As a Chris Hawk surfboard is held up to the sky, nearly 200 surfers sitting on their boards in a makeshift circle unclasp their hands and spray the ocean water upward.

More friends and family watching the memorial paddle-out from the Huntington Beach Pier cheer, and soon a chant starts: “Hawk! Hawk! Hawk!”

Surfboard shaper and ’70s icon Christopher Lee Hawk – also known as “the Hawk” — was remembered Sunday during a ceremony that brought hundreds of friends and family to the beach break where decades ago Hawk could be found taking barrel rides.

“It was a beautiful send-off for a perfect guy,” said his wife, Kathy.

Hawk, of San Clemente, died on Oct. 23 from throat cancer. He was 58.

Read the full story here.  Photos by Mike Goulding/Orange County Register

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