Just going through some of my old 80’s mags and came across some pics of the wonderkid David Eggers from San Diego. Just wondering if anyone knew what he was up to ??? I hope still ripping !!! I know he fell on some hard times, a while back, hope he is okay now. I surfed against him in the 80’s in some NSSA contests, kicked my ass everytime without fail.
Drugs, and some mental obstacles according to this… Maybe better now?
Grew up around him, Clairmont High. Same school they scoped out for Fast times at Ridgemont High. Like Blaine said, very talented, but had the demon, and couldn’t shake it like us lucky ones did. Definately one of the most talented surfers I have ever been around, except for maybe Chris O’ Rorke. I have know idea where he is.
Try “wanna surf”. Have seen his posts mostly under the Oregon and Washington spot threads. He makes it sound as though he is on the east coast(Joisy) and still on the pipe or whatevah.
[ I , too, often wondered what David Eggers is up to , myself. ]
…well, if that surfline article’s ‘diagnosis’ is correct [?], schizophrenia , whether drug-induced or not , is not something people easily “shake” .
Working in the mental health field , as well as living where I do, I see the symptoms and effects on an almost daily basis . I have had neighbours in my block of flats suffering from it.
And , surfing’s history has had people with the same condition . It has been pretty well documented by our surf media here over the years , often involving people in their teens , who were touted by the press as “the next big thing” , or child stars / “wunderkinds” . [Imagine the pressure to perform THAT must have added to a young life ‘on the rise’ ?? ] Michael Peterson has it , Joe Engel [R.I.P.] had it , plenty of other surfers I have met here in Scarborough have it , also . Some drug users , but , also , some not . It is an awful and difficult condition to have and manage , I must say . I would never wish it on ANYONE , that’s for sure . I hope he is taking his medication , and being well supervised , and still surfing . I wonder if there is any truth to what I read years ago about him now being a Christian ? [I ask , because I take a lot of what I read on the internet , and in some surf media also, with a grain of salt , so I hope that that isn’t someone impersonating David Eggers posting on ‘wanna surf’ . That would be a cruel thing to do.]
I wish David , as anyone else , all the best in his life , and hope that he manages to surf regularly , and stay healthy… in body , soul , and spirit.
cheers
ben
David was an incredible talent. Unfortunately, a young teen turned loose with a bunch of prosurfers in the early 80’s was a recipe for disaster. And, I was in a position to have given some guidance. I was the manager of La Jolla Surf Systems when Rusty asked us to sponsor him. Maybe I could have been more proactive in reigning him back, probably not. I was only 5-6 years older than David, managing a shop and going to UCSD. Not exactly a father figure. And, I hooked him up with his Body Glove sponsorship. Looking back now I can see that I had helped facilitate his self-destruction. But, at the time, I had no idea what a tragic road he ended up going down.
Hi everybody,
I was one of those fortunate guys who had the chance to see David in action in Brazil, during the Hang Loose Pro Contest '86, at Joaquina beach/Santa Catarina. I’d seen him before in surfmovies, but he was much more impressive in front of my eyes. As someone said before, there’re lots of this same story among surfing communities…
Quote:
David was an incredible talent. Unfortunately, a young teen turned loose with a bunch of prosurfers in the early 80’s was a recipe for disaster. And, I was in a position to have given some guidance. I was the manager of La Jolla Surf Systems when Rusty asked us to sponsor him. Maybe I could have been more proactive in reigning him back, probably not. I was only 5-6 years older than David, managing a shop and going to UCSD. Not exactly a father figure. And, I hooked him up with his Body Glove sponsorship.
hi Tom !
thanks for sharing that background with us
Looking back now I can see that I had helped facilitate his self-destruction. But, at the time, I had no idea what a tragic road he ended up going down.
please ,
don’t beat yourself up over it .
HE made choices ,
HE chose the drug lifestyle ,
HE is responsible for those choices ,
and
thrown into the mix ,
if he DOES suffer from schizophrenia , as reported in that surfline article , that condition definately would have clouded / will cloud his judgement , at times .
You did what you could do in that situation . You get my respect for that , good on you , mate ! You’re a good man.
As I said previously , I hope he is getting proper professional help [medication and otherwise] , to help manage his condition …
cheers
ben
Schizophrenia.
If you live in LJ then you know we have lost a couple other talented surfers to schizophrenia. There is no cure. Drugs are management tools, and heavy self prescribed drugs(Crack, smack, weed, booze, etc) can be early signs of the disorder. Jesus may save your soul, but sunday school isn’t going to help you if you have schizophrenia. The born again route is just a better group of people to hang out with than the addicts. It’s not a solution. Hint: The other talented guy we lost was a PB rusty super grom who’s mom did insane ding repair. He made and ripped on lis style fish’s that were getting a lot of attention at W&S in the mid 90’s. They were really small. After that I saw him on the street and then he vanished.
Fuck.
Remember JLJ? Another, W&S local. He had it bad, compounded by post traumatic stress disorder. Drank himself to the point of accidentally killing someone and then shot himself.
What all of you fellow shrinks should do is log on to the abouve mentioned forums and see what you can do to help. He’ll respond to your post sooner or later. I think if you read some of his posts and got an idea of what his general attitude is you’d be suprised. I don’t think you’d have the kind of sympathy/empathy that you have expressed here.
The office next to mine had a small flood that crossed over to my storeroom. Forced me to move some boxes around; One box of old surf mags was falling apart and I thought it was ironic/funny/odd, the 3 mags what happened to fall out of the bottom. So naturally I scanned 'em up-
