Friends and fellow surfers are expecting a massive crowd when they gather on the beach Saturday to pay tribute to big wave charger Noel Cameron Robinson, a North Coast native who lived and died by the power of the sea.
A huge turnout would befit a man who lived large in every way, despite his relatively small stature, they said.
Robinson, 39, died in a surfing accident last Friday off Puerto Escondido, Mexico, his second home, though he roamed the world in search of the biggest swells with some of the sport's most acclaimed practitioners.
He was, friends said, a world-class barrel rider whose humility, humor and contagious smile made him friends wherever he went.
"As a surfer and just a member of the Sonoma County community out here in west county, what I can tell you is that all of us are rocked by this," said friend Jim Nevill of Bodega Bay, founder and director of Lifeskills, a wilderness program for teens and schools.
Northern Light Surf Shop owner Nick Marlow closed his Bodega store Friday after learning of his friend's death, which was widely reported by surfing news organizations around the world.
The store was still closed Wednesday, as those who knew and worked with Robinson mourned his departure from the tight-knit North Coast surfing community.
"It's a big loss for sure, but so many people lose a loved one but they've got just a few close relatives to mourn with," Marlow said Wednesday. "We've got a whole worldwide surfing community that we're mourning with."
"He was such a huge, huge personality," said store manager Sarah Mollica. "He's just leaving a huge hole in the world — definitely in Sonoma County and Puerto, and everywhere else that he traveled."
Raised in Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, Robinson discovered surfing in high school and was soon a fixture on the North Coast, where he was always the first to face the waves, according to a tribute by ESPN Web editor and surfing writer Jake Howard, a childhood friend.
Best friend and sometimes employer Pat Parks, owner of Gold Coast Coffee & Bakery in Duncans Mills, said Robinson was addicted the first time he stood up on a board. He had what Parks and others said was a pure, organic connection with the ocean that made surfing its own reward without the need for contests or competition.
"To me he's kind of like the surfing Buddha," Parks said. "He's always got a big smile on his face."
Though he was a champion wrestler at El Molino High School and a straight-A student at Sonoma State University, where he studied energy management, Robinson ultimately determined that surfing was his chief interest. He tailored his life to accommodate plenty of time in the surf.
He was well-known for his frugality, his comfort with travel and his willingness to ask friends for a place to sleep — though never without repaying the debt in work around the house.
He worked frequent stints at Parks' bakery, working hours before dawn, when he'd take off for the beach.
"That whole clich?&‘carpe diem' thing was just definitive of him," Nevill said.
Later, he began experimenting with videography and learned that he had an eye for photography and editing that allowed him to move from making films of the North Coast scene to capturing the rides of the world's finest, earning a solid living in the meantime.
His footage of South African surfer and friend Grant "Twiggy" Baker at February's Mavericks Surf Contest in Half Moon Bay earned him recognition last month at the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards, known as "the Oscars of big wave surfing," where Baker won for "Ride of the Year."
Baker and American Greg Long were among those on the beach about 200 miles south of Acapulco when Robinson wiped out on a relatively small wave last Friday and never resurfaced.
Robinson is survived by his brother, Sebastopol resident Chris Playe, and his father, Phil Playe, Parks said.
Friends will gather at Goat Rock State Beach on Saturday for a 10 a.m. ceremonial paddle out at the mouth of the Russian River, followed by a potluck party and celebration behind the Jenner Inn, 10400 Highway 1.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: