Just found out that Mike Tabeling has passed away. The ranks are thinning rapidly. Met him at SHF, didn’t know him, but he was surely a ground breaker for east coast surfing. Underscores the mortality of us all. Mike was just 65 years old. Condolences to the Tabeling family.
sorry to hear that !
and … 65 years old , not that old ?!
I loved the shots in surfer mag in the 70s of him riding very small fishes !
R.I.P.
http://encyclopediaofsurfing.com/entries/tabeling-mike
Born in 1949 same as myself .
We had a nice talk a few months ago .
I surfed the same lineups as him , twice. Once, when the Weber Team came to Newport, RI for a contest. I paddled out at First Beach and he, Dewey and Catri were out. Traded waves with them for an hour or two.
The other time was in Fla. I was shooting some ad pics for Claude Codgen and we ran into Tabeling and Dickie Munson when we’d finished shooting and were just going out to catch a few. This was at RC’s, or whatever they called that spot.
Surfers Journal recently did an article on him, quite the interesting life story
A story quite familiar to surfers from our generation
Including many of our most famous icons, still alive today
Happy trails, Mike, you had one hell of a ride
and in the end, that all that matters…
He was in the movie Pacific Vibrations with Rick Griffin in the section about the bus and surfing at the Ranch.
Sad to hear. But so full of life until the end…
I knew him in passing, but lots of my friends knew him very well. LP has some great stories. As Larry tells it, Mike “discovered” Sebastian Inlet for the Cocoa Beach crew (1969, right after the jetty was lengthened and first peak formed).
My stories:
#1 - Fall of ‘73, big swell. A little bit too much onshore wind though, driving down south to try to check some deeper spots. Stopped at inlet just for the hell of it, it’s probably not any good. It looks like just a few fisherman’s cars parked in the jumble of cabbage palms and made-up parking spaces that was the north side parking lot in the pre-state park days. We walked over the dune and saw a surprisingly almost-clean wave hit the outside part of the jetty, as it moves closer it’s bounce comes across and a lone surfer paddles into the crease. When he stood up we immediately knew who it was. A 6’5’’ guy on a tiny fish could only be one person. On a day when no one else wanted any part of the place, when waves were washing the jetty, he was out there with one friend (don’t know who), riding a board about a foot shorter than him, and just carving big swoops all over it. We watched in awe for a while and then got back in the car to find a place we could handle.
#2 - About 15 years later, same spot, more normal good inlet day, head and a half or so. I got a runner that swung a little north. Good one, pumping my ass off to come from way back. Mike was just getting in the water inside as I got to the end. He stopped to let me clear and yelled “that was a nice one!”. Made my week.
RIP, and I wish I could tell him I think he had a nice ride too…
I saw this earlier today. I remember the photos of him on the tiny fish, too. Read the article in Surfer’s Journal, too. Thought of sending Greg Loehr a pm. My impression was they were friends. Anyway, Greg, if you read this I am sincerely sorry about the loss of your friend. Mike
I saw him surfing the inlet in the spring of that same year - probably on the same fish. He was completely tearing it up on that thing…Wow so that’s what you can do on a fish. I was just a high school kid and was so impressed seeing him surf that fish, that I went home and skinned the glass of an old longboard and shaped a crude fish out of it. I think it was my 3rd attempt at building a surfboard.
I met him about 2 years ago at the shop that I work at in San Clemente. Told him the story about seeing him on that fish at Sebastian back in 73 and how it was a bit of the spark that eventually got me into building boards for a living.
RIP Mike
In his last deal he was given a really bad hand. The cards weren’t good. It was a very aggressive cancer. Mike Played that hand very well. He and his wife Nancy did a road trip across the country meeting up with old Freinds and making new friends. It was all documented on his Facebook page. There were also trips down the Baja to Visit Mike Doyle and visits from some of surfing legends to his Baja Condo over looking K 38. I really didn’t know Mike met once or twice when I had my shop. that’s it.
The Post he and Nacy put up on Face Book were filled for love goofy humor and no hint of remorse or asking why me. He went out with style. He wasa surfer the wipe out was going to be bad but while the Board was still under his feet he was going to ride it out with style and grace. Aloha Mike. May all that knew you and loved you find so peace.
We should all be so gracious and courageous in our final hours.
i surfed many sessions with( hassled with) Mike Tabeling at Supers Jbay. He was a very skilled and competent surfer and would always take off deep and come weaving his way through the sections,you could always notice him with his unique features,tall gangly figure dropping and turning hard off the bottom,usually on a red board…he could out paddle most of us with his super long arms…anyway that is my surfing memory of Mike Tabeling.He had built a house over-looking Supertubes and got into real estate for a bit,this was late 80’s or early 90’s,my memory is letting me down now. 2 short tales for anyone who is interested…back in the same decade mentioned i was sharing a communal house with miki dora at magnatubes and late one night there was this rowdy nocking on the door and someone calling Hey miki !! …I must also mention that in this era in Jbay,the police and us (surfers) had the worst relationship ever,they could not stand us,maybe because of our long hair,care-free lifestyle and generally happy attitude surfing perfect consequential waves…so when anyone came knocking loudly on your door late at night…u hoped that there wasnt any evidence lying around…so the door opens and in walks Tabeling and his friend (a very good surfer from that era,also from the east coast),i dont remember his name right now…pissed and carrying some viscious bottle of spirit…They had just arrived in town and heard miki was around too and well i think they just wanted to have some fun … Towards the end of Mike Tabelings chapter in Jbay ,Mike took up hangliding with some mates of his which just about put and end to his surfing after a massive fall from a dizzy height,and it looked unlikey that he would surf like his former self and i am not sure if how his surfing was when he moved back to the USA… Well i am happy to have met such a colorful character and talented surfer and can say it has added a positive dimension to my memory…my condolences to his family…MM surfboards jbay…