RIP Buck Noe

[Drunk Monk]

Like I said, this week is a beyotch.

Our street has no parking signs all over it for the week. We moved our cars dutifully. I’ll be in svale all week so that’ll alleviate the crunch. We saw a car get towed this morning. Not sure who’s it was…

Of course, no construction has happened yet.

But now, as I was changing my laundry I heard ‘This is the Santa Cruz police. Come out with your hands up!’ They’re raiding my neighbor Buck’s place again. I count 6 cops, two with assault rifles covering the flanks. There’s squad cars up and down the street (in the no parking zone) with lights flashing. The cops were at the open door for a while but now they’ve all gone inside.

I feel for Buck. He’s a good guy, industrious, an amazing gardener. He does have a drinking problem but that’s been under control lately, since his gf and son left. He has tenants in the granny unit on his property that have not paid rent since the pandemic began. But Buck has always been cool with me, friendly and supportive. We have another neighbor who is crippled from birth - no muscle mass - Buck helps out a lot there moving him (they asked me to do it once but I wasn’t strong enough - he’s heavy, maybe 200 lbs and fragile so I didn’t want to risk it). Anyway, if I didn’t have enough distractions…

Whatever happened at Buck’s, it’s bad. They’ve cordoned off the yard with police tape and are questioning all the neighbors. I just spoke to a detective. It’s an ongoing investigation so they could not reveal details.

And it was Buck’s car that was towed. I’m still watching to see if a coroner comes.

The last time I spoke to Buck was Saturday. I was coming back from Kung Fu and we crossed paths in front of our homes. He asked me if I needed eggs. I said no because he just gave me 14 - my usual dozen plus 2 extra. He told me that Chelsea planned to take the chickens and ducks (I usually got a few duck eggs too) and he was thinking of getting his own chickens because they had built an efficient coop and he found it easy to maintain. He was in good spirits - at least it seemed so - how did I know he was going through so much?

I’d witnessed him when he hit rock bottom. He sat with me in our veranda and we talked. I remember when he passed out in the gutter in front of his house. We became closer during the pandemic because we both lost our jobs. I talked to Chelsea a lot too but we stopped corresponding when she moved out with their boy, Reef. They were a sweet Cruz family when times were good - young, strong, beautiful. But there was that dark side when Buck would drink and rampage.

I will sorely miss him. We weren’t that close but always friendly, always greeting each other warmly when he wasn't binging. And he seemed to have gotten control of that lately. He seemed healthier in the last few months, throwing himself into his yard work. 

I spent a lot of today working on my mom’s stuff - finding documents, talking to caregivers, insurance, etc. Buck’s drama, plus the Roe v Wade news, on top of that made today so soul crushing. 

And now the cops just pulled out. They left the light on at Buck’s…

Did Buck take his own life? That's what I gather but it's a bit unclear. Sad either way. I just heard on my podcast that Naomi Judd also took her life.

The details are unclear but that’s what we’re guessing. The detective couldn’t tell me anything because it’s an ongoing investigation but our lot neighbor got more info somehow. He talked to the detective later in the day so perhaps they were loosening their restriction. He didn’t know details, just that he was gone. We’ll watch the crime reports and news for more.

With our new carpet, Stacy rearranged the front of our living room with a sofa, chair and tables, and now it’s a lovely place to sit, read, or chat… with a commanding view of Buck’s house. That’s going to be weird for a while.

I've been in Svale since Buck's passing, tuned in my mom, as you all know, plus distracting myself with two trips to SF for Lorde and Dr. Strange. 

When I came home just now, a small altar has been set up in front of his place. Matt's ex Jenn was in the yard, tending to the garden. She does that in our yard too (Matt is in the granny unit behind ours on the lot). I saw Ethan, who lives right next door to us, and Jenn and I called out to him, but he had his eyes down and didn't acknowledge us, so we left him to his space (he's been in this hood forever too). 

I found this:

Buck Noe Death, Obituary, Santa Cruz, Buck Noe Has Passed Away

[b]Buck Noe Death – Obituary Is Not Available: Buck Noe [/b]has suddenly passed away. Praying for his family, friends, community, and everyone else affected by this tragedy. His death was confirmed online by [b]Jan E. Schwartz[/b].
Jan E. Schwartz wrote ‘[i]‘The North Coast Kiters community is sending out a big shout for Buck Noe, shaper, surfer, father, kitesurfer. So sad you went to heaven so soon this past Monday, May 2, 2022. We love you for the shapes you produced and sold to our community customized and colorful. Surfing in heaven, you’ll be okay. We pray. This week’s North Coast Kiters page is dedicated to you and your achievements with the kiting community.”[/i]

Buck was a kiteboard maker. Kiteboards are special surf boards used for surfers who hang on to kites. It's a huge pastime just north of Santa Cruz at Waddell Beach. Blows my mind to watch - you need to command the waves and the winds to do it and some of those boarder get like 50 ft up when they launch off a wave. Crazy. 

Buck's one-man company was Noe. He inherited it from his dad, who founded the company. Rick Noe was a legendary SC surfer, known as the Mayor of Steamer Lane, a major surf spo. I'm not sure what happened with Rick but Buck often said he didn't want to be like him.

HANGING OUT WITH NOE SURFBOARDS
By Sean McLean on February 8, 2015 in Galleries, Surfing Photos
Rain showed up and it meant business after taking January off. What do I do when the weather turns soggy? I make some phone calls. Saturday I got to spend a little time with Buck Noe of Noe Surfboards and we shot what was going on around his shop. It was everything you would expect and hope for from a one-man operation here in Santa Cruz: small, crammed, gritty and above all busy. I did my best to keep from being too distracting — after all the man’s got a business to run and orders to fill right?
While we were there Matt brought his son, Shane by to replace a board he broke recently. Shane was surfing in Half Moon Bay. He snapped off the front by duck diving and smacking into the sand below. A great board now two great conversation pieces. They talked out front about what the right thing to do what and how Buck could help in a way that worked for everybody. Grom needs a board, shop need to make rent. They worked it out and everybody was happy.
I asked Buck if there was something he really wanted to get across during our session. What story would he want to tell? After a thoughtful pause he said simply “Buy local.” When you order a custom board from a big company you talk to somebody who just takes orders. Here you talk to him and they find what’s right for you. What your needs are, what your style is. Then he starts seriously looking at the blanks and a plan forms. More thickness here, lighter over here, yeah more foam here would help that shoulder problem he’s got — easier to paddle for longer.
This was a guy making functional art. I can’t wait to do this again.

[/url]






[url=https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets.sanatcruzwaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SMC_5696-Edit-1024x683.jpg]

Noe went under from the pandemic. Buck and I commiserated about losing our jobs many times in 2020. He found some farming work for a while to tide him over. When his gf Chelsea left, we talked a few times, with me trying to console him. He was a mess. He loved his young son Reef so much. I was a friend of Chelsea's too but I haven't spoken to her since she left (that was a few months ago). 

My hood is grieving. I'll add to Buck's altar soon, and burn some sage bundles that I've been saving.

[Drunk Monk]

‘We’re here for you’: In wake of tragedy, Santa Cruz surfing community doubles down on generation next


Darryl Virostko talks to the “groms” assembled atop the cliff above Steamer Lane on Thursday.
(Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz)




BY MARK CONLEY

Source:  Lookout Santa Cruz 

Quick Take

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when a proudly miscreant tone and attitude dominated Santa Cruz surf culture. Some of those who survived that tough period, including big-wave champion Darryl “Flea” Virostko, are trying to pay it forward. Meanwhile, those assembled at Steamer Lane on Thursday afternoon mourned two recent deaths and tried to put them into perspective.

Published 3 Hours Ago 

Santa Cruz surfing culture of the 1980s & ‘90s was known worldwide by a single word — gnarly — and it had nothing to do with the powerful waves or cold, sharky waters.
It was about the gnarly humans — the surfers and the oftentimes rowdy, reckless attitude that went with being a hardcore Santa Cruz local. At its gnarliest, the stories told centered on so many who were lost too soon by charging as hard on land as they did in the ocean.
Darryl Virostko, a product of those wild Santa Cruz days, was on his way to being one of the casualties. And it’s why he now takes the time to do what he did and say the things he said on Thursday afternoon.

