Loss Leads to Starting the One Last Wave Project

It was 2020 and Dan Fischer was grieving the loss of both his beloved dog, and his father Karl – an adventurer who built a family culture around personal growth and exploration – in isolation. “I leaned into surfing because it made me feel connected to the earth and the ocean,” says Fischer. Although that activity made him feel less alone, he still hadn’t found a way to honor the bond he had with his dad. “I wanted to share surfing with him, so I decided to write his name on my board and take him out there. One early afternoon, I took the board to Second Beach, and when I was in the waves and saw his name illuminated by the sun, I found a moment of connection.”

That night, he posted about his experience in Middletown on social media, inviting others to share the names of loved ones they lost. He promised to take them out surfing via his board, too. The post went viral. “Suddenly, I had hundreds of people from around the world reaching out to me,” says Fischer. The One Last Wave Project was born.

It took just one week for Fischer to fill a surfboard with 1,501 handwritten names. A month later, a second held 1,800 more. “It’s an emotional experience to read people’s stories and connect with them,” he says. “Every single name is a life. Every name is an emotional experience for me.” So far, nearly 18,000 lives have been honored. And although the act is healing, it’s also heavy. “Sometimes I have to stare at a board for two or three days before I start writing the names on it because I know the emotional journey ahead,” he says. “I have to be in a good mental space before I start.”

Each surf board carries up to 2,000 individual stories of lives well lived, but each board is a story, too. Each represents loved ones from dozens of countries, and boards are shaped in locales across the globe. The one shaped in Santa Cruz was made from fallen local redwood trees. The one that will be launched in Norway was designed by South African longboard surfer Stevie Sawyer. Fischer describes them as active memorials.

The project also gives those left behind permission to start living again. “There is a woman in Boston whose father’s name is on our seventh board, the one we launched in Cornwall, England. She flew to Heathrow, drove six hours to the beach, spent five minutes with the board, stood in the ocean for 10 minutes, then immediately drove back to Heathrow and flew back to Boston,” Fischer says. “For so many grieving families, especially those that lost children, life stopped. Joy has been stripped away. The board gives them hope, a reason to travel and reenter life.” 

When Fischer lost his dad, he spent a year feeling alone in his grief. But in the ocean, he found a connection to something larger than himself. But the ocean doesn’t just connect humans to the planet. It connects borders across the globe. And the surfboards launched through the One Last Wave Project connect people through one of the most universal human experiences: grief.

“I’ve found that it’s a trifecta of things,” says Fischer. “These surfboards are works of art, and we connect through art. We are connected by the ocean. And we are connected to everyone around the world through the experience of grief. I continue to hear from people that the more they talk about it and share their experience, the more they have hope that life continues. That’s what these boards do.” 

Each board is funded, in part, by the previous one through donations and purchases at the One Last Wave Project shop. There is no fee to submit a name for a surfboard. Learn more at OneLastWaveProject.com