The Passing of Man O' War

[Scott]

Wednesday, November 25, Mark Wessling crossed into his heavenly home. His death was due to a severe brain hemorrhage resulting from complications following Lukemia-based chemotherapy begun earlier this October. Mark was about one week away from celebrating his 62nd birthday this December 6th. I have lost my dear brother, the oldest of our five siblings. I hope you'll allow me to channel some of my feelings into a brief tribute. Our lives are often much fuller than just our surfing, and that was certainly true of my brother.

Mark began stand up surfing in 1967, but always kept an eye on alternative surfing opportunities. When some of his friends began paddling into the Santa Cruz lineup with their school wood-shop shaped plywood skimboards, and zipping across waves on their stomachs, Mark was all in. Then, after viewing the stunning scene from Endless Summer 1 of George Greenough flying down the line on a Santa Barbara wave, Mark and company really saw the light--they began attaching plywood skegs to their boards and hoping to their knees. Within another year, Mark shaped and glassed an old blank into his first foam kneeboard, and painted it jet black. He, Jon Manss, Jack White, Gordy McLaughlin, Bob DuBoise, and a few others formed the pioneers of Santa Cruz kneeboard surfing.

At the start of Mark's junior year, the family moved to Tucson. Somehow Mark talked our parents into letting him board with a local family to remain at his high school in the Santa Clara Valley. Once on his own, Mark skipped school as often as possible, surfing every available minute! UC Santa Barbara seemed like a natural choice for Mark's next level of education following graduation, while our family moved on to Wisconsin. The beach was now just a brief walk from his dorm, and Mark shaped his first Greenough flex fin during this time (1970), and was so impressed with its performance on his foam board that he almost immediately launched into shaping and glassing his first Greenough flex spoon. While I was landlocked far from the Pacific Ocean, Mark would occasionally send me long letters chronicling his surfing exploits: surfing barreling Campus Point, repeating long S-turns at Rincon, night-surfing El Capitan. Heck, maybe some of it was even true ... whatever the case, I drooled over every page. Surfing was his God at this point and he was forging ahead writing his own scriptures to me!

Alas, our parents could no longer afford the out-of-state tuition and commanded Mark to join us in Milwaukee and pay for his own education there. He arrived glum enough, but with a number of Brownie Super 8 movies, much of it filmed while he and his buddies rode Stockton Avenue in Santa Cruz. Though it had no sound and was occasionally overexposed in weird shades of brown and orange, I had never seen so much barrel riding in my life. I thought, "I've GOT to give that a try someday!" In the meantime, we contented ourselves with the meager swells that strong winds blew up occasionally on Lake Michigan, where we strictly standup surfed.

(Part Two below)

Surf photo by Joel Mayer
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[Scott]

Though we were raised as a pretty secular family, Mark began asking bigger questions in life, reading C.S. Lewis, and attending religious talks and services. He made his decision to follow Jesus Christ actively in 1971, and was very soon becoming influential in my own spiritual development (for which I am still eternally grateful). Following my graduation from high school in 1972, I wanted to return to schooling in the SF Bay Area, and Mark was delighted to shape me a going-away gift: my first foam kneeboard. It was black, of course, including the long, sharp Greenough flex fin. Thus began my own foray into kneeboarding and I was quickly hooked. Mark remained in Wisconsin to finish an AA degree, then transferred to Indiana to begin active preparation and study for the pastoral ministry. He truly had a new and deeper calling in his life.

Completing full seminary training over the next four years (he found he possessed a gift for mastering languages, including Greek and Hebrew) he heard a presentation about outreach opportunities in Central America. He took 6 months of intensive Spanish, then, following his marriage to Ruth, they spent the next two years in Guatemala and Honduras. Upon his return, Mark decided to work with Cubans living in the US, specifically in St. Louis. To my knowledge, Mark never surfed once from 1974 - 1992. He and Ruth were blessed with three rambunctious sons, Paul, Aaron and Luke, and he continued to preach and teach in Spanish and English.

In 1992, Mark jumped at an opportunity to move to Miami, Florida (the Cuban motherlode!). From 1992 until his death just a two days ago, he served there as Pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Miami Springs.

But Miami is also right against the Atlantic Ocean, and Mark made sure his sons were at the beach a lot. It didn't take too long for Mark to find an old beat up kneeboard and make her watertight and get back out in the water. His sons all took up surfing, too. Not long after, the KSUSA website was created and Mark was a frequent contributor (as Man O' War).

