From an unimaginable loss, an enduring legacy…
Arunay was our 12 year old son, who was playing by the beach with his friends and family on the fateful warm day of Jan 18th, 2021, when a sneaker wave carried him out to the sea. Despite extensive search and recovery efforts, he was never found and we made the heartbreaking decision to call off all search efforts on March 1, 2021.
Arunay was extremely athletic and was great at any sport he tried. Soccer was his favorite sport and he was an avid and talented player. He loved music and movies, playing with his friends and had a sharp mind and an intelligent wit. Not even in our worst nightmares could we have imagined that a seemingly innocuous trip to the beach would result in the loss of our sweet boy.
Arunay Foundation was born out of the desire to turn our enormous grief, loss and tragedy into hope, education and solutions for ocean safety and beach awareness. For much of the West Coast, sneaker waves kill more people than all other weather hazards combined, yet these statistics are not properly tracked and reported. The beaches of the North Coast of California, Oregon, and Washington with their steep and rugged tree lined coasts and frigid ocean temperatures are some of the most dangerous in the world, next to the coast of Iceland. With proper awareness and adequate warnings, we believe these incidents can be avoided.
The rocky California Coast though stunningly beautiful, pose many dangers that we were naive about. We were unaware of what sneaker waves were, how to identify the risks of perilous beach conditions, and important life-saving techniques that when utilized could have saved our precious son.
With Arunay as our guiding light, we want to devote ourselves to educating our community about beach and ocean safety. It is our greatest hope that through the Arunay Foundation, a fun trip to the beach will never again end in tragedy.
- Sharmistha & Tarun (Arunay’s Mom & Dad)