Surf champion Zander Venezia dies riding Hurricane Irma's waves in Barbados

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This was published 6 years ago

Surf champion Zander Venezia dies riding Hurricane Irma's waves in Barbados

By Rachel Browne
Updated

A rising star of the surf scene has died after trying to ride huge waves generated by Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean.

Zander Venezia, 16, a champion surfer from Barbados, paddled out into the surf with a group of friends on Tuesday morning, local time.

He was reportedly knocked off his board, hitting a shallow reef. An autopsy showed he was knocked unconscious and then drowned.

While Barbados is not in the path of the Category 5 hurricane, which has torn through the Caribbean, surfers have arrived on the island lured by the powerful waves pounding the east coast.

Teenage pro surfer Zander Venezia has died in Barbados after surfing huge waves generated by Hurricane Irma.

Teenage pro surfer Zander Venezia has died in Barbados after surfing huge waves generated by Hurricane Irma.Credit: Twitter

Photographer Jimmy Wilson told surfing publication Stab that Venezia was with friends when he got into trouble in the huge surf.

"His board was tombstoning, he was underwater," he said.

"I got a photo of his last wave. But he made that wave. Didn't fall. I think it might have happened on his way in. We're not really sure what happened."

Venezia's friends brought him onto the beach where they performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

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A promising star of the competitive international surf scene, Venezia won the Rip Curl Grom Search in North Carolina two weeks ago.

He has been remembered as a "kind soul" and a "true champion" of the waves.

Barbados has been left littered with debris from Hurricane Irma, which is responsible for at least 10 deaths so far.

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With winds of up to 290km/h, the storm lashed several small islands in the north-east Caribbean, including Barbuda, St Martin and the British Virgin Islands.

It has passed the Dominican Republic as it heads towards Haiti, Cuba and the east coast of the US.

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