>>Man, 60, pulled from Lake Worth Inlet was once famous surfer.

By SONJA ISGER, JASON SCHULTZ and ELIOT KLEINBERG

Palm Beach Post Staff Writers

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

The body of homeless man who was described by friends and family as one of the best local surfers years ago was pulled this morning from the Lake Worth Inlet.

"Mike Bowe was a very good hot dogger. He was considered one of the top five local surfers in the '60s," said Fred Salmon, head of the Palm Beach County Surfing History Project.

The U.S. Coast Guard found 60-year-old Michael Ray Bowe near Peanut Island after local boaters called authorities.

An autopsy has been done and no foul play is suspected, but detectives are awaiting toxicology results to determine the cause of death, the Palm Beach County sheriff's office said in a release.

Bowe was wearing swimming trunks when he was found, the sheriff's office said.

Salmon, also a surfer and a lifelong friend of Bowe, said family members told him Bowe had been living on Peanut Island and using a dingy to paddle back and forth between the island and the shore. The dingy needed repairs, and Bowe may have been trying to swim back to the island from the mainland, Salmon said.

Growing up in the 1960s, Bowe surfed on a longboard around Riviera Beach, Salmon said. He competed and won surfing events up and down the East Coast. But Salmon said Bowe's life took a turn after he got into a car accident on Interstate 95, and he had struggled with drugs and alcohol for the rest of his life after it.

"The late '60s claimed Mike," Salmon said. "The late '60s and early '70s took a lot of people down that road."

According to jail records, Bowe was arrested at least 19 times since 1977, mostly for disorderly intoxication or trespassing.

Records show he also spent time in state prison for convictions on charges that included grand theft auto and burglary.

Salmon said the last time he talked to Bowe was a few months ago. He said that once Bowe got arrested the first time it was hard for him to stay out of jail from then on. But Salmon said he still liked to remember the way his friend was when they were kids on the waves together.

"Back in the 60s he was a great surfer and he wasn't that bad of a guy," Salmon said.<<



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