Search continues for missing LI surfer

Searchers in South Sumatra, Indonesia, pressed ahead Monday to find a popular Long Beach High School surf coach and math teacher who disappeared Sunday while riding waves on a remote beach.

Daniel Bobis, 32, was surfing when he disappeared, his wife, Rachel, wrote Sunday in a Facebook note she created to seek help locating him. Along with another couple, the pair were staying at a surf resort near Tanjung Setia Beach where he was surfing at the time of his disappearance. Rachel Bobis wrote on Facebook that Daniel Bobis' surfboard washed up on the beach with a broken leash.

Bobis, an environmental activist who started a surf club at the high school, is considered an experienced surfer and an ocean lover by those who know him. He is a co-founder of the Long Beach Surfer's Association and is also a member of the Sludge Stoppers Task Force, a group that advocates for clean beaches in Long Beach.

At the time he disappeared, waves in the area were cresting at up to 9 feet, according to several online surf reports.

U.S. officials in Indonesia said Monday that local authorities are conducting the search, which included an aerial sweep by a helicopter.

A source familiar with the search said Monday that it is unlikely Bobis will be found alive and a search team has narrowed the area where he may eventually be located.

On Monday his father, Robert Bobis, and stepmother, Lidia Simpson, were said to be en route to Jakarta. Bobis' mother, Gloria, was still making arrangements Monday to fly to Indonesia.

As the search continued, plans were moving forward to hold a fundraiser for the Bobis family. Along with his other pursuits, Bobis found time to play the drums for a Long Beach-based punk rock band, Cipher.

Tom Marron, 25, who runs an open mic night at O'Carroll's Recovery Room in Mineola every Wednesday, said Wednesday's fundraiser will be dedicated to Bobis. The event will take place from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at 214 Station Plaza North.

"To be honest, I don't know him personally," Marron said. "But as a musician, I knew his band Cipher and within this community, we kind of try to stick together."