While thrilled to be back in the ocean on a regular basis, Mark was never truly fulfilled riding on a foam board, even after trying some of the more modern shapes. In 2003, he returned to his roots and shaped another flex spoon--jet black, of course--and a few more over the next 5 years. Other surfers looking for an alternative experience and seeking a link to surfing's past also made some spoons. A new website was born--www.flexspoon.com--and Mark became a fixture of that online community.

About this same time, KSUSA was creating all sorts of new kneelo stoke through gatherings and contests in California, and Bud McCray was calling together similar informal events on Oahu. Seeing this, Mark wanted to experience some gatherings of his own. He organized several with Eric Carson and other Florida kneelos. In 2007, he learned that his friend and mat surfing pioneer and builder, Dale Solomonson, was undergoing a severe health crisis. Mark's unique response was to create a Dale Solomon tribute event as an encouragement. Though Dale himself could not attend, Mark rented a house in his beloved Santa Cruz, then invited a very eclectic cadre of kneelos and mat surfers (including myself, Jon Manss, Brad Colwell, Joel Mayer as photographer, Mark's sons, Aaron and Luke, and many others) to meet there for the week after Christmas. It was such fun seeing a variety of craft in the water at Pleasure Point, the Lane, Swift Street, and Moss Landing. Luke gave kneeboarding his first real attempt and almost immediately had the best surfing rides of his life. And everyone wanted to hold Mark's flexspoon for themselves and admire the workmanship! Evenings were full of surf stories, picture reviews, debates about hydrodynamics, and so much laughter. A special group phone call was placed to Dale Solomon (living in Oregon), to pass along the warm thoughts, prayers, and stoke.

(part two below)

Beach photo by Joel Mayer

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[Scott]

So much changed for my brother in 2010 when, after a minor but prolonged illness, Mark was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Immediate chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant were scheduled. Mark came through all of this pretty well, and many in the KSUSA community reached out with encouragement and prayers; he was eventually determined to be in remission. However, he was never able to gain back his full strength. He could still continue his pastoral work happily, but trying to push through rows of Florida whitewater to reach the outside in a good swell was just too exhausting. He faced this sad development with faith and resolve, but eventually called me to regretfully declare he must be done with surfing. He sent off his beloved spoons to a few other kneels he felt would put them to good use (including World Kneeboard Champ Albert Munoz). He continued to take great vicarious pleasure, however, in my surfing and always wanted to hear from me long, drawn-out accounts of my best days in the water. He also continued to frequent KSUSA threads, occasionally adding his own posts.

In October of 2014, our family was so saddened to hear that the leukemia was coming back, and that another round of chemo and another bone marrow transplant was recommended. However, Mark at reduced strength already did not respond well to the chemo this time. In early November, he was moved to critical care, and had some precious last times with Ruth and his boys from his hospital bed. Even up until the other day, we believed Mark was bouncing back strong and would return to his home and his parish in another month or so ...

Mark, had an amazing wit and was skilled with original verse. In one of Mark's last emails before he became too ill to type a few weeks ago, he wrote his cousin. Discussing with her the text of 2 Corinthians 4:7, that "we have this treasure [God's power through His indwelling Spirit] in clay pots [i.e. our aging physical bodies]," Mark explained that we don't carry things around in our day in clay pots, but rather now in plain cardboard boxes. When the box rips open from excessive use you can see the contents inside. He concluded that email with a little poem he composed from his hospital bed:

There once was a box that I spied
Scorched, mangled, chewed up, crushified
And addressed to the dead
Ha! I kicked it ahead
And broke my toe on the treasure inside.

Indeed, Mark's body has now been "kicked on ahead," but the treasure inside of that body, the true Mark, will live on with the Lord. I so look forward to our reunion again as brothers someday.

I am sure he is happy I am giving this shout out to all his KSUSA brothers and sisters.

His funeral service will be Tuesday, December 2, at Faith Lutheran Church in Miami Springs.

(Surf photos by Joel Mayer)

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[joe]

Deepest condolences to the Wessling family. Rest in Peace Mark.

Man O' War shared his stoke and passion for kneeboarding and spoons with us. He was a voice of reason when conversations got heated. He was a friend and inspiration to many here.

[RW]

Joe called me this eve......I am devastated.......once again......