“You groms know,” he told a group of young surfers gathered atop a staircase at Steamer Lane that serves as a perpetual memorial to those lost, “that if anything ever happened, something weird is going on, you can always talk to us. Don’t be scared. We’ve seen everything — really, everything — and we’re here for you.”
Santa Cruz’s surfing galaxy — Westside, Eastside and well beyond — gathered in honor of Shawn “Barney” Barron, known as one of Santa Cruz’s most colorful, creative surfers and thinkers. Barron died on May 5, 2015, at the age of 44 due to cardiac arrest induced by methamphetamine.
Thursday’s annual “Cinco De Barney” aerial contest provided a unique moment for looking forward to sunnier days for Santa Cruz’s surf culture and persona, while recognizing that the dark clouds of the past have yet to fully clear. At the same time, those gathered mourned the recent deaths of two lifetime locals from within the inner circle that have left the community both stunned and heartbroken.

Darryl Virostko, the three-time Mavericks champion, gets things in motion Thursday afternoon.
(Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz)

Virostko was better known as “Flea” while establishing himself as one of the early legendary big-wave surfers from Santa Cruz, winning the Mavericks surf contest three times to earn himself the distinction as a “Flea-peat” champion.
As his newfound celebrity and paychecks led him dangerously off the rails with methamphetamines and alcohol, a family intervention pushed him into and through a successful rehab stint. That inspired the formation of his own surfing-based recovery program, dubbed “Fleahab."
Now 14 years sober, Virostko helps honor his good friend Shawn Barron’s spirit with an aerial surf contest each year on May 5.
The contest doubles as an opportunity to help the next generation make better decisions than the ones he and his aspiring pro surfer friends once made. And to let them know they can count on an older, wiser crew of veterans — many who are thankful to still be here — that came out in force to support the cause Thursday.
But this year’s event took on an even deeper meaning beyond the loss of Barron. Another Santa Cruz surfing legend was lost this week when 41-year-old Tyrone “Buck” Noe was found dead with a knife wound to the chest on a path below Ocean View Park.

A memorial at Steamer Lane to Tyrone “Buck” Noe.
(Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz)

The Santa Cruz Police Department confirmed Thursday there has been no evidence to suggest signs of a homicide, saying in a statement: “The detectives’ investigation and the coroner’s examination determined the cause and manner of the man’s death were self-inflicted.”
Noe was a popular surfboard shaper who was born into the trade in 1980. His father, Rick Noe — who had picked up the moniker “Mayor of Steamer Lane” while surfing there in the ‘70s — met his mom, Laura Powers, an early women’s pro surfing pioneer, at the Haut surfboard factory, where they both worked, shaping and designing boards.
Friends say they knew of Buck Noe’s struggles with sobriety after he dealt with severe traumatic experiences multiple times throughout his life, but say they could never have imagined his life ending as the evidence suggests it did.

