Jake Bigham

SamD0g · Joined: 10 Aug 2002 Posts: 77 Location: Hood River, OR

Jake Bigham, a windsurfer and Rowena resident was killed while windsurfing in extreme conditions off the coral reef at Cabo Pumo, Baja, Mexico on Dec. 22. The memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday December 30 at the Pine Grove United Methodist Church, 2415 East Side Road, Hood River.

BajaVaya · Joined: 03 Apr 2003 Posts: 88

What happened?

jp5 · Joined: 19 May 1998 Posts: 3394 Location: OnUr6

My condolences to his family. At least he went while doing something he loved.

SamD0g · Joined: 10 Aug 2002 Posts: 77 Location: Hood River, OR

It was a big day with 30 plus kt winds huge waves and a giant shorebreak. The post on Baja Friends indicated that his body was found near shore and that it was the shorebreak that got him. The obit seems to imply that it was the reef.

WindSapien · Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 2:02 pm Post subject: Windsurfer Death

I wish to express my sincere condolences to his family and friends.
I did not know him but I know how tough it is to lose a friend or family member especially around the holidays , having recently lost two members
of our family in the last month.I pray for their comfort and peace. WS

SamD0g · Joined: 10 Aug 2002 Posts: 77 Location: Hood River, OR

I copied this from a post on Gorge Windsurfer

The East Cape has had some big weather the last week and a half. We
normally spend about a month here each year between the middle of
December and the middle of January.

We had the biggest waves I have seen in the last 5 years on the day of
the accident. Normally the waves reach about mast high at La Ventana
which is a little North of Cabo Pulmo. This year I saw a few that
were a mast and a half high. At La Ventana they do not break onto a
reef.

I have sailed Cabo Pulmo but never with that much wind and waves. The
thing that always impressed me was how shallow the reef appears when
the waves get big. It appears that there is only a foot or two over
the reef as you get to the bottom of the swell. Sailors have often
told me that it is deeper than it appears.

It is always sad to hear about this type of accident and to think
about how this will change a family for life.

Wilton

gorgeanimal · Joined: 06 Jun 2008 Posts: 1

Jake...buddy...hadn't seen you since about 1992 when I left the Gorge. Just heard about this now from Des. I know wherever you are you are sailing. My heart goes out to your family and friends, and to all my old Gorge friends who were still around you daily. I'll try to make it to Massachusetts this summer if that is OK. Great guy...one of the best. Crying or Very sad

-Rick Floyd
Burlington, VT

Jake's "boss" at Island Windsurfing on Martha's Vineyard 1981-82