"Jay didn't pass, because he lives so much in our present, in our heart and in our soul.
Jay had this magic ability to make all of us all feel so good, just around his precense,
to watch him surf is amazing. Jay's candle was burning on both ends, and did it
ever burn bright" says Jay's longtime friend, legendary surfer Allen Sarlo.
Sarlo was with Jay when he passed away, Jay had invited Sarlo to join him down in Puerto Escondido, Mexico where Jay had been on a surfing vacation.
"He was Facebooking me and telling me to come down, and I was reading his Facebook and was like
dude Jay just Facebooked me and told me to come down, and Solo (Scott) was in the next office 'yeah man, you should see these pictures', he was like we gotta go down there and I'm like okay, but Tahiti is fucking going off, but he goes 'No, no, no, we're going to Puerto.' I go alright, we're going to Puerto. I felt it, man, right there I just felt it. The look in Solo's eyes, I was just whoa dude, we're going to Puerto."
Sarlo reads the last message Jay sent him on Facebook: "Still in Mexico scoring waves everyday, for the last 2 months, Puerto's been like Pipeline and Backdoor. Allen, we need to get together we get back to celebrate that we're still here. Get the guys together and celebrate that we're still here. So when I get back, let's set it up. Hey Allen if you have the time, come on down, just a few days. we'll stay in a really nice hotel, we have the wives swim in the pool and you and I will go surfing."
"It's like okay, I'm thinking, I'm down." says Sarlo. "Anyways, his last words were in this Facebook message was 'I love you brother', and I was just like ah man, it just brought back so many memories, I lived like 200 yards away from him on Venice Blvd and we grew up surfing right there, straight down Venice Blvd. I go dude, who surfs Venice Blvd, it's a piece of crap shore break. He goes 'no, we're going to surf it', so we get down there and he's 8, 9 years old and I'm like whoa dude, I've never seen anybody surf here and he made it look so fun and so good. it was just amazing."
"Anyways, last days, we get down there, Solo and I walk in and Jay is right there: 'I got your
room right next to us, we're going to wake up at 6 in the morning and go surf the secret spot.'
I go 'Dude, just bring coffee man, I need coffee'. He goes 'okay'. So (next morning) he
comes in and hands us like 4 cups of coffee with sugar and cream, and my son goes 'who
fucking brings us coffee in the morning?' I go that's Jay Adams, dude. It was so good that Jay was there."
"And we surfed and the swell was big. We're all under gun, except for Jay. He's got the boards. He was showing me these pictures and he got a triple barrel. Dude, a triple barrel. It was
triply good. I'm looking at it going no shit, there's one tube, then a section then I go fuck, it's a triple barrel. It was the longest, the whole beach was talking about it, it was amazing."
"We surfed, we ate dinner at the night, we played pool, we just laughed, and the final day
he was saying 'I don't feel so good' and I'm like oh shit. He's going 'but Al the point's going off, we're going to the point, we're going to the point!' I go 'dude, it's like 110* man , I dunno if I'm going to surf.' I went down and just hung and watch Jay and Solo surf. Jay got 2 perfect waves. He got a 6ft pefect wave, outside the point all the way othe beach. I was going 'Whoa dude that wave was insane'. And then I seen him paddle back out. What the heck, dude, he's going back out for another. And another magic, magic wave, from all the way outside the point
he rode it all the way to the beach, stepped off on the sand, then I turn around, I was in the
palapa drinking a little mai tai, checking things out, then I see the Toyota just cruise, and I
go there goes Jay back to the hotel."
"And then at night (back at the hotel), I saw the lights were out and I go, 'Jay went to bed pretty early you know.' Solo said 'Yeah, he's not feeling good.' We all just ate, went to bed" recalls Sarlo. Along with Sarlo and Solo, Sarlo's son Colton was with them as well as their friend Paul Fisher who is a registered nurse.
"We were all just going to sleep, and all of a sudden Solo is waking me up, going 'Dude it's an emergency, Jay's not breathing!' Oh man, you kidding me, so I woke up, walked in the room and Tracy (Jay's wife was there)...we're all working on him. Solo's working on him, my son, Calton, and this nurse, registered nurse that just came on the surf trip was so amazing...we just wouldn't give up on him. Then you know, I just got up, I let Solo work on him and my son. I just got up, took 2 steps back and I just took it all in and I saw Jay's spirit just in the room and I just saw this big smile on his face and just know that he just went so peacefully."
Sarlo also remembers something Jay's wife said, "Tracy made a funny
statement, Tracy went 'Yeah, we messed around right before'. Yeah Jay! So he went out man,
he went out on top of the world. And with the Lord in him."
For photos from Jay's Memorial Paddle Out:
