Very Very Sad

[2royce]

Professional surfer and Solana Beach resident Milton Willis was in critical condition Friday evening after a car accident in Del Mar that killed his 24-year-old passenger, according to news reports.

City News Service reported that the 51-year-old Milton Willis suspected of drunken driving in the Friday crash is the same Milton Willis who, with his identical twin brother, Michael, grew up surfing on North County beaches and later pioneered "tow-in surfing," in which surfers are towed into large waves that they otherwise could not catch.

Sheriff's Sgt. Jack Reynolds said Friday that pictures from the crash investigation showed a man that resembled photos of Milton Willis on the brothers' surfing Web site www.wbsurfing.com, but that he could not confirm that the Milton Willis involved in the crash was Milton Willis the surfer.

Calls to the Willis Bros. Surfing Co. were not returned Friday.

Bradley James Dillahunty, a 24-year-old musician from Laguna Nigel and the only passenger in the car Willis was driving, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, officials said.

Willis was driving northbound on Coast Boulevard about 1:40 a.m., according to the medical examiner's office.

Witnesses told investigators they saw a tan Toyota Avalon traveling more than 65 mph in a 25 mph zone, sheriff's traffic Sgt. Randy Webb said.

The sedan blew through a stop sign at 20th Street, bottoming out in a dip in the intersection and causing Willis to lose control of the vehicle, Webb said.

The sedan slid from northbound to southbound lanes, colliding first with a parked car, then hitting a large palm tree, swinging around the palm and hitting a car parking in a driveway, Webb said.

Dillahunty, wearing a seat belt, was killed when the car hit the palm, officials said.

Willis was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown partially through the rear windshield of the car, Webb said.

He was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.

Webb called alcohol "a major factor" in the crash.

The crash occurred in a residential area of Del Mar but there are restaurants and a popular bar nearby, Reynolds said.

Though investigators believe Willis was intoxicated, they had not confirmed Willis and Dillahunty had been at any local drinking establishments and there were no open alcohol containers in the car, Reynolds said.

Investigators are awaiting the results of toxicology tests performed on the men, he said.

Willis and his brother Michael began surfing and making boards in Solana Beach in the 1960s. In 1972, they established the first surfing class for physical education in a United States public high school.

Later in the 1970s, both brothers moved to Hawaii, where they surfed some of the largest waves on record and are among the few to twice surf in Hawaii during a rare "Code Black," when beaches are closed to surfers due to dangerous conditions.

In 1997, Milton Willis received a certificate of lifesaving merit from the city and county of Honolulu for his part in a rescue at "Three Tables" on Oahu's famed North Shore.

Six months later, Willis was credited with the rescue of twin 21-year-old women at the same beach, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

The brothers have also co-authored instructional and inspirations books. They were interviewed by the North County Times in 2006 before a signing event for their book "Discover the Greatness in You."

"Essentially, our words are meant to entertain and inspire and educate and inform many people who don't have perfect lives, who are in any pressure situation like a hospital, a jail, a negative relationship, people who don't have the perfect waves in front of them," Milton Willis said.

[Scott]

what a tragic and senseless incident.

[Mark Ramirez]

Milton and his brother used to give the surf report for the entire week every week in the local paper called the La Jolla Light, at the very last page of the paper. I would try to pick one up once a week before I even owned a computer.