Photo Gallery: North Shore search
Kirk Passmore was no stranger to the ocean.
Surfing was his passion. He grew up in California, where he was a member of the surfing team at Carlsbad High School, north of San Diego, and started visiting Hawaii as a teen 18 years ago, his family said.
"He used to come out here and stay at our house for the winter, and we let him sleep on the couch or whatever and just surf," Passmore’s friend of 12 years, Stephen Matthews, said Thursday as he sat in his pickup truck and stared at the raging whitecaps in the ocean that overcame his tall, red-haired friend Wednesday on the North Shore.
"He was a supergregarious, fun-loving guy," Matthews said. "He was one of those guys, when he walked in the room, he brought the energy, you know what I mean? He was just all smiles, jovial and just well respected and liked by everybody, got along with everybody. He was a nice, genuine guy."
Rescue crews from the Coast Guard and the city battled pouring rain and pounding surf Thursday to continue to search for Passmore, 32, who disappeared Wednesday after a 20-foot wave at the Alligator Rock surf spot broke on top of him at about 11:20 a.m.
Ocean Safety spokeswoman Shayne Enright said at the scene Thursday that waves were smaller than on Wednesday, but dark, rainy conditions made it difficult to see below the surface.
A high-surf warning was in effect Wednesday due to a north swell. The warning continued Thursday for all north and east shores.
Fire Capt. Terry Seelig said turbulent conditions were preventing the department from deploying scuba divers to search coral and reef tables for Passmore.
"That’s not feasible," he said at the scene. "It’s not safe. And also, the ocean conditions are such that the visibility is so poor that it’d be difficult to do the scuba search anyway. Right now we’re just able to do the surface from the air and a little bit with the jet ski, but with the jet ski you can’t get in the area that he was last seen because of the wave conditions."
Passmore’s surfboard washed up Wednesday, broken in two, down from Alligator Rock at Chun’s Reef.
Chris Owens, who was surfing in a group with Passmore when he was last seen, posted an account of the incident Thursday on his Facebook profile.
"We all knew it was a heavy wave and when we looked back, we could see Kirk’s board tombstoning," Owens wrote. "Immediately three guys paddling were moving in to get him along with two skis. Apparently he broke his ear drum, had no equilibrium and was trying to swim down instead of up, so one guy grabbed him but he kept slipping out of his grip, he had no vest or anything on to grab onto.
"Then came the worst case, another set came in right away and then they lost him, his leash broke from his board."
The Coast Guard said it plans to continue its search today.
"Essentially we have not stopped searching since this has begun," Lt. Cmdr. Nick Worst said Thursday.
Passmore’s family released a statement Thursday through his alma mater, Brigham Young University-Hawaii in Laie, that indicates they believe he died.
"Kirk Passmore, February 11, 1981, to November 13, 2013," the statement begins.
It continues, "He was not new to big wave surfing, having surfed most of the well-known big wave locations, including Waimea Bay, Sunset Beach, Pipeline and outer reefs on the north shores of Hawaii. He was a familiar face at Todos Santos off Baja California. He also surfed Maverick’s in Northern California and Puerto Escondido in mainland Mexico."
According to the statement, Passmore is survived by mother Diane, father and stepmother David and Karey, and siblings Alyson Adams, Merrily Roberts and Matthew Passmore.
Matthews said Passmore worked as a representative in California for Matthews’ Waialua surf shop, Three Stones, selling surfboards there before he moved to the southern coast of France for three years.
Passmore relocated to Hawaii two years ago, and Matthews made him a co-owner of the shop near the old Waialua Sugar Mill.
Matthews said it’s been difficult to lose someone so instantly whom he talked to every day — a good friend who stood up in his wedding two months ago and was known and well liked by so many.
Passmore’s workplace, Banzai Sushi Bar in Haleiwa, closed Wednesday after news of the incident spread. The restaurant’s chalkboard sign indicated it would be open for dinner Thursday and ended with "RIP Kirk Passmore."
