View source for Mark Foo

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{short description|Singapore-born Hawaiian professional surfer}}
{{ref improve|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox surfer
| name = Mark Foo
| image = 
| birth_date = February 5, 1958
| birth_place = [[Singapore]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1994|12|23|1958|2|5}}
| death_place = [[Mavericks (location)|Mavericks]], [[Half Moon Bay]], California, USA
| residence =
| height = 
| weight = 
| years_active=
| sponsors= 
| stance =Regular (natural foot)
| shapers= 
| quiver=
| favorite_waves= [[North Shore (Oahu)]]
}}

'''Mark Sheldon Foo''' was a professional [[Surfing|surfer]] who favored [[big wave surfing]]. Foo drowned while surfing at [[Mavericks (location)|Mavericks]], [[Half Moon Bay]], California, in 1994.

==Early life==
Mark Foo was born in [[Singapore]] on February 5, 1958, to Colonel Charlie and Lorna Foo, Chinese [[photojournalist]]s for the [[U.S. Information Agency]]. The family relocated to [[Hawaii]] when Foo was 10. He spent his early childhood surfing the South Shore of [[O'ahu]], and continued surfing throughout his teenage years. His family moved several times during his adolescence but ultimately returned to Hawaii just before Foo finished high school.{{fact|date=November 2019}} He studied for two years at the [[University of Hawaii]].<ref name=ind-obit/>

==Career==
In 1977, Foo joined the [[IPS World Tour]], a professional surfing tour. In the early 1980s, Foo quit the IPS World Tour and stopped competing.{{fact|date=November 2019}} Foo's passion for surfing big waves led him to surf larger and larger swells. In 1983, he surfed [[Waimea Bay]], a famous [[big wave surfing|big-wave surfing]] spot on the North Shore of O'ahu, for the first time.{{sfb|Krakauer|2019|p=17}} 

But it was on January 18, 1986, when he ventured out into the bay with waves that onlookers said were in excess of 60 feet, that he rose to fame.<ref name="ind-obit" /> When Foo fell off the overhanging ledge, the crashing wave broke his surfboard and tossed him into the water. Foo had to be rescued by a nearby helicopter, yet he emerged from the crash unharmed. He sent the story to various surfing magazines, but failed in the attempt to raise his surfing status to that of a "[[demigod]]."{{sfb|Krakauer|2019|p=17}}

==Death at Mavericks==
[[File:MarkFooMemorial.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Memorial to Mark Foo at Mavericks Point on the Northern California Coast]]On December 23, 1994, Foo died in a surfing accident at [[Mavericks (location)|Mavericks]], a big-wave surf location in [[Half Moon Bay]], [[Northern California]].<ref name=ind-obit>{{cite news |last1=Martin|first1=Andy |title=OBITUARIES : Mark Foo |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries--mark-foo-1567665.html |access-date=August 16, 2014 |work=The Independent |date=January 12, 1995}}</ref> [[Surfer (magazine)|''Surfer'' magazine]] wrote that Foo was sleep-deprived after arriving in California on an overnight flight for the swell. During takeoff on a wave estimated at 18–20 feet ([[Hawaiian scale]]), Foo experienced a seemingly innocuous wipeout and drowned. The fateful wipeout was photographed from at least two angles, and shows him falling forward near the bottom of the wave. 

The most popular presumption is that Foo's surf leash had become entangled on the rocks, with the rushing currents of a second wave passing overhead preventing him from disengaging his ankle strap and getting to the surface. This theory was further validated when professional surfer [[Mike Parsons (surfer)|Mike Parsons]], who wiped out on the following wave, said that he came into contact with something, possibly Foo, as he was tumbled around underwater.{{fact|date=November 2019}} Foo's body was discovered still tied to the broken tail section of his board<ref name="ind-obit" /> inside Pillar Point lagoon over two hours later.{{fact|date=November 2019}} The coroner's report cited "salt-water drowning" and "blunt head trauma" as his causes of death.<ref name="ind-obit" />

Foo's death shook the big-wave surfing community. On December 30, over 700 people arrived at Waimea Bay for his funeral. Approximately 150 surfers paddled into and formed a large circle. One of the participants, who was carrying a container with Foo's ashes, paddled into the center of the circle and placed the ashes into the ocean. A segment of the film ''[[Riding Giants]]'' documented Foo's death at Mavericks.