“Just unfathomable,” said Richard Schmidt, the longtime surf instructor and one of Santa Cruz’s original big-wave surfers. “I saw him five days ago and he actually looked pretty healthy. It’s hard to believe and such a double gut punch, first with Dez and now with Buck.”
The other son of the Westside being mourned alongside Barron and Noe on Thursday was Desmond Quilici, who died in February at age 25 from what friends and family members suspect was a counterfeit pill, such as the benzodiazepine Xanax, made lethal by a poisonous dose of the synthetic opioid fentanyl that is wreaking havoc nationwide.
While Quilici’s heartbroken family continues its multiple-months wait for toxicology results, and Noe leaves behind a young son who will never get to know his father, a community that has grown accustomed to tragedies is left to ponder what to make of this latest string of deaths.
Hans Haveman, 56, a Westside native who runs H&H Fresh Fish and grew up watching over those younger than him like Noe, was one of many to express his sadness on social media Thursday. He told Lookout he’s blown away by what he’s seeing around him these days.
“There are benefits to growing up in a small town in that you get to have a million friends, but the downside is that you get to see them die,” he said. “I think there is a darkness that has come over a lot of young people. There are so many people dealing with anxiety and depression these days — it’s overwhelming.”
While Haveman says there might be reasons to think Santa Cruz is uniquely prone to risky, adrenaline-seeking behavior (“Truckee is probably similar,” he said), Schmidt says he isn’t as sure.
“People like to say, ‘Oh, that’s Santa Cruz,’ but I don’t think that’s the standard here,” he said. “I think most places in the world there’s the dark side of addiction.”
Former Santa Cruz mayor Hilary Bryant, a longtime regular at Steamer Lane, said she tends to feel similarly: “I mean, we live in a surf community so it could be viewed that way, but I think it’s more a statement about our society in general and where our community is. Mainly my heart just breaks for those families.”
Virostko echoed that sentiment to the young surfers before him during Thursday’s opening remarks: “Just remember that lots of people have left us too early. Right now Barney has some special guests up there beside him in Desmond and now Buck. We want to think about those guys today and send our thoughts and prayers out to those families.”
Virostko believes the groms of today, looking up to the likes of Nat Young, who is thriving in his return to the sport’s professional pinnacle on the World Surfing League, are in much better hands.
“There’s more of a community involved now and there’s a group of us older guys who are reformed and have a better idea of the message we want to put out,” he said. “Before, it was more just like f--- everybody, we own this place. That was the culture that I was brought into when I was growing up. While I would never take anything away from what I grew up as, it definitely wasn’t the best environment.”
As a rare combination of solid north and south swell lit up the Lane on Thursday afternoon, a who’s who of Santa Cruz surfing legends — including Young, fresh off a plane and a fifth-place finish at Margaret River in Western Australia — lined the cliff surrounding the venue.
One young surfer, Westsider Adam Bartlett, properly captured the aura of the event’s namesake, donning pink flamingo ears and matching surf trunks over his wetsuit. “Barney used to love to scream when he did big airs so make sure you do that,” Virostko told the young charges before they took the lineup.

Adam Bartlett shows off his Barney tribute costume.
(Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz)

Now that Virostko is the dad of two young daughters growing up in Santa Cruz, it has only helped solidify the different lens he trains on the world around him.
“You come driving by the Lane at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and you see the fence with all these bikes locked up — that’s such a good feeling,” he said. “To know that these kids are utilizing nature as an outlet to get that energy out, doing something positive in the afternoon. It’s very cool.”

Mental health resources

• If you or a loved one are experiencing a mental health crisis, call 877-663-5433 (ONE LIFE) to get in touch with a trained volunteer from the [b]Suicide Prevention Service of the Central Coast.[/b]
  
  
• Call 800-273-TALK (8255) to be connected to a responder from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
  
  
• Línea Nacional de Prevención del Suicidio (ayuda en español): 888-628-9454.
  
  
• Trevor Lifeline (LGBTQ): 866-488-7386. 
  
  
• Call 911 for emergency services, call your doctor or go to an emergency room. 
  
  
• TTY users: Use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 800-273-8255.
  
  
• Veterans Crisis Line: 800-273-8255
  
  
• For more resources, visit the Santa Cruz County [b]Behavioral Health Division website[/b]. 
  

I had been following the Ocean View death because it came up when I was searching for any death news. That park is a short walk from our bungalow, just a few blocks away.

Published May 3, 2022  12:41 PM 
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Santa Cruz Police investigating death of man found near Ocean View Park

MGN 

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION-TV)-- Santa Cruz Police said they are investigating the death of a middle-aged man found around the 900 block of East Cliff Drive Monday morning. 
A woman walking her dog found a dead man on a path below Ocean View Park near East Cliff Drive around 6:30 a.m.
Police found the man dead with, "trauma to his upper torso." 
Law officials say this investigation is ongoing and they are looking to determine if foul play was involved. 
The identity of the man is awaiting verification from the Santa Cruz County Coroner.

[Drunk Monk]

I smudged Buck’s altar in front of his house and offered some flowers. I had some sage behind my veranda Buddha that’s been aging there for years. I also smudged our bungalow for good measure. Now I’m on our veranda letting the remainder of the smudge stick burn out before our Buddha.

