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00:01:31Our friendship evolved eventually into criminal enterprises, and it was all based on surfing,
00:01:39how to not have a job. Jobs interfered with what we really wanted to do.
00:01:45They began transporting multi-ton shipments of marijuana from Columbia and Jamaica into
00:01:51the United States by ball sea and air.
00:01:53Back then, it was like the Wild West, you know, funnier money to be made, you got to watch
00:01:59out. It boils you into the web, and then you get noticed, and then you become a star for
00:02:06the feds.
00:02:06Yeah, we have ships and planes. I mean, it was not that suitcase stuff, and we got to
00:02:13the point where, well, I lost a load of 100,000 pounds.
00:02:19The violence of the emerging cocaine trade and the threat of the DEA forced them to separate.
00:02:25If these people are looking at our pictures, you know, maybe, you know, we'll be picked
00:02:32up, and if we'll put pressure on us, we might even tell on each other. We know we love each
00:02:37other, so I should find a place where he didn't know where I would go, and he'll pick a place,
00:02:42and don't ask, don't tell.
00:02:45Alan moved to Hollywood, and cashed in on his marijuana-running experiences by writing
00:02:50for Miami Vice.
00:02:52Patrick moved to Porviejo, a town along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, in search of
00:02:57the fastest and most dangerous wave in Central America, Salsa Brava.
00:03:04After 20 years, Alan sold his home, bought a truck with a camper, and went looking for
00:03:09his old friend Patrick in Costa Rica.
00:03:11On this trip, Alan wrote, In Search of Captain Zero, it has become one of the most popular
00:03:16books in the surfing culture.
00:03:21Upon his arrival in Porviejo, Alan was shocked to see what had become of his old friend.
00:03:28It was terrible.
00:03:34And he's living in a tent on the beach, but the first thing he said to me just about was,
00:03:40he didn't score some crack.
00:03:43But the problem for me was, he wasn't surfing.
00:03:46He had sold his board, you know, for crack, and you know, that is as low as you can go.
00:03:53You know, he wasn't as interested in me anymore, you know, as a friend.
00:04:00You don't berate yourself, you just rearrange your priorities and destroy it.
00:04:09After a lifetime spent on the edge, can Patrick's downward spiral destroy their friendship?
00:04:13In 1948, New York City, Alan Weisbecker is my name.
00:04:20Um, grew up in the suburbs of Manhattan.
00:04:27Had a strange father who was a weightlifter in the...
00:04:34...early 50s before when you had to buy weights from an oddball company.
00:04:41And he took me spearfishing off Long Island, um, Montauk Point, uh, one time.
00:04:49And I started off the scene that I was walking around and I was walking around and I was walking
00:04:54around and I was walking around and I was walking around and I was walking around and I was walking
00:05:01one time and I still remember my first ocean excursion and it changed everything.
00:05:10From then I knew that the ocean would be a big part of my life.
00:05:16My birthday is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Unusual indeed. January 23, 1945.
00:05:25My mother was found on a doorstep in 1918, if you can believe that.
00:05:30In Brooklyn, New York, yeah. I was born in Copaig Hospital, Long Island, New York.
00:05:37Well, my arrival on the planet, 1945, January 23rd, it was an accident.
00:05:47My mother's husband with two children, with Bill Abrams, was in Europe for over a year.
00:05:56And my father had a wife and two children in Connecticut on his way home from Europe and they had an affair.
00:06:06And here I am. Thank God for lust.
00:06:11And then love intervened. I don't know how long it was, but I'm sure glad they got it together, you know.
00:06:20They would call me, I'm an original love child. And I caused a lot of hardship for mom, I'll tell you that.
00:06:26You know, she had a lot of explaining to you when Bill Sr. came back.
00:06:30Hello!
00:06:32So, bye!
00:06:34Actually, you know, my mother, of course, later on in life did.
00:06:37You know, I never met her until I was...
00:06:39Well, I met her off and on, you know, but they were...
00:06:41They were trying to put me up for adoption, but I was an adoptable, cantankerous child.
00:06:47And so they, you know, they tried not to get us together too much so we wouldn't bond.
00:06:56Brookwood Hall is an orphanage in Islip, Long Island, East Islip, on the border, both townships,
00:07:02that I was raised in for a number of years.
