Darryl "Flea" Virostko (born December 25, 1971) is a professional " big wave" surfer from

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

. He graduated from

Santa Cruz High School Santa Cruz High School is a comprehensive public school in Santa Cruz, California which originally opened in 1897 and now serves an enrollment of about 1,040 students in grades nine through twelve. It is part of the Santa Cruz City School Distr ...

in 1991. He is a three-time

Mavericks Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Bureau ...

competition winner. Virostko appears as himself in the surfing films ''

Riding Giants ''Riding Giants'' is a 2004 documentary film produced by Agi Orsi and directed and narrated by Stacy Peralta, a famous skater/surfer. The movie traces the origins of surfing and specifically focuses on the art of big wave riding. Some of the fe ...

'', '' Step Into Liquid'', and '' Billabong Odyssey''. Surfer declared his 2004 wipeout on a 50-foot wave at

Waimea Bay Waimea Bay is located in Haleiwa on the North Shore of O'ahu in the Hawaiian Islands at the mouth of the Waimea River. Waimea Valley extends behind Waimea Bay. ''Waimea'' means "reddish water" in Hawaiian. History Captain Charles Clerke ...

, Hawaii, the "Wipeout of the Decade". As of 2009 Virostko is a recovering addict, and runs a program, "FleaHab", to teach other recovering addicts how to surf and be active while learning a new way of life. He starred in ''The Westsiders'' a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

by Josh Pomer that chronicles his difficult upbringing and addiction to drugs, on the west side of Santa Cruz. Wendy Edwards collided with Darryl in a 'Bizzare' motor vehicle crash while driving highway 1 northbound On January 10,2022. Wendy fled the scene of the accident and jumped off a 300 ft. cliff into the ocean resulting in her death.

References

* *
Darryl Virostko filmography
on go.com * https://www.ksbw.com/article/santa-cruz-ocean-jump-scotts-creek-surfing-flea/38740759

Notes

1971 births Living people American surfers Big wave surfing Sportspeople from Santa Cruz, California Big wave surfers {{US-surfing-bio-stub Santa Cruz High School alumni