i’ve been surfing for 35 odd years and guys often say I look like Mike Purpose. Can anyone give me any info. on Mike? eg. a website or something autobiographical, I can’t seem to find anything. taa jack
Actually it is Mike Purpus. My fondest memory of Mike was a day at Velzyland 1973 when he was surfing naked for a Playgirl shoot and then out comes Angie Reno paddling out naked with HIS photographer for the same thing. So here’s 2 haole guys at V Land no less almost dukin’ it out naked! Lots of good Purpus stories around. He was actually a pretty good guy what little I knew of him. aloha
I saw of pic of Mike in an old surf mag. He was holding a board with Jane Fonda airbrushed on the bottom. The article said that he won a dinner with Mrs. Fonda and was so impressed by her that he painted her on his board.>>> i’ve been surfing for 35 odd years and guys often say I look like Mike > Purpose. Can anyone give me any info. on Mike? eg. a website or something > autobiographical, I can’t seem to find anything. taa jack
Sorry, it was Raquel Welch. Not Jane Fonda. Check out this link if you wanna see a pic of Mike and his board. http://www.swell.com/sw/content/surfaz/airbrush.jsp
i’ve been surfing for 35 odd years and guys often say I look like Mike > Purpose. Can anyone give me any info. on Mike? eg. a website or something > autobiographical, I can’t seem to find anything. taa jack in one of the surf mags recently there was a bio of him and what he’s up to. sounds like classic surfer bum(meant with proper respect). according to the article he lives near the beach, doesn’t have a phone, surfs all the time. if i can find the issue i’ll post which one.
Actually it is Mike Purpus. My fondest memory of Mike was a day at > Velzyland 1973 when he was surfing naked for a Playgirl shoot and then out > comes Angie Reno paddling out naked with HIS photographer for the same > thing. So here’s 2 haole guys at V Land no less almost dukin’ it out > naked! Lots of good Purpus stories around. He was actually a pretty good > guy what little I knew of him.>>> aloha Yeah I remember that too, I also remember he was probably ‘the most’ unliked pro in an era when we boo’ed all contests,pro’s, or anything we percieved as “no soul”, of course Lopez was immune to this scrutany! Any surf movie that came out we all hooted wildly at until Purpus came on, oops, then loud boo’ing. Then he is riding H.o.l.l.o.w W.a.v.e. boards(very lame)… Then he is just about single handedly overpopulizing the wearing of puka shell necklesses. Poor guy, how imbarrassing, and now he’s an out of shape seventies burn out. He once let me ride his H.o.l.l.o.w.w.a.v.e. board down in La Fonda, Mexico, back when swallowtails just hit as the new thing. He really needed some management direction, but back then we only cared about pure soul surfing (and avoiding Viet Nam). Thats right, no leashes,logos,colors,boardname,competition. But alot of hair and smoke(if you know what I Mean!). Boy times have changed, that’s why, when ‘Nat’ got punched out last year, it brought back alot of memories about pro’s dropping in/burning me(even though I could/can keep up with any of them). Hows your jaw feel Nat! What comes around goes around…keep it real. No offense to any vets, fellow boardbuilders…
I’m looking at a photo taken less than a year ago. The location is a dinghy apartment in south Redondo. In the corner sits one large antiquated T.V. with another smaller one sitting on top, a sure sign of poor lifestyle choice. In the center of the photo sits Mike Purpus. Gone is the trademark “BillyJack” hat and puka shell necklace, but the “mullet” hairstyle remains. His shirt is off and it’s a shocking sight. Think Chris Farley at the end or John Candy with a B-cup. Remember the photos of Jack ONeil wearing the blow-up SuperSuit floating around Cowells? Believe me the reason he does not have a car or phone has nothing to do with a “soul statement” as indicated in the recent Surfer magazine piece. Surfhungrey is right on the money, Purpus never had a clue, and never quite fit . All he wanted was “to drive up to a surf contest in a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud”. I don’t think Playgirl will be calling any time soon…
I’ll probably get flamed for this, but Purpus’s surfing was WAY ahead of his time. He had a monster cutback to dead vertical foam ball bounce. He also had one of the most consistently vertical backhand off the lips of his time. I remember seeing him pull helicopter 360’s on a single fin with an 8” Brewer fin in it in 3-foot slop. Consistently. It was kind of a gyro move, but go try that sometime and see how many you make. (On a single fin) He could pull them anytime he wanted. By the standards of the time, his style was ugly. Now… he’d fit right in. If I could go back in time and take any 70’s pro and bring him forward and push him into the WQS for a piece of his winnings, it would be Purpus. If you took him and parked him on a boat in Indo with a quiver of modern equipment and a library of surf videos, he would be busting airs and ready for a run at it in 3 weeks.