00:07:04They gave me the foundation of my life.
00:07:07Probably the most emotional, wonderful feeling I've ever had.
00:07:10And I was a privileged child to live with these people.
00:07:13An average day was like this.
00:07:16First of all, they had juniors, intermediates, and senior dormitories.
00:07:20And this is like a giant Vanderbilt's house that looked like the Vanderbilt's walked out, you know.
00:07:26I mean, huge, beautiful arcways, gargoyles carved around the building, 52 acres, ball-filled lake.
00:07:33My experience in Brookwood Hall, I believe, was my organization of my whole moral principles.
00:07:42And I think the basis of this whole beautiful feeling, because we are the receivers when we do that,
00:07:50it comes directly from the people that raised me in Brookwood Hall.
00:07:55And this is where I met Patrick, out in Montauk, and we became friends, quick friends there.
00:08:17This is 64, 65, and we'd camp out, spend the summers in tents near the surf break.
00:08:27Well, the first time I met Alan, it's hard to remember, but I remember him showing up in Montauk every summer,
00:08:33when we were young, older teenagers.
00:08:36Older teenagers.
00:08:37He was like the most likely to succeed, the class president.
00:08:42We were so opposite.
00:08:50Graduated from high school on 66 in June, in California by August.
00:08:57Did my first acid trip at the doors at the Whiskey Go-Go.
00:09:00Still legal at the door at the time.
00:09:02I'll never forget it.
00:09:03Jim Morrison was playing at the time.
00:09:05Jackson in September, I was in Vietnam by April.
00:09:08So, you know, it was pretty quick.
00:09:10And then by the following September, I was a hardened military guy.
00:09:18All that I can get if I, you know.
00:09:21So I volunteered for Airborne Rangers.
00:09:24And then I went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and I did artillery training.
00:09:28I was a radioman.
00:09:29Lifespan, that's it.
00:09:31And then I did jump training in Fort Benning, Georgia.
00:09:37And then I did ranger school in Vietnam and all JAT on the job training.
00:09:43I was a radioman for a photo observer for artillery.
00:09:47Way out there, way up front, you know.
00:09:50And we had a company of men, usually understaffed.
00:09:56And we were always being harassed and mortared.
00:10:02And it didn't happen.
00:10:05If it happened a dozen times, we actually hit any real hard stuff the whole time you're there.
00:10:13And some groups got harder than others.
00:10:15And so it's hard to compare.
00:10:17But I've seen my share.
00:10:20Sleeping on the ground 24-7, 365, you know.
00:10:24I mean, you're way the fuck out there.
00:10:27Humping, I'm talking about, you wouldn't see people for maybe a month even.
00:10:36One of the scariest things, orientation for our first couple of days before jungle school.
00:10:43He goes, most of you boys will be going home in body bags.
00:10:48Thank you very much.
00:10:50And there's one thing I can guarantee you, they're coming.
00:10:56Might be your first day, it might be your last.
00:10:59Doesn't matter if they come, as long as you're ready.
00:11:02Well, I've been ready all these years.
00:11:05I figured I was such a problem anyway, I better do something right.
00:11:10And I went.
00:11:12And now I'm glad, of course, I'm glad I went to Vietnam because my half a joke is that
00:11:17this prepared me for life.
00:11:21The thing I did leave out was I spent two years on the north shore of Oahu surfing at,
00:11:34you know, I lived between Pipeline and Waimea in 68 and 69, which were the two most formidable,
00:11:42formative years and formidable years in the history of surfing.
00:11:46I don't think anybody would disagree with that.
00:11:53I really felt that I could do anything.
00:11:56I felt surfers could do anything.
00:11:58I felt that the people that did what we did on the north shore in those years,
00:12:03we could rule the world if we wanted.
00:12:05That would never occur to us.
00:12:07But, you know, we could just do whatever we wanted.
00:12:10And nothing could go wrong.
00:12:12I was wrong, of course.
00:12:15Things always go wrong.
00:12:17But so that was very much a part of my forming who I am.
00:12:25And at that time, at that same time, Patrick was in Vietnam going through a completely other thing.
00:12:31And I don't know how he got through that with the cheerful attitude he has now.
