luckiest man alive. He lived his passion, and was able to support a beautiful family while doing so. He felt blessed because his job never felt like work. My feelings mirrored his, and we high fived each other. At that point, Kelly interrupted us with yet another crowd-pleasing air, and we both giggled like eight-year-olds! I will miss Sean deeply, and when I do, will reflect on the amazing moments we shared.” –Bob Hurley
“RIP Sean Collins. You’ve been a friend for over 25 years. Thanks for the memories, surf trips, and wave knowledge.” –Kelly Slater
“The coolest thing about Sean was he was so grounded and down to earth, where other editors, writers, publishers have huge egos and narrow opinions. Sean made sure that Surfline was well rounded and showcased a broad range of our sport. I have such a great respect for the quiet wave wizard. He was an amazing human.” –Ken Skindog Collins
“I thought I had a pretty good grasp of why and how we get waves, but was stumped over how Thalia St in Laguna could never have better waves than anywhere, except on a short period NW windswell. Of course Sean knew, and explained how a 600-foot deep reef off Huntington Beach would catch a NW groundswell and refract it into Huntington, while shallower windswell would just slide on by and voila! we’d have great little waves. Knowledge is a great value and Sean was so generous with his. Thanks mate. See you at Scorpion Bay one day.”–Ian Cairns
“RIP Sean. You will be missed, and with every red bubble on the map you will be remembered.” –Peter Mel
Sean and AJ.
“Few people can change a culture, Sean did that with his ‘Know Before You Go’ which put an end to Phil Edwards’ ‘You Should Have Been Here an Hour Ago.'”–Peter “PT” Townend
“Thanks for all the hugs, love and support over the years. My first trip to Mex with you was unforgettable.”–Carissa Moore
“A master swell forecaster and friend that I will miss so much.”–Sally Fitzgibbons
Sean and Daren.
“Sean was great to us big-wave guys and was passionate about what we were doing and it always came through in the discussions we had about where, when and how. RIP.”–Twiggy Baker
“He changed the face of surfing as we knew it and helped people everywhere maximize the amount of quality experiences we had in the surf. As we all know, time is our most precious asset and he enabled us all to get the best surf and the greatest amount of enjoyment in the limited amount of time available. Beyond all that he was just a great guy always with the best interests of surfing and surfers at heart.” –Shaun and Carla Tomson
“I’ve known Sean since he first started and we worked together on his growing presence since the early days. Over the past three decades, he was an integral part of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. On the final day of the Pipe Masters he stuck his smiling face in the Admin Trailer and said “hi” to everyone with that humble, low-key approach of his and we all thanked him for a job well done. I’m glad he was able to see out the event and get a last chance to be in Hawaii. Now, he’ll be able to put his predications to use firsthand!” –Randy Rarick
“Sean helped bring a lot that joy to untold millions. One time I called him about doing a surgical strike mission to Pavones and he just said “I’m going to (redacted) if that tells you anything.” He gave me his forecast; I hung up the phone, immediately re-dialed my agent to book tickets and scored huge — talk about joy. Sean Collins=legend.”–Dick Messeroll
“I don’t think anyone can debate that Sean Collins revolutionized the way we go surfing. It wasn’t about the money. For many years, we know that “surf forecasting” was hardly a lucrative business. It still isn’t. But during those years, Sean endured the vitriol of a vocal minority. He endured the name-calling and “sell-out” accusations to share information that he believed should be available to everyone. I have countless memories of Sean steering me in the right direction to enjoy the best waves of swell or season. Compile mine with millions of other surfers who can say the same thing and it’s easy to argue that Sean Collins is responsible for bringing more stoke to the world than any other human in the past 25 years. As sad as it is to lose Sean, we’re not going to have trouble remembering him. He’ll always be right there with us every time we ask, “What’s the swell doing?”–Evan Slater
“All of us need true friends like Sean. He has always been there for me: steady and intelligent, thoughtful and respectful, steadfast and confident–as he had always been there for his family, his kids, his partners and his crew at Surfline. He was always there for me to help navigate through the tough times we all go through–and I hope I was always there for him. Sean and I surfed together, played tennis together many times, traveled together and spent good times at all the usual industry events. He’s the kind of guy you just want to hang out with: good athlete, good character, no bullshit. This is why he has been so successful at pioneering the world’s greatest surf and weather forecasting + media/content site ever. That is why he has a wonderful loving wife and great kids. That is why he has so many good friends that speak about him the same way as me. Good things happen to good people.”–Bob McKnight