Aisha, Buck’s squatter, came over and talked to me. First time we’ve met. She’s been here for 4 years and stopped paying Buck rent when the pandemic struck. One neighbor said Buck gave her 3 days notice last weekend. She told me that some creepy guy on a bike has been stalking there and that she has cameras everywhere. She’s a tender at Callahans. She offered me some veg lumpia but I abstained. It was an awkward chat but I was polite.

[Drunk Monk]

I just saw Chelsea. Several other neighbors came out to console her. She’s a wreck. She had a good circle of friends around her as they prepared to enter the house for the first time since.

Learned more details but nothing adds up.

[Drunk Monk]

One of my dog park friends, Susan, Georgie’s mom, overheard my mention of the ocean view death. She said ‘wait - you neighbor was Buck Noe?’ Turns out her sister dated Rick back in the early 90s. She knew Buck as a kid and filled me in about Rick. 

Buck never talked about his dad. He only said he didn’t want to be like him. Rick was also an alcoholic. Susan said he fell off the wagon after a long abstinence, drove drunk and hit someone that had to be life flighted to the ER. He never found out if that person survived and out of guilt, drank himself to death. Buck found him dead in his bed.

Buck’s mom abandoned him at age 3. I had heard the left when he was young. Susan said she heard that Buck was crying in the street watching his mom drive away. 

Buck’s mom was also a surfing champ, and now lives in Hawaii. She wants Rick’s and Buck’s ashes but Chelsea wants them to remain in the Cruz where they were both celebrated surfers. Rick’s ashes are in Buck’s house, which I’m looking at through my living room window right now as I post this. Chelsea hasn’t been allowed to view Buck. He may be cremated before she gets the chance.

It’s all so heartbreaking. I hope Chelsea gets what she wants. She did so much for Buck, trying to help him through, plus she’s the mother of his son.

---

Remind me to tell Susan’s story because she just had some trauma too.

[Drunk Monk]

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-r...l-expenses

[Drunk Monk]

Tyrone "Buck" Noe
1980 - 2022



BORN
1980
DIED
2022
UPCOMING SERVICE
Celebration of Life
May, 21 2022
10:30a.m.
Lighthouse Point Lawn

Tyrone "Buck" Noe
September 20, 1980 - May 2, 2022
Santa Cruz

Tyrone Powers (Buck) Noe was born to parents Rick and Laura on September 20, 1980, in Santa Cruz, CA. Our heart breaks that he left our lives on May 2, 2022.
The joy he brought to his family was immediate and immense. Buck's early years were spent on the Westside where the tow-headed blonde was often playing in the parks, beaches and anywhere that little kids in those days could play. When Buck was almost 2, the family (joined by his older half-sister Meara), went to Australia for 3 months of surfing, travels, and adventure.
Buck grew up in the surfing community, spending days at shaping rooms, riding along to pick up blanks, and the smell of resin and board wax. Buck followed in his dad's footsteps and began to develop the skills and knowledge to shape surfboards. They worked out of their shop on Swift Street for many years. Buck was an artisan and a master in his craft. Many, many people around the world continue to ride their Noe boards with passion today. 
Buck loved an adventure, especially if it overlapped with surfing. He traveled to Hawaii many times over the years, staying with his mom Laura who remarried in 2007 to Wayne. Buck also traveled to Indonesia multiple times, staying with local families, and immersing himself in the culture and of course… surfing. 
After losing his dad in 2004, Buck relied even more on his strong community – neighbors in midtown, surfing community, childhood friends and everyone he met and loved along the way. He and his sister Meara navigated the loss of their dad together, and amidst the pain they found more love, compassion, and strength in each other. 
In 2014, Buck reconnected with a high school friend, Chelsea Plemons-Jones, who loved him fiercely and was his partner and fiancé until his death. The birth of their son, Reef, in 2016 was celebrated and Buck loved being Reef's dad. Together they lived a life rich in relationships, appreciation of nature, and experiences. 
All that knew Buck, loved him. He was empathetic for those needing a hand, truthful in his communication, mischievous and playful around adults and children alike. Buck was so very generous with his love. He developed a loving relationship with God.
There are not enough words to describe the hole that Buck has left. He leaves behind his son Reef, fiancé Chelsea, his mom Laura and her husband Wayne, his sister Meara and her husband Jarrett, nieces Nora and Della, aunts, uncles, cousins, and a community that was his family. He loved you all. 
Buck is at peace and catching a big heavenly wave and sharing laughs with his loved ones – Rick, Benny, Jesse, Barney, Priscilla, and many more.
There will be a Celebration of Life for Buck on the Lighthouse Point Lawn on May 21 at 10:30 am. A paddle out will follow.


