Andy Irons, the 32-year-old American surfer sponsored by Billabong who won the ASP World Championships for three years in a row between 2002 and 2004, passed away at the beginning of this month after withdrawing from the 2010 Rip Curl Search in Puerto Rico, where Kelly Slater won his 10th ASP World Championship title, at the age of 38. Irons reportedly died of dengue fever, a viral disease contracted in Bali or during an event in Portugal, while he was traveling to his home in Hawaii to participate in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. His wife was expecting their first child. Kelly Slater and other surfers mourned Irons’ death by raising their hands in the water in a paddle-out memorial service off a beach in Puerto Rico during the Rip Curl Search contest.

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