Thoughts While Watching: "Chasing Dora"

Surfing in the 50's was mental - big boards flying around leashles, party waves, dropping in as standard followed by crashing cars on the way home.

Mickey Munoz, Marc Andreini, Steve Pezman and Robert Weaver talking about Dora. Dora concieved an outlandish contest which he dubbed "The Last Chance to Save the Lost Soul of Surfing." The contest is simply who gets the longest ride (must be at  least 200yards) in the fastest time and the rules are: J-Bay, 8ft or over, no sponsors/stickers etc, no neoprene (natural fibres allowed), self handmade wooden boards, singlefin with 10inch tailblock, no leg-ropes. Basically a big corporation excluding, environmentally friendly test of will, sanity, craftsmanship and surfy skills. I like the idea - it's worthy, but also a little bit nuts!

Munoz, Andreini and Weaver are going to stage/take part in 'the competition'.

They talk to Shaun Tomson. Supertubes! Kelly Slater having a ball! Er, this film isn't what I thought it was at all. I thought it was just a search to find/meet Miki Dora. It's a lot better than that.

Here's Max Wetteland talking about how he discovered Jeffreys Bay (for surfing) by accident while looking for Cape St Francis after having a tip off from Bruce Brown (before The Endless Summer was released).

Watching Marc Andreini making his wooden board is wonderful. Glueing the wood together, taking the template from a Waimea gun - but cutting the tail short to make the 10" tailblock Dora defined. Radness! Dora wanted to cut the shit didn't he. Wanting to remove the cushty surfing equipment that makes it so much easier these days - reminds me of Tom Wegener saying (while trying to ride some enormous Olo type board as far as I remember) that sometimes it's good to surf a board that's harder to surf. Actually I know Dora wanted to cut a lot of shit, but it sounds like he made a lot of shit too. Perhaps he spent his time shovelling shit from one place but dumping it in another. We all do that to some extent.

Mickey Munoz. 67 years old. Waxing up his big wooden board in a bodywarmer and blue balaclava - ready for J-Bay. What a thing. This film rocks! I'm not going to spoil it. Just oozing stoke from every glued wood veneer, spraying joy from Boneyards to The Point.