View the online memorial for Tyrone "Buck" Noe

Published by Santa Cruz Sentinel on May 12, 2022.

[Greg]

No pressure naming your kid Tyrone Powers.

[Drunk Monk]

I confess that I only knew him as Buck. I never heard Tyrone prior to these obits.

This is off Chelsea & Buck’s fb

Celebration Of Life Padate Our
for BUCK NOÈ
Steamer Lane Lighthouse
5/21/22
10:30am
Chelsea Plemons-Jones > Tyrone Powers Noe
Bucks Celebration of life will be held on the lawn at the Steamer Lane Lighthouse at 10:30am on Sarurday, May 21. Paddle out to follow.
I'm putting together a slide show and collecting photos and stories for a photo book for our son, Reef. Please email photos and stories you'd like to share with Reef to westsidemuse@qmail.com with "Buck Nog" in the subiect line so I don't miss it.
I'm still working on securing a projector for the slideshow. If you have equipment and want to help with that please message me
Jessica Reeves is collecting songs for a playlist»»)
We are thinking potluck for pupus at the lighthouse. If you are interested in bringing something please message me (iust to make sure we don't have 20 bags of chips and no salsa or vice versa 3)
I have not even begun to process Bucks death. I am woken in the middle of the night with that falling feelina, my body jolting in protest and disbelief. I have called Buck while driving to tell him about something like I always do, before remembering he wouldn't answer.
The other day our 5 vear old asked me, "Mama, how do we put Dada's soul back in his body?" And my heart broke all over again.
After I told Reef his father had died he picked up a Rock and broke a mussel shell that was sitting next to us on a driftwood log. "Do you want to know why I broke the shell?" he said, "I broke it because I'm sad my dad died, and when I broke the shell it released the wish I put inside and sent it to mv dad."
I kept the rock and I told him I'd always keep a bucket full of mussel shells so anytime he feels sad about his dad he can break a shell and send Buck a wish.
To all vou ocean lovers and beach combers. I will have a bucket at the celebration of life for mussel shell "wishes". Please toss a few in for us

[Drunk Monk]

The paddle out was well attended and beautiful. I learned a lot about Buck. I only knew him for a few years and we only got close during the pandemic. What a force of nature he was. Surfers covered the lawn at Steamers Lane with Noe boards. And the paddle out was so moving. So many honored Buck, including Spencer the surfing dog.

There was a gathering at Frederick St park afterwards. I went with Yuki, who was perplexed because the dog park there is closed again. It was well catered but I had just eaten. 

I met Buck’s sister and a sister in law, who was wearing a Cali Roots hat - foreshadow much?

The whole day was incredible moving, connecting with my neighbors and bearing witness to a deep surfer tradition that was powerfully moving. 
(

[Drunk Monk]

‘We love you, Bucky’: Surf neighborhood mourns iconic board shaper swallowed up by dependancy at 41

Lots of those that knew surfboard shaper Tyrone “Buck” Noe greatest nonetheless wrestle to just accept this ultimate chapter of his tumultuous life.
They can not fathom the findings of a Santa Cruz Police Division investigation that stated his life ended on a path under Ocean View Park within the early hours of Could 2 with a deadly knife wound to his chest and no indicators of foul play.
“He was actually working exhausting, he was even browsing once more,” his good friend Darren instructed the big, emotional crowd gathered at Lighthouse Discipline on Saturday. “This can be a tragedy and an odd flip of occasions.”
Others, together with his sister, Meara Boling, focus extra on therapeutic and serving to others study from her brother’s struggles. Boling, who had helped Buck navigate the challenges of life for a few years within the wake of their father’s dying 18 years in the past, stated she more and more felt {that a} tragic ending was imminent.

