One of my very good friends in the biz - an even older hippie from even more way back - he's been surfing Northern California since 1964, still surfs every day he can, which is also why he can still load trucks at 3am like a mofo and bury kids 18-25 who should be (but aren't) in the prime of health.

He has been talking for a while about this movie that he helped as a technical adviser on (and who a lot of guys in my union worked on).  About some kid (who he knew well), and a few older guys who had a surf cult - like a crazy mystery cult, everyone thought they were nuts, lying, or just had been out in the sun too long.  And they did everything they could to promote those notions because they didn't want to share what they had found.  This kid had been saved from drowning by Frosty years before and idolized him.  Frosty really didn't want anything to do with him.  So the kid hides on top of a van owned by Frosty one night when there were heavy surf warnings, and lo and behold, it turns out the myth was true.  That the biggest waves in the world were not at Waimea Bay, the home of the Banzai Pipeline, but off the coast of Cali near a little town called Princeton.  When he sees it the kid says: "You ever see something and think, this is the reason you're put on this earth?"

Well I went to see the movie the other day.

Now, this place, these waves - hell my friend who has been surfing for 30-40 years, he can't ride them, way, way above his level (and his level is beyond awesome) - it was something no one (save the cult) had ever seen before.  And the kid is going to do it.  It's a bit Karate Kid in a way, but in a good way.  When Frosty's wife tells him: "That boy is going to surf that wave even if he dies trying.  I mean, wouldn't you?" - then it's on.  And what follows is part Karate Kid as I said, but also some of the most amazing - I mean mind-blowing (Waimea on a great day hits about 30 feet in wave height, when it's running (and it's only for a very short window) Mavericks can go over 50) surfing/ocean shots I've ever seen on film.  (and I'm a sucker for movies like Endless Summer and Step Into Liquid).

It's uplifting without being melodramatic.  It's not 'feel good' junk like Soul Surfer, or Blue Crush, and it's not just stupid like Point Break --  As Frosty says: "This is about more than surfing, it's about the choices you make in life."

Pretty good stuff, might want to check it out.  Local product for us, and its' always good to promote work that's done by friends too.

Trailer:
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I remember that Surfer cover of Jay Moriarty dropping in on Maverick's, here:

http://static.grindtv.com/images/1/00/39/99/13/399913.jpg

Fully airborne, at 17, just charging Maverick's, wow. I remember he died and speculation at the time was that he was free-diving and seeing how deep he could go. As you know, big wave surfers do a lot of breath training. I think the speculation was that he was either carrying heavy stones pretty deep in the water and just basically got himself conditioned to the point where he could hold his breath for several minutes. Such a tragedy, but he seemed to live his life like he did on the Surfer cover. I want to see the movie. It's been quite a while since I thought about Jay, but this movie trailer made me remember those days. Thanks!

Be prepared, it's not the feel good triumph over all odds Karate Kid formula.  It's really, really intensely emotional.  I was expecting a standard genre sports movie, but with surfing, and it's not.  Bang the Drum Slowly comes to mind as something as intense.  Or another Elisabeth Shue movie, Leaving Las Vegas.  And when dénouement arrives, its pretty cathartic.

But hey, I know money is tight and all (as it is for all of us) but treat yourself and see it in a theater so that the waves are there on the screen as big as they are in real life and you get caught up in the scope, size and intense violence of it.  There was lots of great acting, but the real star of that movie was the Pacific Ocean and the NorCal coast.  Our coastline is just so stunningly beautiful, achingly so, deeply emotionally moving all on its own.

And hey, Live Like Jay!

Hugs Tekla,

I'll watch it when I can find it.

Several people have inspired me in facing fears. Those who base jump, those who hit the big waves, those who free climb. Particularly the ones who keep doing it and never give in, until they make the mistake. Even then they have lived. Better to have lived than never had tried. Many of us face petty fears without being able to be free of the stupid fears. Walk down the street as you. As we both know, no one cares, at least no one who matters.

See, I don't think it was about facing down fear.  The kid is fearless from the get-go.  It's the older surfer dude Frosty that says you don't put untrained people in the ring with Mike Tyson. 

I took away that it's really a fight - not against fear - but against settling and living in the mediocre.  It's about living to live in the moment, that we're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time and you just have to let that rip while keeping up on your responsibilities.  That doing any of that, or all of that, takes work and effort, not to 'overcome' but to be the best you that you can be while still 'being here now.' 


