Jay Adam’s seminal position as a major figure in the history of skateboarding often overshadows his skill and his passion as a surfer. His influence on skateboarding stemming from his involvement in Dogtown documented in the gospels of C.R. Stecyk are the catalyst for what makes a skateboarder. People often forget that Jay was a surfer before he was a skateboarder.
After troubles with the law off and on throughout his life, a born-again, sober Jay Adams was off probation granting him permission to travel abroad. With his beautiful wife Tracy Adams, Jay embarked on the ultimate surf safari chasing waves all over the Puerto Escondido, Mexico area for months.
An enthusiastic Jay sent Allen “The Wave Killer” Sarlo an encouraging facebook message, “ Still in Mexico scoring waves everyday, for the last 2 months, Puerto’s been like Pipeline and Backdoor. Allen, we need to get the guys together and celebrate that we’re still here.”
Jay was persistent, “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.”
Jay’s invite also extended to his other good friend, Venice Beach’s Solo Scott as well as Allen’s son Colton Sarlo. Solo got the same Facebook messages of encouragement from Jay.
“Jay loved sending photos of perfect waves and was guilt tripping us to get down there,” laughed Solo. “I was about to head to Tahiti.”
Fired up by Jay’s spirit, Allen, Solo, and Colton booked it down to Mexico.
The trio rolled up to Jay, living the dream. Besides surfing the abundance of world class breaks, Jay’s routine included spending quality time with his lady.
“We’d get up at sunrise and have a morning bible study,” Tracy said. “After surfing all day, Jay and I would just relax and throw in a complete series on Netflix.”
Jay went ahead and lined up everybody at the same hotel in the room next door. For the first surf session, Jay was up at 6:30 a.m., locked and loaded with four cups of coffee in hand for the crew.
“We pulled up to the beach break and it was triple firing,” Solo said.
Solo went into detail about Jay’s wave quality meter being a range from single firing, double firing, and then triple firing.
“The swell was big and we were all undergunned except Jay,” Allen said. “He showed me pics beforehand about getting triple barrelled — dude, a triple barrel — and it was as good as the pics.”
After surfing Jay, Tracy, Allen, Colton, and Solo hit the cantina for dinner and a quick game of eight ball.
“Jay was the most ‘Let’s do this now!’ personality,” laughed Allen. “ We were just finishing dinner and in typical Jay fashion, Jay’s already at the pool table ready to play. It was the ending of a perfect day.”
The next day, the left point was as good as it gets.
“It’s 110 degrees outside, and I’m sitting in my nice air-conditioned hotel room when Jay comes in insisting we go surf the left point,” Solo said.
For the session, Jay paddled around like a grom, catching sets like a conveyor belt, and threw a clinic.
“Jay would take off so close to the boils, God it was grinding, and make it through the sections, catching one magic wave after another. I’d shake my head reminding myself that that was Jay Adams, one of my idols,” Colton said. “With everybody on the beach surfed out, Jay was out the back and caught a bomb on his last wave, which was his last wave ever, getting triple tube. With the whole beach hooting and hollering, he took the set wave all the way to the beach and stepped on the sand.”
At the cantina that night, Jay and Tracy didn’t make it out. Solo pointed out that Jay told him he was going to bed early and didn’t feel so well.
“Two and half months of insane surf, I just assumed in general Jay was just tired,” Allen said. “All those perfect waves, long sessions, and in the heat.”
That night, Solo bursted into Allen’s room and woke him.
“We have an emergency,” he said. “Jay’s not breathing.”
Allen ran down to Jay’s room with Solo. Paul Fisher, a registered nurse and the photographer of the trip, was administering CPR with Tracy standing right by.
“We all took turns trying to resuscitate Jay,” Solo said.
It was an ordeal just to get an ambulance in Mexico. When they finally got Jay to the hospital, the first thing Paul Fisher said to the doctor was, “This guy’s special.”
“We had an amazing female doctor who spoke English and recognized Jay, calming the whole situation down,” Solo said. “At this point I figured there was no going back. Paul pointed out that with that long of oxygen not going to the brain, Jay wouldn’t be Jay and Jay wouldn’t like that.”
On August 15th, Jay Adams passed away of a heart attack at the age of 53.
“With his relationship with the Lord and the happiness of his marriage with Tracy, I’ve never seen Jay so content with life.” Allen said, “I’ve known Jay for a lifetime and I’ve never seen him so happy.”
In addition to his legacy as a legendary skateboarder, his wife feels he should be remembered as an example of how you can turn yourself around.
“Jay was a man of God, who wasn’t afraid of dying, and accepted his mortality,” Tracy said. “I know right now he’s looking down on us from heaven.” DZ
