Heavy Surf Claims the Life of Bajan Pro in Barbados Zander Venezia, 16, dies after a treacherous session on Barbados' east coast By Matt Pruett 
 
 Published: September 5, 2017 
 
 September 5, 2017 Views: 412,552 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Heavy Surf Claims the Life of Bajan Pro in Barbados Zander Venezia, 16, dies after a treacherous session on Barbados' east coast. (GP) 
 
 ON A DAY when most Barbadians avoided the beach because of the high surf caused by Category 5 Hurricane Irma, pro junior surfer Zander Venezia took to the waves to do what he loved most. I wasn't there [at the spot], but my wife has been with the Venezia family at the hospital." Surfers who were there tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him while he was in the water and on the beach. According to online surf magazine Surfline, Zander’s last words, before that monster set drove him under, were: “I just got the best wave of my life.” 
 
 Zander was 16 and the son of Lisa and champion navigator and surfer Louis Venezia.
– A young professional surfer is dead after venturing into waves generated by Hurricane Irma. Zander Venezia, 16, was surfing on the east coast of Barbados on Tuesday when he ran into trouble with a closeout set—a wave that breaks all at once so that a surfer doesn't have a clear line through it. The wave sent Venezia barreling into the "shallow, rocky bottom" of Cattlewash Beach, where he was afterward found "bleeding and unresponsive," report Surfline and Nation News. Fellow surfers got Venezia to shore and performed CPR, but although the teen was reportedly breathing when he arrived at a hospital, he didn't recover. Initial reports suggested he broke his neck, though Surfline notes an autopsy revealed he drowned. A Barbados native, Venezia was among several pro surfers who ventured out in search of giant waves resulting from Hurricane Irma. His last words were, "'I just got the best wave of my life!,'" per a surf instructor. "Then that next closeout set came through." Loop News reports a high surf advisory was in effect in Barbados on Tuesday, with swells expected to reach up to 13 feet. People were "strongly advised to stay well away from the water" because of the "large battering waves and dangerous rip-currents," the site noted. Venezia, who became a champion youth surfer in Barbados at age 11, was due to compete in the Rip Curl GromSearch National Championship in California next month after winning a qualifying event in August, reports Surfer.