Meara Boling, Buck Noe’s older sister, stands in entrance of a crowd at Lighthouse Discipline.
(Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz)


Now right here she was, practically twenty years after the dying of her dad, a gregarious man often known as “Kong” who started the household’s surfboard shaping legacy, searching at so lots of the similar faces that had turned out in assist then, feeling an odd, painful sense of déjà vu.
“I am right here on the Lane for a memorial paddleout [i]once more,” [/i]she instructed a teary-eyed crowd of about 200 that turned out in drive for her brother simply because it had for her father.
“My relationship with Buck has been [i]actually [/i]troublesome the previous few years,” she continued. “His alcoholism and dependancy to him took a more durable, darker flip, and he struggled. I inspired Buck like so a lot of you, like [i]there [/i]of you, to attain sobriety and do the work and be current for your loved ones. I’ve spent many of the final 5 years worrying about my brother — worrying about him dying.”
Buck Noe, 41, leaves behind his fiancée, Chelsea Plemons-Jones, and younger son, Reef. The 5-year-old ran backwards and forwards throughout the Lighthouse Discipline garden, a spitting picture of his father from him, checking again in along with his mother and grandma usually.

Buck Noe’s 5-year-old son, Reef, checks in along with his mother, Chelsea Plemons-Jones, on Saturday.
(Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz)


“All of us right here must be there for Reef,” stated a longtime good friend and neighbor named Ethan. “Look out for him, give him some love, some fatherly recommendation — be there for him. He is gonna want that.”
Others who knew Buck instructed tales in regards to the fun-loving, adventure-seeking, tow-headed child who usually confirmed his love for pals in probably the most bodily method doable.
“I am positive like 80% of you’ve gotten most likely wrestled Buck,” his longtime good friend Shane Skelton instructed the group, most of them suited up in wetsuits prematurely of the standard paddleout, the time-honored ceremony with which the browsing neighborhood marks to go. “Buck [i]actually[/i] favored to wrestle.”
Boling, who was 9 when his brother was born, talked in regards to the time a still-in-diapers Buck leaped out of their truck on Mission Road. “Are you able to guys think about a 2-year-old Buck in a physique forged all summer time?” she requested the group.
She additionally shared the problem of being the “non-surfing sister” within the Noe household. She recalled the time Buck lent her a board that she took out for a paddle after which chastised her for drifting too near the precise surf break.

Folks strolled down a Noe household reminiscence lane Saturday at Lighthouse Discipline.
(Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz)


Others remembered a softer facet lurking under that sturdy floor that will escape in refined methods, Buck taking nice pleasure in shaping surfboards for younger, wide-eyed groms or serving to spend time with a neighbor child who had a critical incapacity.
However family and friends could not assist however recall how Buck’s father, Rick — dubbed the “The Mayor of Steamer Lane” for incomes acclaim as a Westside surfer and shaper within the Nineteen Seventies — fell exhausting into alcoholism after sustaining a critical neck damage when Buck was simply 9.
Rick needed to have a spinal fusion and put on a halo and endured fixed ache, Boling stated. Even worse, he might not surf or do all the opposite issues he liked a lot.
“He wasn’t the large Viking anymore,” she stated. “He might n’t ski, he might n’t play tennis. He needed to have this huge piece of froth on the entrance of his board the place he laid his brow simply so he might paddle out on a surfboard. However he could not surf anymore.

Saturday’s crowd at Lighthouse Discipline, gathered for Buck Noe’s memorial.
(Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz)


After Buck’s mother, Laura Powers, a surfboard artist famend for her pin traces and an early girls’s browsing pioneer, moved to Hawaii and Meara was off at school in Berkeley, it was simply Rick and Buck.
“Buck was type of Dad’s caretaker — and so they had been a lot alike,” Boling instructed Lookout. “Folks liked Buck. He was unabashed in loving individuals. You recognize, he would simply join and open up and would make individuals really feel good round him.”
Buck was solely 23 when he discovered his father unresponsive at their Windham Road house in Midtown, useless of obvious cardiac failure. Rick Noe, 54, was n’t in fine condition at that time, his daughter stated, although he was nonetheless shaping surfboards and dealing exhausting on his personal sobriety.