00:12:38The government made me an adrenaline junkie.
00:13:05And I needed the rush.
00:13:07I needed the excitement.
00:13:08I needed the thrill, if you call it thrilling.
00:13:11Of course, I was getting paid a lot better than those idiots paid me.
00:13:14And it turned out to be quite an interesting guy.
00:13:18And, of course, the compatibility and all the variables that go along with smuggling fit my qualifications.
00:13:28And then I did a recon with a friend of mine.
00:13:31In 1970, it was just after the winter of 69, which was the real formative winter for me, surfing and mental attitude-wise, when I believed I could do anything.
00:13:46So I decided to go to Europe and buy a Volkswagen van and drive around looking for waves.
00:13:55And I quickly ended up in Morocco, where I realized I could buy a kilo of hash for about $40.
00:14:02And that hash could be sold for about $1,000.
00:14:07Actually, it was $1,000 a pound, I think, in the States.
00:14:11I'm trying to remember now.
00:14:12But whichever it was, it was ridiculous.
00:14:15And all you had to do was bring it back.
00:14:17And I had a connection and bought a few kilos of hash and smuggled it back.
00:14:24And I had various ways of doing it without putting myself at risk, actually.
00:14:30I used the U.S. Navy to do it and other ways.
00:14:39You know, I mean, I don't know, it was 1971 or two, and I had like $50,000.
00:14:4522-year-old kid by then.
00:14:47That's a lot of money in those days.
00:14:49And I wanted to buy a boat.
00:14:54And I knew I could put a lot more in a boat.
00:14:56You know, I could pack that sucker, you know, bring back a ton.
00:15:01And that led to Columbia and Learjets.
00:15:06I mean, the level I was on, I would do business with CIA people.
00:15:18There were mostly Cuban exiles that were in the pot business as to raise money to do something to Castro.
00:15:33Or to do various other nefarious CIA activities.
00:15:37CIA has been smuggling drugs forever.
00:15:40I mean, that's common knowledge now, but I know from personal experience.
00:15:44Sail out from Fort Lauderdale.
00:15:49Bank around the Bahamas.
00:15:51And then we would sneak up behind Haiti and Dominican Republic.
00:15:55Come in by the night grill.
00:15:57Hopefully not get stopped by anybody where we have to show papers or get a stamp.
00:16:01And then load up and then bank down behind the Caymans.
00:16:05And if it got tricky, we would tuck in behind the islands off the coast of Mexico and between Mexico and the islands.
00:16:11And pop up out into the Gulf.
00:16:13And so you were far enough away where if you do get stopped by the patrols, you could say you're out on a day sail.
00:16:20Which is a couple of days of sailing around the Gulf, you know.
00:16:23And any probable cause.
00:16:25And of course, you could go on a boat and the only way you could find it was to tear the fucking walls out.
00:16:29Of course, whenever there's money involved, you have predators, so you have to watch out.
00:16:33We weren't involved with it.
00:16:34We didn't care about the police much.
00:16:36But there were robbers.
00:16:38Yeah.
00:16:39In Colombia, both happened.
00:16:42Shot at and arrested for a few minutes until they realized who my connection was.
00:16:49And then the cops were literally kissing my feet.
00:16:52Sorry.
00:16:53Sorry.
00:16:54Kind of thing.
00:16:55And in Morocco, I had a real close call.
00:16:58A roadblock in the middle of the night.
00:17:05Look.
00:17:07It's interesting that they would call me Captain Zero because I was a captain.
00:17:12I never wanted the responsibility.
00:17:14But I could take over any minute.
00:17:16And there's no doubt about it.
00:17:18Sometimes I didn't have to.
00:17:19I could just say a couple of sharp little things and straighten them out.
00:17:23You know, give them the confidence.
00:17:25Say, no, it's okay.
00:17:27I never had to push him out of the way and grab the fucking wheel.
00:17:30It's okay.
00:17:31I know he's a competent man.
00:17:33But sometimes, I think my experiences in the past, you know, don't panic.
00:17:39You know what I mean?
00:17:42Steady as she goes.
00:17:43Damn the torpedoes.
00:17:44Just cut me off you.
00:17:45All right.
00:17:46The thing about Patrick, which I still love, is no matter what happens, it doesn't seem to bother him.
