Official forums for BZFlag.org

Dear tankers,

a well-known tanker, Surftank, that most of you surely were lucky enough to play with and talk to has recently passed away after fighting for months against cancer. He was not around very much lately for obvious reasons but we enjoyed him for years in Ducati, GU, Pillbox, and public servers all around bzworld. He was an energetic and nice tank, always fun to play with or against, and we are deeply sorry to hear that he finally has left us after his final struggle. This remind us all that behind the little tanks we fight there are real people with real lives. He was my team mate in Barbarians team for ducati league and so I used to see him playing a lot.

Let this message be a little tribute to his memory.

quantum dot

PS: We are planning to organize some sort of tourney/cup with his name to honour him a last time. All invited to participate.

Surf's son, Joe had this message from surf:

surftanks ghost: ive been instructed to tell you all...according to my dads will...that surftank has passed away...due to compications of his br
surftanks ghost: brain tumor
surftanks ghost: he left me explicit instructions to tell you all that he loved you very much
surftanks ghost: so i did what he said...i dont know why...but he thought a lot of you all

Surf was a fun tanker and teammate for many years. He will be missed.

Hey all,

after bit of discussion we have the following two ideas. The first is to create a choreographed video of tanks jumping trying to imitate a wave form, a wave for surftank to surf on, which will then be posted on youtube.
The second idea is to have a small tournament, or a tribute match in the honor of Surftank. Details still to be announced. The two dates can be combined, to start off the evening with the tank wave dance, and to finish it off with a good fight.

To find a date, we have created a doodle calendar pool to be found here:

http://www.doodle.com/7u4xwv55arxcnqh2

Good would be a saturday, for example saturday the 6th of august. If you have suggestions, please dont hesitate to write and i can add it to the poll.

Best,
Foo

edit: Times on Doodle are in GMT

Times shown are referring to, I suppose, central EU time.

i didnt get to say goodbye. :'(

Surftank was a good friend and a great guy to be around. Some of us were especially privileged to speak with him over teamspeak a few times, which helped us get to know him a little more in depth and hear about his life and the things he loved. He was also a worthy and potent foe on the battlefield. I will miss him very much, as I'm sure we all will.

Surftank was one of my favorite people to play this game with. After playing against him for years, he was one of the few people whom I could understand on a personal level outside of the game. Not once did he ever have a negative comment to say to me, which speaks wonders about his character. Those of you who did have a chance to speak with him on teamspeak know of his colorful personality and how much he really did care about everyone on BZ. Surftank was downright hilarious; I remember being in a terrible mood and logging on bz, to see surftank cussing like usual and I would just laugh. His antics put everyone in a better mood. I'm devastated to hear of his passing, but am extremely honored that surftank included his BZ friends in his will. BZ lost a great member of the community, and he will be missed by all. Whenever the tournament or video or whatever is, I will make sure to show up, because he deserves to be honored by everyone.

-slime

This news is devastating for me, Surf was one of the few who understood my behaviour in the game, he was a constant source of amusement on teamspeak when TRS soxs me and him played ducati funmatches together. Surf was (unknown to some) a well of knowledge, about life, who constantly supported his friends, even when it got him in trouble, never wavering in his support. some players, like me, would have grown up with surf as a part of thier lives. when i started playing age 12 surf was there and 6 years later we were still firm friends. surf you will be so missed by all my family. deeg, Feral1, 3rd Dimension. we honour you.

Zac

I'm sorry to read/hear such a tragic news. Accept my sincere condolences.We used to play at Two Castles back in 2007-2008, sometimes with his son. I wasn't aware of the cancer he had till last week when we had a little chat. As qd said it realizes behind the screen are real people. For the last time - Good Game Surf... [*]

r.i.p. surf.

goodbye my old buddy , please accept my condolences

I had only had the honor to know him for a month, but make no mistake: That was one of the best months of my life... He was a real man, funny, friendly, and someone you could trust. In my first official Gu league match it was just me and him. We were killed 5-0, instead of being upset he told me how good I had done, and that he enjoyed being able talk and meet me. God bless him and his family. And may he find eternal peace. We love you Surf.

It is very sad news indeed to hear that we have lost Surftank. My thoughts go to his family and friends.
Even though we only got to know him in such a small way here, his passing has still managed to leave quite a void in our BZWorld. The burden must be unbearable for those that actually knew him in real life.
He was much loved and will be missed.
Goodbye Surftank.

Mucho Maas wrote:To find a date, we have created a doodle calendar pool to be found here:
http://www.doodle.com/7u4xwv55arxcnqh2

The calendar says that this will take place on a Ducati server, but jumping is not allowed. Are we turning on jumping for the occasion?
A 21 gun salute might also be fitting.

Surf was awesome, I'll miss him. Those late duc fm's wont be the same without his hilarious cussing, got me laughing everytime. It was horrible to log in yesterday and see all those RIP messages, and his son's post just got me in tears. I'm honoured that he remembered the community as an important part of his life. Redemption is to know that this guy had a good life, and I'm sure he enjoyed it as much as he could. Whatever you guys set up to honor him, I'm in. BTW, be sure to increase the server player limit to as much as possible - we should make it something like 20v20.

I was just talking to him a couple weeks ago about something that was bugging me, and he blown me away with some really intense thoughts about regret and forgiveness. He gave me such a great advice that day.

GS Surf, was really nice to have you around.

Dear and already wistful friend of many years (6 years) and how wonderful and fun battles we had in the fields of the Pillbox, Ducati and GU league. Rest in peace, the bzflag family will never forget his person and the name of his famous tank “Surftank”, God Bless you my friend!
My family and I wish his family our deepest feelings at this moment of great sadness.

Carioca

My thoughts run deep about Surftank and I will miss him very much. We played together for many years and I always enjoyed our conversations while shooting at each other. On BZ you meet many people and make lots of friends and this just shows that BZ is more than just a game. My heart feels for his family and friends. Take care Surf, we will meet again.

this is the most sad news i've heard in a while....

I'm going to miss surf a lot, i've gotten a lot of time to talk to him outside of bz...i got to know him pretty well, there's been plenty of times where my voice has gone un-heard, but surf was one who'd always listen. Nobody else was as charismatic as surf, even with the problems going on in his life, he found the strength to share a laugh with you. He was a great person and always will be remembered as one. My deepest sympathy goes out to his family, i know he was a great father- the advice he would give me to deal with my problems was golden, every time he'd always be right--no matter what the situation was. I'm gonna miss you buddy, even though we haven't gotten the time to talk recently i know you knew we never lost friendship.

r.i.p surf we know you'll be with us always....one love.

Dear all, please fill in the doodle poll (http://www.doodle.com/7u4xwv55arxcnqh2) to find a date that fits most of us for Surftank's memorial fun match.

What timezone does that doodle site use? Or does it automatically adjust the the local time of the viewer? For me, I'm seeing 8PM, 10PM, and 11PM, for instance, and I'm in the central time zone. Does it show different times for other people?

Right, but "I suppose" does not impart much confidence. What is the ACTUAL time zones it is referring to?

Since almost everything in the leagues is done in gmt time....i assumed that is the time zone....but you know what they say about assuming

In GMT, 8, 10, 11 would be typical Riker Cup times, and the times when the most people are on, so those probably are GMT times, and from here on, we should probably ask everyone to post the times in GMT time to avoid further confusion.

Doodle does NOT adjust times to local times of voters, times are chosen only by the specific doodle proponent. So my assumption was that this were local times to mistake/foo, that is German time region, CET = GMT + 1.