Andy Irons Forever in Our Hearth

Irons was yesterday found dead in a Dallas/Fort Worth hotel room. He was returning home to Hawaii from Puerto Rico, where he withdrew from a surfing competition due to illness. According to media reports, Irons told his family that he had caught dengue fever while in Portugal.

Symptoms include high fevers, rashes, headaches and fatigue. It is rarely deadly and usually goes away on its own after a week. But a related disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever, is very dangerous. Victims can go into a shock-like state and spots of blood appear on and under the skin. Doctors can only treat the symptoms, not the underlying virus. If patients survive the early shock, they typically survive.

Another surfer said that both he and Irons had fallen ill with similar symptoms while in Portugal, and that there was a lot of mosquito activity in the area.We cherish and remember Andy Irons for all the great things he did as a surfer and how inspired surfers young and old worldwide. TransWorld SURF would like to extend our deepest condolences and most heart felt prayers to Andy's friends and family, especially his beautiful wife, Lyndie.

Rest in peace brother, we ’ll see you on the other side…

See below for a special slideshow one of Andy ’s favorite surf photographers, Brian Bielmann, put together in memory of Andy Irons.