00:17:53And the downside to that is he's not really thinking about how to get out of a horrendous situation.
00:17:59He's going, dig this.
00:18:01You know, it's like a story we're going to tell later.
00:18:03And I'm going, yeah, if we get out of it.
00:18:06But he was fun that way.
00:18:09And he always was fun.
00:18:11We ended up parting ways when I decided that it was a bad business to be in.
00:18:22It was just when marijuana was on its way out, cocaine was on its way in.
00:18:28Things were getting very, very dangerous.
00:18:31It wasn't fun anymore.
00:18:34I was just getting tired of it.
00:18:36And I also got to the point where I would have had to kill some people to stay in the business and be respected.
00:18:44Do you know what I mean?
00:18:46And it was a choice.
00:18:48I found out who I am in a way.
00:18:53I wasn't fear.
00:18:54I just didn't want to do it.
00:18:56I could have paid somebody to kill this guy who ripped me off.
00:18:59And I didn't do it.
00:19:00I just left.
00:19:01But I couldn't do both.
00:19:02I couldn't stay in the business and let this particular person live.
00:19:06So I just left.
00:19:08That's really a lot to do with it.
00:19:18We were going on an ultimate surf trip, and we had enough money to go around the world.
00:19:29But then instead of that, we decided to make more money.
00:19:32And one thing led to another.
00:19:35And we ended up parting ways in the 80s.
00:19:43And, of course, Alan went to Hollywood, and that's cool.
00:19:48Thank God.
00:19:49And then after a period of time, we felt we were okay.
00:19:52Of course, you know, I hadn't seen him.
00:19:54I couldn't.
00:19:55He was really hot at night because he was like, you know, he had accumulated material.
00:19:59And so they were conscious, you know, me at the park.
00:20:02You know, they could look at me.
00:20:03I didn't have shit, you know.
00:20:05Now, I had a great fucking time, and I've been all over.
00:20:08And, of course, money.
00:20:09I was going, you know, first class.
00:20:11And there was no tomorrow, you know, after Vietnam.
00:20:14You never know.
00:20:15So I was always like, people say, what did you do with the money?
00:20:18I go, I spent it.
00:20:20No regrets, you know.
00:20:41It was getting to be narco-terrorism, what they would call now.
00:20:53And so I decided to change my occupation, and I became a screenwriter.
00:20:59Why I picked that, I can't explain.
00:21:02I had something in me that wanted to be a writer for a long time.
00:21:08And I decided I had to get out of the business.
00:21:10I thought, well, why don't I just write that story that I had in my head?
00:21:14And I'll write it as a movie.
00:21:17And that's what I did.
00:21:18I spent a month in limbo in a hotel in New York City.
00:21:23Bought a book on screenwriting, how it looked and everything.
00:21:26And wrote it and went out to the West Coast.
00:21:29And I happened to know one person there, a TV producer.
00:21:34And he told me to come out if I ever wrote a script.
00:21:38And I went out, and he knocked on his door.
00:21:40And Bel Air handed him the script.
00:21:43He read it that day, because it was an actor's strike at the time.
00:21:47He had nothing to do.
00:21:49Read it by his pool, snorting coke, and bought it from me.
00:21:53He optioned it, I should say, that day.
00:21:57So it was probably the world's record of a jerk showing up in Hollywood and getting a deal.
00:22:03It was within hours.
00:22:05So I thought, man, this isn't so hard.
00:22:07Michael Mann hired me.
00:22:09He had optioned the screenplay I wrote a few years before him when he started the show.
00:22:15He called me about it.
00:22:16And eventually I agreed to write for the show.
00:22:21Of course, it was the first season I hadn't heard of it.
00:22:25And it hadn't been on.
00:22:26The pilot hadn't shown yet.
00:22:28And I didn't think we had sent it.
00:22:30It was a really dumb idea.
00:22:31But he persuaded me to go down to Miami and rewrite this thing that was being shot.
00:22:37And it was an emergency.
00:22:38You know, the script's no good.
00:22:39And we need blah, blah, blah.
00:22:40So I went down.
00:22:41It was a script about marijuana smugglers.
00:22:43You know, which was my business.
00:22:44So, yeah, I made it more authentic.