Scott your bro was a special individual.....especially to some of us reprobates here in the Underground. You may not understand the connection...but it was wholehearted, reciprocal...and very real. Extremely sorry for your loss....and our community. Like Terry...his world was open and sincere in all he was. I'll phone you when I'm ready.

Aloh
Bobby

[MALLEE BULL]

RIP MW

[tomway]

So sad to hear of your loss, Scott. I only knew MOW through KSUSA but he had a profound effect on me through his words here and his embodiment of what I learnt is the kneelo spirit: a willingness to experiment and try new things and a willingness to share and support others no matter how far removed with an infectious enthusiasm.

RIP

[Mike Fernandez]

My deepest condolences Scott. I didn't know Mark, but I saw his spoons and they were the most beautiful spoons I have ever seen. I wanted to go to Florida when I was living on the east coast and do a video about him, but we just couldn't get a good swell when he was healthy. Luckily he will live on through his family and his work.

[fruitbat]

Sorry mate.

[southpeakbrad]

Early on, when I was getting to know Barry Baker he spoke of how he always liked to either “show up early or stay late”, in regards to the KSUSA Titles that we had in Santa Cruz. That sounded like fun and wise advice. So when I heard that Mark Wessling had rented a house for the week before the World Titles in Santa Cruz in January 2007, I jumped at the opportunity to show up and be part of the Dale Solomon tribute event. Having known Scott for around 3 years I was thrilled to finally meet Mark and his son Luke. I’ve never ridden a spoon and thoroughly enjoyed having Mark tell me all about his; how to ride it and how to make one. I also enjoyed meeting the mat riders who were as devoted to mat riding as I was to kneeboarding. Ross and Katrina Dillon were also part of this Gathering and it was fun to get to know them despite that giant Aussie flag draping the staircase in the house LOL One evening we shared an evening session at Swift Street with, I believe, just 3 kneeboarders and 5 mat riders, and Mark on his spoon. One of my great surfing memories, and Joel was even there to shoot some pics!

Mark’s love for kneeboarding was really evident during this event. I remember that we had excellent weather and pumping surf leading up to the Worlds. Luke had a very memorable session at the Lane on a kneeboard and got a left at Middle Peak that Mark kept commenting on. Mark also had a great session at that beach further south that Joel was able to document and you can clearly see Mark’s style and clean lines that he was drawing. Very cool when you consider that although he didn’t have the opportunity to surf that much (in the mid-2000s), he had obviously spent much of his younger years in the water and had not lost that surfing muscle memory. He seemed genuinely stoked that I was there and made me feel like a long time friend. He didn’t really talk about his Church much but it was clear to me that Christ’s sacrifice for him, and for everyone, was very special to him. Another good memory that he left me with.

I would call Mark on the phone from time to time just out of the blue and it was always like we had just been together the prior week! In 2011 when Scott first called to invite me to Salina Cruz for a surf trip, I was very stoked to hear that Mark was going to come along as well. In the end he wasn’t able to make it but he was there in spirit and eagerly awaited Scott’s report on how the trip went.

In rereading Scott’s great recap and tribute of Mark’s life it was cool to see how at the beginning Mark was sending Scott surf stories, and at the end Scott was sending Mark surf stories and each was genuinely stoked to get them. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your tribute Scott! You have obviously lost a dear brother and your entire family has lost a very special man. I am one of those who have lost a dear friend. Blessings and God’s peace and comfort to you all!

Brad

[eqKneelo]

Beautiful tribute, Scott.
So sorry for you loss

[MWROBERTSON]

Scott,

So sorry to hear about your loss.

Your brother seemed like a truly remarkable man in so many ways. Thoughtful, spiritual ,charitable and full of surf stoke.
I never met him but always looked forward to reading his posts on what design ideas he had or what his latest project was.

Those boards and turns he made will be forever etched in my memory.

Our prayers to you and your family.

[Mark Ramirez]

I'm deeply moved by the passing of your brother Mark.
My condolences go out to you and the Wessling Family.
I never had the chance to meet him, but through a lot of
his posts he seemed very sincere. He'll be in my prayers.

[red]

Lovely tribute.
MoW will be missed but his legacy will continue to influence us all.
Strength, brother, in these times.
Red

[Tom Linn]

I was so moved by your tribute Scott. I always thought the flex spoon guys were pretty cool although I've never been fortunate enough to get to know them well. I had no idea that the leader of the group was your brother. His passing is truly a loss for the kneelo community. My condolences to you and your family.