A Fond Farewell To ‘Big Wave’ Dave

By Madeleine Gray on March 3, 2016 in News

Photo: Let’s Go Surfing

The Eastern Beaches community was shocked and saddened to hear about the passing of local treasure and all-round good guy ‘Big Wave’ Dave Hannagan last month. Dave was a man who wore many hats around the east – you might remember him as a surfer, a real estate agent, a skier, or just as a mate. Dave grew up on the NSW Central Coast before moving to the Eastern Suburbs, where he worked as Marketing Co-ordinator at Let’s Go Surfing Bondi Beach, and then as a Sales Executive at Raine & Horne Double Bay/Bondi Beach. Even as his real estate career flourished, Dave’s passion for surfing continued to inspire him, evidenced not only by his personal commitment to the sport, but by the fact that he continued to work with Let’s Go Surfing as a Senior Instructor.

Dave was also an avid skier, and it was this love that led him to the US ski resort of Jackson Hole, a dramatic offshoot of the Rocky Mountains along the border of Wyoming and Idaho, over January, where he travelled his companion, physical therapist Cathy Grimes. Dave had recently met Ms Grimes on a skiing trip and the two had been undertaking a whirlwind skiing tour, enjoying various US ski resorts including Aspen and Telluride in Colorado, and Oregon’s Mt Bachelor. However, at Jackson Hole things went horribly wrong, and Dave and his companion were caught in an avalanche, both dying as a result of the trauma they incurred.

According to Mike Rheam, a forecaster for the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center, incidents such of these are uncommon, but not unheard of.

“We’ve had fatalities in this area in the past,” Mr Rheam said. “People who aren’t familiar with the terrain… it gets steeper and the avalanche breaks over them… they were carried over the cliff.”

However, it is not Dave’s death that deserves retelling, but rather his life, and all the wonderful ways in which he enriched the local community and the lives of those around him. Let’s Go Surfing Surf School Director Brenda Miley remembered Dave as “one of a kind”.

“He was the most passionate, exciting, friendly man,” she said. “He was as comfortable with kids as he was with adults, and when he taught, he had a following of people – his minions, his students.”

Dave’s boss and friend at Raine & Horne, Ric Serrao told the Sydney Morning Herald that Dave was “one of our secret smoking guns… he had this smile and people just loved to work with him. We’re all in disbelief”.

We mourn the loss of a great, true blue, salt of the earth guy, whose presence in the Eastern Suburbs will be truly missed.

Vale ‘Big Wave’ Dave Hannagan.