00:22:49I can't tell you specifically that it was based on my experiences.
00:22:55But I became a Hollywood asshole for a few years.
00:23:00You know, I don't look back on those Porsche days very fondly.
00:23:07You know, I spent more time in my Porsche than sitting on a surfboard.
00:23:12It's funny how, you know, my past nefarious dealings led me into some success in the film business or TV business.
00:23:26I quit my job.
00:23:45I stopped doing that.
00:23:47I sold my house.
00:23:49Bought a truck with a camper on it.
00:23:53And in the meantime, Patrick had disappeared.
00:23:57He up and went south.
00:24:00And that's sort of, to make a long story short, all we knew.
00:24:04We knew he was down somewhere in Central America or Mexico, but probably Central America.
00:24:10And so I decided to go and find him and say hi.
00:24:15And I spent a year traveling between Mexico and Costa Rica.
00:24:23And the irony is I couldn't go any further south is where I found him.
00:24:29It was at the end of the road, the bottom of Central America in Puerto Viejo, Salsa Brava.
00:24:35I came to Puerto Viejo, and a friend of mine recommended this area, and I had heard about the Salsa Brava.
00:24:45And I came for 90 days, and I've never set foot on American soil. End of story.
00:24:50Where's your name?
00:24:53Manuel Leon Salazar.
00:24:56From 50 to 60, 53, the oil company from Caracas, from the United States, the name Loveland Brother Company, come to Costa Rica and find oil.
00:25:09And 88, we have power in Puerto Viejo.
00:25:14That is the best news.
00:25:16Well, everybody have light, because first time we used to have a generator.
00:25:19That's how we have a plant generator.
00:25:21Everybody have that from 4 o'clock till 8 o'clock in the night.
00:25:25No more than that.
00:25:26Everything finished in the night.
00:25:29And from 1990 to 2000, from 1992, we have phone.
00:25:37Everybody have phone.
00:25:39Holly Edmiston, July 24, 1952.
00:25:44Since I've come here, all of Costa Rica has changed, which is since 1978, I guess, I first came down to Costa Rica.
00:25:53It's changed a lot.
00:25:54I've known them for many years, I guess since the 70s.
00:25:58Montauk, New York, which is at the end of Long Island, and it's a surfing town, I guess, fishing town.
00:26:06And I met Patrick there a long time ago.
00:26:09And I knew him for many years after that, ever since.
00:26:14And in Florida, where he lived for quite a while, and then he showed up in Costa Rica one day.
00:26:21You know, it was something about the people here.
00:26:26Can you imagine us going to another culture, a little culture of village like this, and being accepted, inquisitive to let us stay, encouraging, it's okay to have children and marry this other galaxy person.
00:26:46And then, of course, my behavior hasn't been exemplary over the years, and forgiveness of that.
00:26:55How many years ago are you from now?
00:26:56You know you forgot about the NIC, and the next time you saw your life going to be gone.
00:27:01Water's not going to be a number you're not going to be a number you're out of now.
00:27:06So, how many years ago have you been named?
00:27:08The NIC and your car are out of here.
00:27:09This guy, Tom, has a bunch of kids who need to be at a good time.
00:27:10It's going to be a big deal what you're talking about.
00:27:12This guy, I have a big deal, fuck it.
00:27:13I'm a big deal with the NIC.
00:27:15Dangerous?
00:27:16Well, I equated it to a pitching machine.
00:27:18You know where, you see the thing coming out.
00:27:21It fucking flies, buddy.
00:27:25Yeah, and once you're a master, which you never really do,
00:27:27but once you kind of get the fear of God
00:27:30and you're taking off on fucking Solzabrava,
00:27:33if you want to pretend you're a big wave hero,
00:27:36this is a good place to come.
00:27:37All right.
00:27:39I'm Kurt Van Dyke, Warren in Santa Cruz County,
00:27:43March 25th, 59.
00:27:46I just, my main life when I grew up,
00:27:49the main thing to life was pipeline,
00:27:51and Sunset Beach in those days,
00:27:53so that's where I lived in the winters,
00:27:55and that's where I rode.
