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Photo: Dave Hunt-Sydney

I RECEIVED A MESSAGE this morning from a fellow writer regarding Daniel Bobis, a Long Island, New York-based surfer who has been missing off the coast of West Lampung, Sumatra since Sunday night. My friend forwarded me his wife Rachel’s Facebook plea for media outreach and any leads, even before CNN reported on the situation.

According to CNN, Daniel Bobis is a math teacher at Long Beach High School as well as the founder of the school’s surf team, the first competitive team in New York. He was last seen on Sunday, July 24, 2011, when he was surfing with his friend Brian Lonergan. The waves in West Lampung are typically around 12 feet during this season, and after catching one, Bobis disappeared, but his surfboard washed ashore.

Brian, Robin and others searched for him for the next 11 hours. Brian says, “[T]here was nothing really abnormal about the size of the waves. Danny is a really capable surfer and a really capable swimmer.”

The Bobis family is now working with the U.S. Consulate in Sumatra to include a helicopter search. Although she requested in her Facebook note that any messages include hard leads or offers of media outreach rather than well wishes, we at Matador still send Robin and her family the best.