Darryl "Flea" Virostko (born December 25, 1971) was a professional "

big wave Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves that are at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. The size of the board needed to successfully surf these w ...

" surfer from

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

. He graduated from

Santa Cruz High School Santa Cruz High School is a comprehensive public school in Santa Cruz, California which originally opened in 1897 and now serves an enrollment of about 1,040 students in grades nine through twelve. It is part of the Santa Cruz City School Dist ...

in 1991. He is a three-time

Mavericks Maverick or Maveric may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Bureau T-32 Ma ...

competition winner. Virostko appears as himself in the surfing films ''

Riding Giants ''Riding Giants'' is a 2004 documentary film produced by Agi Orsi and directed and narrated by Stacy Peralta, a famous skater/surfer. The movie traces the origins of surfing and specifically focuses on the art of big wave riding. Some of the ...

'', ''

Step Into Liquid ''Step into Liquid'' (2003) is a documentary about surfing directed by Dana Brown, son of famed surfer and filmmaker Bruce Brown. The film includes surfing footage from the famous Pipeline, the beaches of Vietnam, and some of the world's largest ...

'', and '' Billabong Odyssey''. Surfer declared his 2004 wipeout on a 50-foot wave at

Waimea Bay Waimea Bay is located in Haleiwa on the North Shore of Oʻahu in the Hawaiian Islands at the mouth of the Waimea River. Waimea Valley extends east of Waimea Bay. means "reddish water" in Hawaiian. History On February 27, 1779, Captain ...

, Hawaii, the "Wipeout of the Decade". As of 2009 Virostko was a recovering addict, and runs a program, "FleaHab", to teach other recovering addicts how to surf and be active while learning a new way of life. He starred in ''The Westsiders'' a

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

by Josh Pomer that chronicles his difficult upbringing and addiction to drugs, on the west side of Santa Cruz. As of 2011-2025 Darryl is a father of Lily, and in 2014 Rita Virostko. Wendy Edwards collided with Darryl in a 'Bizzare' motor vehicle crash while driving highway 1 northbound On January 10,2022. Wendy fled the scene of the accident and jumped off a 300 ft. cliff into the ocean resulting in her death.

References

* *
Darryl Virostko filmography
on go.com * https://www.ksbw.com/article/santa-cruz-ocean-jump-scotts-creek-surfing-flea/38740759

Notes

1971 births Living people American surfers Big wave surfing Sportspeople from Santa Cruz, California Big wave surfers {{US-surfing-bio-stub Santa Cruz High School alumni