"That boy is going to surf that wave even if he dies trying.  I mean, wouldn't you?"

Bad language on my behalf, I use such events to motivate my own battle against my own fears. Inspiration. BTW I couldn't open the links so I couldn't watch the clips. My comments were based on your opinion of the film.

Living for the moment is one of the happy and tragic events I work with I have far too many patients who are given 'moments'. Invariably they reflect on why they could not have lived their lives in the moment. Being there. Taking the risk (whatever risk) even enjoying your sons/daughters birthday by dressing up and making a fool of yourself. But too many people love themselves and not the people they care for (Oxymoron?).

I cannot comment on the particular movie but I can on the concept and belief.

As it was I reflecting today on Cpl  Kerrighan on the RAR who was awarded a VC during the week. He had a helmet cam on so you can see his bravery in protecting his comrades. He didn't just live for the moment; he was willing to die for it and his comrades. I'm not big on war. But I respect valour.

Is it bravery to face your 'life' or are some people just capable of facing life and not worry about it? We have people who cannot face opening the front door. We have people who can take a killer wave and try. We have people who can jump from a balloon at 35Km and see if it works. We have people who can deliberately draw fire from many troops to protect their comrades.

The urge to live and test our limits is incredible.

I'll stop before I get too boring

Well I'm sure it will make it down there - keep an eye out for it - I hear you Aussies have a huge surfing/beach cult thing going on also.  LOL


It has a lot to say about - well something I say all the time - Chance favors the prepared mind.  After being a 'myth' for something like two decades, one of the original 4 released the story to some surfing mag, and on the day the kid is ready to ride there are tons of people there to do the same thing.  (The waves only do this in very specific conditions, only a few weeks per year)  But the old guy made young guy practice and train, so most of the people who go out end up taking the boat back in - they were not ready for it.  But Jay had prepared, so his fears were mitigated by knowledge.

It's like the people who ask me - "hey Kat, how did you do all the things that you've done in your life" and my answer is "I didn't wait for you."  A lot of perfectly peek moments were shared by me, myself and I.  I tried to get people to go, to do, to be - but the Hall of Lame Ass Excuses is a pretty huge place I guess.  But, if no one wanted to go, screw 'em, I went ahead and did it anyway.  And it turns out that I like Me, Myself and I, so that wasn't so bad.  And as I'm thinking here one of the top Lame Ass Excuses that people have for not doing things is that they didn't have someone to do it with.  I did that stuff because if not me, then who?  If not now when?   And if none of my friends would go with me, I'd make friends on the journey - and rest assured (and I told them, and still tell them) 'no big loss.'  They apologize to me for not going, and I stand there and think that I don't need an apology because it didn't matter to me, I did whatever it was (and it was good).  They should be apologizing to themselves, all they did was make their life a little more boring, a little more dull - hey, no skin off my nose.

And I'll be happy to admit that I've been too bold - reckless even - on more than one occasion.  But timid and careful make you a couch potato not an adventure.  I've been aggressive, but passive only leads to being a victim.  I willfully run over people's feelings, oh well - & hey, sorry, I'll send you a Hallmark Card in a decade or two.  Perhaps.  And I've also broken laws, ignored rules, flaunted authority, took advantage, challenged order, ordered chaos, did whatever it takes, whatever the party calls for.  I've been a misfit, a constant troublemaker, a notorious free spirit and a spy in the house of love --- and all that got me plenty of 'authority time" with the pioneers and visionaries (and was quickly rewarded because those two groups know not just how to get around the law, but how to live like there was no law at all.)  And I know all those things, they are traits shared by all journey agents, visionaries, pioneers, drama queens, innovators, revolutionaries, activists, stars, heroes, mavericks, philosophers, prophets, saints, mystics and agents of change.  Besides, Ya know ya can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, so it goes.

But I would like to say that I was NEVER a non-conformist as wicked people have attempted to label me.  I can't be a 'non' conformist because that's a reaction to conformity, and I don't even entertain the notion of conformity itself.

And those are all the people who are out there, like Jay - knowing that life is either a daring adventure, or it's nothing.


didn't just live for the moment; he was willing to die for it
Valor - good word, and it's almost always found when people are not just living for the moment, but living IN the moment.  There is a clarity and certainty in being in the moment like that which allows for much greater action, and a much greater range of options.

And that's good.  I've always like the ML King quote about "A person who does not have anything they would be willing to die for probably doesn't' have a life worth living.'  (sort of, paraphrase, you get the idea)