Peter Davi, at 45; pushed limits of big-wave surfing

The big-wave surf spot Ghost Trees, in Pebble Beach, this month. Peter Davi drowned surfing Ghost Trees on Dec. 4. (vern fisher/monterey county herald via Associated Press)

Peter Davi, a renowned big-wave surfer from Monterey, Calif., died Dec. 4 while riding giant waves at a spot he had helped pioneer off Pebble Beach. He was 45.

The cause was drowning, said Detective Ruben Garcia of the Monterey County Coroner's Office. He said Mr. Davi first sustained head and chest injuries, probably from being dashed against jagged rocks by powerful waves at the surf break, which is known both as Ghost Trees and Pescadero Point.

Fellow surfers lost track of Mr. Davi in the water, but later discovered him floating without his surfboard in a kelp bed in Stillwater Cove. The leash that tethered his board to his leg had snapped. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Mr. Davi had joined a group of about 20 surfers at the noted spot near the Pebble Beach Golf Links to ride waves up to 70 feet tall. The waves had been whipped up by a winter storm.

The surfers were using personal watercraft to tow one another into waves that were considered too large and fast-moving for conventional paddling. But witnesses said Mr. Davi had nevertheless planned to paddle into a wave and ride it to shore. He was last seen swimming to shore.

In the surfing community around Monterey and Big Sur, Mr. Davi was regarded by many as a kind of unofficial mayor. At 6 feet 3 inches and 240 pounds, he sometimes had the duties of maintaining order and safety in the surf. With a combination of intimidating size and charisma, he seldom had to do more than ask people politely to behave.

But Mr. Davi was also respected for his courage and his skill in riding big waves. In the early 1990s, he was among a clutch of surfers to ride regularly at a treacherous spot called Mavericks, 100 miles north of Monterey at Half Moon Bay. He gained prominence at big-wave spots on the North Shore of Oahu, including Banzai Pipeline, where respect is hard won from local Hawaiians. And he was among the first to ride at Ghost Trees, where he died.

He leaves a son, Jake Kai, of Oahu and Monterey; his brother, James; and his sisters, Marijane Flagg, Josefa Davi Nolan, Karen VanBrabant, and Michele Davi Payne.

Mr. Davi was born in San Francisco on Jan. 5, 1962. He grew up on the Monterey Peninsula, where his life revolved around the sea. He began surfing as a teenager and was a professional surfer until about seven years ago, when he turned to fishing.

A fourth-generation commercial fisherman, he came from a prominent Sicilian-American family in Monterey. In a 2004 article about the tradition of sardine fishing in Monterey Bay, Mr. Davi told The Oakland Tribune that he first fished as a teenager while visiting family members in Sicily.

"I love it," he said about fishing. "I like being at sea."