http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8-W1fVojIE
matadors,P.E.directs the weight to
set up the line and access
the trim line.
bitchin style.
…ambrose…
I can’t speak for other places, but here in Hawaii we have beginners at almost all of the surf spots. Some are new/part time residents, others may be going to school, quite a few are tourists, and there’s the locals just getting started. The surf schools can bring out more than a dozen at a time, but other than Waikiki, they try to keep them off to the inside and away from trouble.
I know exactly how Miki felt when Gidget changed his world, but in my case surfing was never more than recreation and exercise. A social activity that I can do with friends and family.
I don’t know if it was Dora’s specific case but today I see a lot of kids quiting school and smoking a lot of weed and you see them in the lineup everyday. Here in PR you see a lot of 20 something adults living in their parents’ home, eating food prepared by their mommy and borrowing the SUV to go surf. They are always broke and asking to borrow money yet come from middle high class families and have the opportunity to get an education but choose to be suburban bums just because it is easier for them. Eventually smoking so much weed and their ongoing lazyness makes them useless human beings. Some turn to other drugs and eventually quit surfing. Some sell weed during the Winter to finance their Summer in Indonesia…
"but would have taken
their money and
urinated on their mail." classic, ambro, classic…lol
And now back to the show:
explaining the pathos behind the behavior only calls it out, does not justify or cordone the behavior.
Seems a few folks are offended by anyone admiring Dora in spite of being the grifter he was to pay for his life style.
Personally, I have far more disregard for drug dealers then grifters, and how many surfers dealt drugs over the years at some point to pay for their life style… the list is far greater then admitted, and includes many of our greatest surf legends, including many who are today raking in $$ and props on the senior lifestyle tour.
When you live in a glass house
come down from your throne
and leave the Dora alone…
Well, regardless of who he was as a person, the man surfed with style and I wish that someday I can develop my own longboarding style to the level he evolved his. After watching the youtube clips it is quite a contrast with many of the people I see in longboards today, you know, training wheels, shuffle steps… some don’t even wax the last two feet of nose of their boards…
Hmm, a question comes to mind: did Miki Dora do the transition to shortboards and thrusters or did he stick to riding the equipment he mastered in the 50’s and 60’s? I have only seen videos of him surfing longboards and they are all old 1960’s clips… What other equipment did he surf throughout the years? I think I read somewhere that he prefered round pins for “in the pocket” surfing…
He definitely was a shortboarder later in life. Seen several video clips from the late 80s of him shortboarding. Even think he was in one of the RipCurl Search videos back in the 90s.
Saw him at Malibu in ‘72 or so. He was riding a rounded pin. Probably 7’ give or take.
"Seems a few folks are offended by anyone admiring Dora in spite of being the grifter he was to pay for his life style.
Personally, I have far more disregard for drug dealers then grifters, and how many surfers dealt drugs over the years at some point to pay for their life style… the list is far greater then admitted, and includes many of our greatest surf legends, including many who are today raking in $$ and props on the senior lifestyle tour.
When you live in a glass house
come down from your throne
and leave the Dora alone…"
I agree 100% about the drug dealing. Able-bodied surfers scamming the welfare system is another low-life move, IMO. I’m not offended by people admiring Dora’s surfing abilities (I admire them myself) so long as the guy is viewed in his totality, part of which was pretty despicable. My argument is that to excuse, minimize or dismiss his scummy side just because he ripped constitutes giving such behavior a tacit “pass” just because he surfed well.
FWIW and by way of providing context: I collected unemployment for less than 6 months in my entire life, never sold drugs, never collected welfare or food stamps, never pulled any criminal scams and worked full-time to support a family and my surfing habit for the duration. I worked jobs with schedules that allowed me to surf more frequently than many, but still missed plenty of good days on account of work. Now that I’m retired, I’m surfing my brains out and really enjoying it. I could care less if anybody thinks I was a sucker for doing it that way, but that’s why my admiration for Dora goes only just so far: he didn’t “pay for his life style”, he scammed other people into paying for it. That part of Dora I don’t admire in the least.
As for Dora shortboarding…REALLY terrible image quality, but:
Anyone who has read things that Dora personally wrote cannot deny that he was extremely intelligent. Such a waste of a good mind. He chose to apply his intellect to unscrupulous practices. Yet, even he wasn’t “smart” enough to avoid getting busted.
Easy to admire Dora as a surfer.
The orginal FU attitude towards the contest scene
drew ultra-clean lines with pure flow
killed it at the Bu’ and more then held his own in big Sunset
even The Bay.
Rest of his act… not so much.
Thing is our tribal history was built on pure characters
Some like Phil and Peter Van Dyke were Genuine Good Guyz
Others like Miki, Butch, Bunker, Michael…hardly
Just twisted souls, some mentally ill, others mere miscreants, all just happened to rip
It took the whole mix, however, to godfather the tribe
because every good movie has to have both Black Hats and White Hats
mixing it up to create the story
otherwise without that creative tension, just another boring fairly tale
and few wore the Black Hat with such panache as Dora…
Sounds like a lack of parenting to me…
Which is where we are, today. No “characters”. No individuals. Boring, cookie-cutter corporate shills.
"That's just your oklahoma attitude..................everyone knows a pintail hangs better in a steep section".
lol..............jmv didn't fair so well either.................but i loved his work.
herb
Herb, don’t even get me started! Hee, hee, hee.
lol................ya ,you're right bill !
keep in mind...............joe jost's.............surf sucks in L.B.,,,,,,........... but the polish dogs are great !
herb
Atomized,
you and I share the same experiences as far as working for and with some real knuckleheads.
Not all, but some.
Gary Linden told me that the surfboard industry isn’t one. Just a bunch of amateur businessmen.
Never met Dora.
That’s a shame.
Respected his surfing talent.
Always loved the rebels in this business.
I’ve met and known a bunch.
One day, I’m gonna write a book.
It will be a non-fiction / comedy.
Llilibel nailed it. They do that because they are enabled to do it.
When’s Lance Carson’s birthday?
There’s one to celbrate…