==Legacy==
Foo founded a hostel, Backpackers Hawaii, in Pupukea.{{sfn |Ward |2001 |p=[https://archive.org/details/hawaii00ward/page/139/mode/2up 139]}}
The hostel's website maintains an online memorial for him.<ref name="Backpackers Vacation Inn & Plantation Village 2018">{{cite web |title=Mark Foo Memorial |website=Backpackers Vacation Inn & Plantation Village |date=2018-12-10 |url=https://backpackershawaii.com/mark-foo-memorial/ |access-date=2022-02-20}}</ref>

Foo helped elevate the popularity of the sport, with his talent, courage, and enthusiasm, and was recognized as one of the greatest big-wave surfers of all time. Mark was a favorite subject of photographers, and he had his own cable television surfing program. "If you want to ride the ultimate wave, you have to be willing to pay the ultimate price" was Foo's philosophy.

In the realm of big-wave surfing, Foo's death brought about a continuing discourse regarding the safe use of [[surfboard leash]]es, or flexible cords that connect the surfboard to a belt on the surfers ankle. Proponents defend the leash as a useful convenience and insurance against losing the surfboard, which serves as flotation device in the case of a "[[Wipe out (surfing)|wipe out]]." They also assert that the leash is a means for a fallen surfer to find his way to surface air by following the leash cord to the floating surfboard on the water's surface. 

There are also surfers who believe that Foo's surfboard leash may have caused or contributed to his death. Opponents of leashes in big surf assert that a leash can cause the surfer to collide with the board in a wipe out, potentially causing head injuries, and that the leash can also loop around the arms, legs, or neck, dangerously restricting escape to safety or strangling the surfer. Quick-release Velcro leashes have since become standard surfing equipment to address some of these dangers. The debates continue to this day.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sonyclassics.com/ridinggiants/ |title=Sony Pictures Classics: ridingGiants |publisher=Sonyclassics.com |date= |access-date=April 20, 2013}}</ref>

American rock band Seventeen (later known as [[Lustra (band)|Lustra]]) performed a musical tribute (misspelled as "Mark Fu") on their 2000 LP [[Bikini Pie Fight!]].

==''Stealing the Wave''==
The epic battle between Foo and [[Ken Bradshaw]] in the 1980s is chronicled in ''[[Stealing the Wave]]'' by [[Andy Martin (author)|Andy Martin]] ([[Bloomsbury Publishing]]).

==See also==
* [[Eddie Aikau]] 
* [[North Shore (1987 film)|North Shore]] (movie appearance as a surfer)

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Works cited===
*{{cite book |last1=Krakauer |first1=Jon |title=Classic Krakauer: Essays on Wilderness and Risk |date=2019 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=9781984897695 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zPq0DwAAQBAJ&dq=mark+foo&pg=PA5 |access-date=4 November 2019 }}
*{{cite book |last=Ward |first=Greg |title=Hawaii|url=https://archive.org/details/hawaii00ward |publisher=Rough Guides |publication-place=London |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-85828-738-6 |oclc=1035151426 |via=Internet Archive |url-access=registration}}

==Further reading==
* Andy Martin: ''Stealing the Wave'', Bloomsbury Publishing, {{ISBN|0-7475-8226-2}}
* Matt Warshaw: ''Maverick's: the story of big-wave surfing'', Chronicle Books, {{ISBN|0-8118-2652-X}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.surfline.com/surfaz/foo_mark.cfm |title=Mark Foo Biography and Photos |publisher=Surfline.Com |date= |access-date=April 20, 2013}}
*{{cite news|title=SURFING; The Last Ride of His Life|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/29/sports/surfing-the-last-ride-of-his-life.html|first=Tom|last=Friend|date=December 29, 1994|work=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York, NY|access-date=April 20, 2013}}
*{{Cite web|title=The Death Of Mark Foo (6:36)|url=http://www.surfreviews.org/the-death-of-mark-foo-636/|access-date=April 20, 2013|format=Flash|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503123952/http://www.surfreviews.org/the-death-of-mark-foo-636/|archive-date=May 3, 2013}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foo, Mark}}
[[Category:1958 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of Chinese descent]]
[[Category:American people of Singaporean descent]]
[[Category:Sportspeople of Singaporean descent]]
[[Category:American surfers]]
[[Category:Big wave surfing]]
[[Category:Mavericks, California]]
[[Category:Sports deaths in California]]
[[Category:World Surf League surfers]]
[[Category:Big wave surfers]]