HAGATNA, Guam — A Guam surfing and bodyboarding organization is planning to dedicate an upcoming annual competition to a local surfer who died after being pulled from Talofofo Bay.
Pacific Daily News reports 58-year-old surfer Joseph Acfalle of Yigo died Wednesday afternoon.
Guahan Napu Inc., a federation of surfers and body boarders, is dedicating the eighth annual Rick’s Reef Classic competition to Acfalle.
The competition is scheduled for March 14.
Federation president Willi Byerly says he surfed with Acfalle in the 1970s. He says Acfalle was known as “Cocoa Joe,” because of his dark tan.
Byerly says Acfalle broke his leg in the 1980s in an accident at Rick’s Reef.
According to Byerly, Acfalle had just started surfing recently after being out of the sport for the last two decades.