Tributes planned for man who died fulfilling his surfing dream
The last time Ralph Brown saw his brother Dana was at their father’s funeral.
Eight months later, Ralph is planning Dana’s funeral.
On Nov. 6, Dana Brown, 60, paddled out to the Huntington Beach Pier, fulfilling a long-awaited journey that began in Florida, where he was living in a van. But when a large wave slammed him into one of the pier’s pillars, he suffered fatal injuries and died in a hospital four days later.
Dana’s farewell will be anything but typical. Ralph and brother Robert Brown will be captaining a 68-foot catamaran racing boat called the American Dream in a race around the world against a British team and they say they’ll be taking some of Dana’s ashes with them.
Ralph said they plan to sprinkle some of Dana’s ashes as they pass by the Huntington Beach Pier. “I think he would like that,” Ralph said by phone from Florida.
And Robert plans to embed some of Dana’s ashes in a handmade surfboard, which will accompany the brothers on their around-the-world adventure.
Internationally recognized boatmen, the two brothers own the world records for the longest ocean voyage in a flats boat and the smallest powerboat to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
As he comes to terms with Dana’s death in Huntington Beach, Ralph couldn’t help but reminisce.
He said his brothers and sisters lived a Tom Sawyer-esque childhood.
“In Cocoa Beach our backyard was a canal, and you could walk about a mile and you have the Atlantic Ocean,” Ralph said. “Our parents let us run all over that island.”
Ralph described how their parents allowed him, Dana and Robert to take a boat out to nearby islands to camp alone.
“The mosquitoes would be so bad, it never failed — we would pack up and leave at 2 a.m.,” Ralph said. “We would get home and my mom would laugh at us because we said we were never going back. But we would be back next weekend.”
Dana and his seven brothers and sisters were born of the water — “We were all swimmers, surfers and divers,” Ralph said — and surfing clearly was part of Dana’s DNA as well as a driving force in his quest to some day surf at Huntington Beach.
Dana and his father, both veterans, chose to live out of a van for many years in Cocoa Beach, surfing local spots, but they also went on adventures together. Ralph said they trekked the Appalachian Trail, traveled across Canada and even journeyed to Israel.
Then in March, six months after George died from complications of old age, Dana decided to take the trip to Huntington Beach he had been dreaming about for so long.
While Dana died unexpectedly, Ralph found solace in the fact that his brother’s liver and kidneys were used to save two peoples’ lives.
A GoFundMe campaign set up by one of Dana’s friends, with a $5,000 goal for funeral expenses, has gathered $ 5,950 from more than 130 people.
The family has planned a surfboard paddle-out for Dec. 3 in Cocoa Beach. The day after, some of Dana’s ashes will be buried beside his father at a Florida cemetery.
Meanwhile, Ralph and Robert — who are veterans of many adventures at sea, including being trapped in a whirlpool once — are excited to know that a part of Dana will be with them on their around-the-world catamaran race, which they say will be their greatest adventure yet.
Twitter: @benbrazilpilot