Heavy hearts had been discovered in all places Saturday at Lighthouse Discipline.
(Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz)


Boling instructed the group that their father’s dying drew Buck and her nearer: “We liked on one another extra and leaned on one another to navigate the horrible loss.”
As she noticed him gravitate towards the identical demons that had befallen their dad, she requested him to select.
“I begged him to solely take the great of Dad and to depart the remaining — to not have this be his journey,” Boling stated.
Now, Boling says, she desires others to understand how exhausting her brother tried in that effort, although it may not at all times have appeared so.

Memorials for Buck Noe that shall be hung in the neighborhood.
(Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz)


“He labored so exhausting to attempt, time and again,” she stated. “Are you able to think about how exhausting it’s to attempt, and wish to be sober, and never have the ability to do it? I do not need him to be remembered as a failure. I need us to know that his strengths carried him so far as he might go. And it is most likely farther than any of us might’ve finished strolling in Buck’s sneakers.”

Meara Boling fights again tears.
(Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz)


Boling, who lives in Alaska after transferring away from Santa Cruz together with her household 15 years in the past, instructed the group how a lot their assist for her brother meant to her.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of you and I do know that you’ve supported him to the most effective of your capacity for so long as you possibly can,” she stated. “Perhaps you helped him by discovering him in a foul place and getting him out of it, possibly you took him house, possibly you danced him out of a tricky scenario or possibly even actually jail. Perhaps you lent him cash, possibly you dropped him off recent banana nut bread since you needed to point out him how a lot you liked him.”

Noe craft from all through the many years gathered on the Lighthouse Discipline garden Saturday.
(Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz)


She instructed them she needed her brother’s unvarnished story to be instructed as a result of there are many others struggling who need assistance and assist.
“I wish to each acknowledge and never disguise the struggles that Buck confronted as a result of I do not wish to stigmatize this,” she stated. “I do not need individuals to not have the ability to get assist.”
Boling instructed Lookout that Buck, like his father earlier than him, had been out and in of restoration applications, with totally different ranges of success. She emphasised that getting sobriety sources is extraordinarily troublesome.
“It is exhausting to get assist. The system is basically, actually exhausting,” she stated. “He did n’t have the proper instruments, although he tried. I simply could not carry it anymore.”
As others instructed tales of particular surfboards formed for them by Buck, or grade-school recollections of an apple pie that Buck so proudly baked all on his personal, Reef Noe ran across the grassy subject scattered with tons of of surfboards his dad and grandpa had formed for the group assembled through the years.
“We love you, Bucky,” stated one among his pals who took the mic briefly, too damaged as much as say far more.
Quickly they’d paddle them out at Steamer Lane, maintain fingers and ship their good friend’s ashes into the air and his spirit off into the good blue yonder.

Folks had their Noe craft in a single hand and a flower within the different coming into the water Saturday at Steamer Lane.
(Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz)


Even because the Noe sister who would not surf, Boling wasn’t about to be neglected of the water ceremony.
She borrowed a board and a wetsuit and paddled out alongside together with her brother’s grief-stricken associate, Chelsea. However not with out the assistance of the identical tight-knit neighborhood she’d been supported by 18 years earlier, on this exact same bittersweet spot that celebrates so a lot of this surf city’s victories and losses.
“Everybody got here collectively to assist elevate us up and ship Bucky off proper,” she stated. “That is the kind of particular neighborhood Santa Cruz is.”

Saturday’s scene from above Steamer Lane for Buck Noe.
(Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz)

Ethan lives right next door to me. He often hangs his surf gear out to dry over our shared fence. Sometimes it falls into our yard. He and I have connected a lot more since Buck's passing. We were always neighborly but have had several conversations since.

[Greg]

Did you have any idea Buck was such a beloved figure in the Cruz?

[Drunk Monk]

Yes, I knew. A 2nd gen custom board maker here in the Cruz? That's local celebrity status in my hood. 

I'm just not a surfer so I stand outside that community. 

This was my first time at a paddle out. It was really moving and powerful.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Captain Insensitivity here: What functional illiterate wrote that article?

[Greg]

I thought they had elevated you to Major?