From his grandmother's home in Puerto Rico to the one he shares with his fiancee in Hale'iwa, the family and friends of Joaquin Velilla are praying for his safe return.

He went surfing Thursday evening amid the unforgiving waves at Banzai Pipeline and vanished.

The Honolulu Fire Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and North Shore lifeguards searched by air and boat yesterday for the 35-year-old surfboard shaper. The search stretched from Mokule'ia to Kahuku Point — at times, 12 miles out to sea — and covered more than 1,000 square miles, the Coast Guard said.

They found nothing.

The only sign of Velilla to turn up so far is his surfboard. HFD Capt. Frank Johnson said "an anonymous person" found Velilla's board Thursday night at 7 p.m. at 'Ehukai Beach Park near Pipeline and turned it in yesterday to Fire Department personnel. "It has been confirmed to be the missing surfer's surfboard," Johnson said.

"He paddled out at Pipe and he never came home," said Mariela Acosta, his 32-year-old fiancee. "I had to work late, and when I came home, around 10 p.m., he wasn't here. So I went to Pipe and found his car. I called 911."

The search — which included a U.S. Coast Guard cutter and helicopter as well as the Hono-lulu Fire Department's Air 1 helicopter and Rescue 2 unit — began after the 911 call, at about 11:15 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.

The Fire Department searched until 2 a.m. yesterday before suspending efforts until daybreak. Using night-vision goggles, Coast Guard searchers stayed out all night.

Capt. Sigmund Oka, a Fire Department spokesman, said the weather was clear but the strong surf and wind could hamper the search.

"In an aerial search, a lot of it is based on visibility, and the choppiness and whitecaps may have an effect," he said.

A westerly swell was pushing huge amounts of water toward the beach Thursday evening with wave faces said to be 20 feet — and rising. By yesterday, some sets were estimated to be 22 feet.

Acosta said her fiance is an experienced waterman who has surfed for more than 20 years and shaped surfboards for a living for 15 years.

The couple moved to Hawai'i five years ago from Puerto Rico.

"Joaquin is a committed, passionate surfer," she said. "He is very athletic, healthy, no vices. Very committed to his sport. That was his life, surfing and shaping."

Velilla's mother was flying in from Miami and his father from Puerto Rico. But numerous family members had gathered yesterday at his 81-year-old grandmother's home in Toa Alta, outside San Juan, she said.

The family was waiting for any news of Velilla's fate, said his 29-year-old cousin, Juan Roman.

"For me, until I get the final news that he is not found, then he is alive," Roman said.

In Puerto Rico, Velilla practically lived at the beach, his cousin said. He moved to Hawai'i for the surf.

"He surfs every day, since he was little, every day," Roman said. "When a hurricane came here in Puerto Rico, he would go look for the big waves. He liked big waves. He liked the adrenaline rush."

Pipeline is one of the world's most-often photographed waves because of the watery barrels it creates when a swell rolls over a shallow, jagged reef. Surfers come from everywhere to ride it, but even veteran surfers can get in trouble, said Jodi Wilmott, a North Shore resident and surf event promoter.

"The irony is that many of the serious accidents and deaths out there have happened to serious surfers," she said. "Pipeline doesn't have much margin for error. Pipeline is a such a rapidly breaking wave. You have split seconds to respond, even if you are at the top of your game."

Thursday's waves were heavy, and the long shore currents from a westerly swell could quickly sweep someone up the coast toward Sunset Beach. Or worse, a collapsing wave could shove a surfer into the cavernous reef, trapping him.

At one point yesterday, searchers found a surfboard. It gave Velilla's fiancee a heart-fluttering moment of dread, but the board belonged to someone else.

Authorities told her they would continue searching today. It buoyed her hopes.

"Everybody is thinking about him right now," she said. "We want him back."

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.