Joaquin Velilla was 35 when he was last seen on January 11, 2007, after paddling out at the Banzai Pipeline on Oahu’s North Shore. A surfboard shaper and active member of the Haleiwa/Waialua surfing community, he had moved to Hawaii from Puerto Rico and lived there with his fiancée, Mariela Acosta.

A friend saw him at dusk and said he intended to catch one more wave. Joaquin’s vehicle was found parked at Ehukai Beach Park, his surfboard washed ashore and turned over to rescuers, and Honolulu firefighters, North Shore lifeguards and the U.S. Coast Guard conducted an extensive air-and-sea search over a wide area that included more than 1,000 square miles. The exact sequence of his final moments has not been publicly established.

Friends and family held memorials at Ehukai Beach Park and in the surf community to remember him. If anyone saw Joaquin at Pipeline that evening or has information about his last known movements, can you share what you knew?