Shaka gws - thanks for the balance, Some people we love to hate and hate to love. I prefer to think of people like Purpus the way Matt Johnson is portrayed in Big Wednesday. Drunk, hungover, disliked, alienated. But an old friend comes along and gives him a board and he rips… better and different than everyone around. Whether fantasy or not, I prefer to think this way because it helps me remain optimistic in a time of cynics and naysayers. Purpus couldn’t have been a total kook.
Ill probably get flamed for this, but Purpuss surfing was WAY ahead of > his time. He had a monster cutback to dead vertical foam ball bounce. He > also had one of the most consistently vertical backhand off the lips of > his time. I remember seeing him pull helicopter 360s on a single fin with > an 8 Brewer fin in it in 3-foot slop. Consistently. It was kind of a gyro > move, but go try that sometime and see how many you make. (On a single > fin) He could pull them anytime he wanted. By the standards of the time, > his style was ugly. Now& hed fit right in. If I could go back in time and > take any 70s pro and bring him forward and push him into the WQS for a > piece of his winnings, it would be Purpus. If you took him and parked him > on a boat in Indo with a quiver of modern equipment and a library of surf > videos, he would be busting airs and ready for a run at it in 3 weeks. Not…Include egomaniac and braggard cause apparently you’ve never been dropped in on by him(back then) cause basically thats what he did to everyone, which was unacceptable to many local types back in the day, It’s very insulting coming from an advanced surfer, basically sending the message that "I’m relieving you of your wave, cause your not worthy, so i’m stealing it from you right in front of all your buddies,hoping your not bold enough to shoot your board into my ass. Jeff Crawford received a dogfood can in the face(north shore) for his drop in habit, two weeks after dropping in on me(showing off for Jeff Divine) at la jolla shores. People who cronically compete (and i know some of the best) have something strange to prove and dont play by the same acceptable rules(like wave possession). So when an unliked pro like Purpus finally bites the reality bullet,(You know having to face the reality of ‘real’ success,education,career,mortgage,wife,kids,401k). We the unworthy unsponsored guys, finally get the last laugh from our comfortable homes. Its sad when role models/idols turn to phyical shit: Hynson, Purpus, Fitzgerald(probably the perfect surfer image), Corky Carroll, even Tom Curran is slipping. Being a champion must be such an extreme that this is the other exteme…too bad, Jenny Craig sponsorships where are you.
The Indians had a saying something like “Don’t judge a man until you walk a mile in his moccasins” aloha
My post said absolutely nothing about his ethics or about his admitted total lack of class. It was about his surfing. Period. You want to talk about washed up over the hill professional athletes that have made a mess of their lives& that is one LONG list and it is a list that is not by any means confined to surfing. When Purpus was riding for WAVE hollow boards he wanted to relocate to the Ventura area, which is where Im from. It was a no go. He had his life threatened and was told to leave in no uncertain terms. He was everything you said and more, but that doesnt change the fact that if you start looking at film of 70s era surf stars, the guy ripped. He ripped hard and powerful with a very low wide stance. Kind of like a lot of what is happening now. Hence my post.