Photo: Jeremiah Klein
“Generous in spirit, Sean made me realize the only limitations in my life were the ones I placed on myself. He was so sensible, reliable, intelligent and humble with his extraordinary talent. I am so grateful to have shared the amazing times over the years with Sean and his family. I can’t begin to imagine the enormity of their pain and sense of shock and loss. My heart and soul go out to Daren, Tyler and AJ. Any challenges in life pale into significance when you lose the life of someone you love. Especially a life as large as Sean’s.”–Layne Beachley
“Sean was so passionate about his work, but mostly I will remember him as a dedicated father. Nearly every time I spoke to him he would tell me stories about his sons AJ and Tyler — how he would try to spend as much time as possible with them. Sean and I spoke for about an hour a couple weeks ago on the North Shore and we talked about our kids and how important they are and how much they teach us. He is a great example for all of us–do what you love and live life to the fullest because you just never know what the future holds.”–Shane Dorian
“I have so many stories and great memories. So many great trips: Scorpion Bay, Todos, Cortes, Oregon, Mainland Mexico, all over Baja. As a contest director for events, Sean was always there no matter what time of night it might be to give me the most accurate surf forecasts from Africa to Spain or anywhere in the world. His passion and love for the ocean was unsurpassed. He has always taken the time for me and has truly been one of my best friends.” –Mike Parsons
“What Sean gave us was nothing less than a whole world of waves, and a sense of our place in the world; the wonder, the joy that comes from knowing that a gust of wind doesn’t breath upon the Southern Ocean or sweep down out of the sea of Okhotsk that doesn’t bind us together in great passion.”–Sam George
“Sean reminded me of an oak tree–just a very solid person that cared about the people he was with and the surroundings he was in. He was a soft-spoken man that was able to command respect just from how he carried himself as a person. You can tell how much experience he had because he never got rattled when others were stressing; he was always the calm voice. e was a true adventurer and left many astounded with his knowledge of the ocean. I learned so much from him on trips to Mexico, just sitting on the back of his truck, have a Tecate and watching AJ catch one last wave before dark.”–Taylor Knox
“Sean was such a game-changer for the whole sport and it amazes me how much he has done for all of us. I was always so amazed by how much he did, but felt like not too many people realized that. He was the guy who helped make my life a lot easier and what was even better than that was he enjoyed doing it even if he wasn’t the one going surfing.”–Damien Hobgood
“Been thinking about Sean a lot and his impact he’s had on the sport of surfing. Steve Jobs-like for the surf world, visionary who’s DNA will always be with surfing forever. I will never forget during the Globe Fiji Pro, me and Sean were in the lookout tower debating how big the surf is when we both saw this wave come in and both said “Wow, that was as big as the photo in the restaurant.” For some reason, I just always remember that wave. I also remember how his laptop that he was traveling with reminded me of a 50-inch flat screen.”–CJ Hobgood
“Many will view the loss of Sean as a loss to the surfing community. I view it as a loss to the public safety community. When I served as Lifeguard Chief for the city of San Diego, we couldn’t count on the National Weather Service. We needed to know because we needed to staff up for bigger swells, and when the surf was really big, we needed to close certain areas of the coast. Ina state that values public access to the coastline, closure is not an easy decision to make. My call, wen the surf was really big, was always to Sean. He always answered and gave the best information he had, so that we could protect the public and prepare our staff. Never a charge for that. His contribution was enormous when lives were on the line. As Roberto Clemente said, “If you have a chance to help others and fail to do so, you are wasting your time on this earth.” Sean did not waste his time.”–Chris Brewster, President, US Lifesaving Association
“I had the honor of going on a trip with Sean close to chase a swell. At that point, I wouldn’t really call it chasing. More like knowing. His intuition was spot-on and we scored. Imagine that. The best part was watching Sean pick apart the swell. Why it was pulsing at certain times. What the wind was doing. The tides. His mind was like a data bank that was constantly gathering info. That was my first trip with Sean. But I traveled on many more missions with Sean’s words ticked in my back pocket. So thank you, Sean. For your passion and love for this beautiful thing we call surfing. Because without waves–and knowing where to find them–who know what we all would be doing.”–Rob Machado