Dustin Christopher Ray has passed away at the age of 39 in California, leaving three children, two of whom are now orphans.
The Morro Rock surf legend has lived a pretty intense life and was struggling with drug addiction. Sueann Groesbeck, his 23-year-old fiancé, lost her life in 2005 in a car accident in Cayucos.
Mike Jones, Dustin's longtime friend, has set up a memorial page on Facebook and is raising funds so that D-Ray's mother can take care of the children.
"Dustin Ray was loved by many people. The mother of his children was killed in a car accident many years ago", explains Mike Jones.
"He was a single parent for all of these years and recently passed away."
"His children have no parents, and the responsibility has fallen on Dustin's Mother, who is in no financial situation to take care of the kids by herself."
"D-Ray" was one of the best big wave surfers on the Central Coast. He scored 20-foot faces in Hawaii, epic waves in Cayucos, and extreme secret slabs in California.
Dustin's surf skills were featured in the surf movie "The Decline of Surfing Civilization."
"California on zero dollars a day? Well, first you got to get some sponsors, kids, so they can give you free stuff, and you can go home and sell it to all your friends," Dustin says in the surf film.
The antihero of big wave surfing was born on the 21st of November, 1972. He left the world of surfing on the 9th of September 9th, 2012. A memorial paddle-out is scheduled for the 29th of September at 11 am in Morro Rock.