00:27:56By the time I came down here to settle down here,
00:28:01it was about the time all these other waves
00:28:02started getting discovered,
00:28:04but I was already tied into this,
00:28:06and surfing, you know, six weeks swells that were empty,
00:28:12six weeks, eight to 10, 12 feet surf,
00:28:15just right-hand stand-up barrels all day long.
00:28:18I had no reason to go anywhere.
00:28:20I still don't.
00:28:25Yeah, my uncle Fred's an old famous surfer
00:28:29from a legend from one of the first five
00:28:32that rode YMA,
00:28:33and my dad surfed all his life,
00:28:34my uncle too.
00:28:36My mother surfs,
00:28:38my great-grandfather surfed.
00:28:40You know, it was great,
00:28:41it was sunny,
00:28:42it was beautiful,
00:28:43turquoise green,
00:28:44beautiful tubes.
00:28:45I couldn't believe how hollow the place was.
00:28:48It was mind-boggling.
00:28:49The first bowl out here
00:28:50is every bit as fast
00:28:52as taken off at Backdoor
00:28:53or anywhere else in the world.
00:28:55It sucks out so fast.
00:28:57It's incredible.
00:28:58Yeah, I've seen some bad Y-pots.
00:29:02I've seen some guys come in with their faces
00:29:04so cut that their skin curled up like meat,
00:29:09you know,
00:29:10like dreads on their face and shit.
00:29:12And I've taken some bad blows myself.
00:29:15Just yesterday I took a bad,
00:29:17took off on one
00:29:18and got in this huge tube
00:29:19and it compressed me down,
00:29:20threw my arm up over my shoulder
00:29:22or something,
00:29:22kind of partially dislocated it,
00:29:25you know what I mean?
00:29:26Went numb for about 30 seconds on me.
00:29:29So you're constantly,
00:29:31it's a challenging way,
00:29:37not only the fact that it's a challenging way,
00:29:40it's a challenging way to stay in one piece.
00:29:43You know,
00:29:45you want to,
00:29:46that's the main part there.
00:29:47Yeah.
00:29:48You know.
00:29:49I know of someone
00:29:51who broke their neck there.
00:29:53I don't know of anyone
00:29:54who was killed there
00:29:55and I'm surprised about that.
00:29:57I'll give you an example.
00:29:59The first time I paddled out,
00:30:00I remember there were 11 guys out
00:30:02and eight were wearing helmets
00:30:04and I had never seen that anywhere,
00:30:07you know,
00:30:07and it became obvious
00:30:09why after my first wave.
00:30:12My name is Federico Pilurzu.
00:30:14I was born 7-7, 1983.
00:30:18I am 25 years old.
00:30:20And yeah, yeah,
00:30:22the guys always tell me,
00:30:23God broke his board,
00:30:24came out all scratched up,
00:30:26all his back,
00:30:27this and that.
00:30:27Yeah, everybody gets hurt
00:30:29in that place for sure.
00:30:31Well, first, you know,
00:30:33as soon as you take off,
00:30:34you can definitely tell
00:30:36that it goes into knee-deep water
00:30:37and, you know,
00:30:39there's a bunch of sea oceans
00:30:40and reef,
00:30:41like, you know,
00:30:42a live reef.
00:30:44So, you know,
00:30:44that if you fall,
00:30:46you're going to hit the reef
00:30:47or even if you duck dive,
00:30:49you're going to, you know,
00:30:50smash on it,
00:30:52like,
00:30:52yeah,
00:30:54it definitely gets me
00:30:55big,
00:30:56yes,
00:30:57big barrels for sure.
00:30:59Well,
00:31:01Salsa Brava
00:31:02was,
00:31:04started
00:31:05surfing in
00:31:0760,
00:31:0865,
00:31:1166.
00:31:12It was good.
00:31:13I mean,
00:31:13it was huge.
00:31:14You can put
00:31:1518 wheelers
00:31:16in that,
00:31:16in that tube
00:31:17and you feel
00:31:19that board going.
00:31:20When the board,
00:31:21you start in that tube
00:31:22and you start making,
00:31:23you know,
00:31:25moves
00:31:25and the board is going
00:31:26woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, and it start, I call it mash one, mash two, mash three, the board start vibrating and vibrating and you feel like it's turning into jelly.
00:31:39The whole board is turning into jelly and you just go, this is going to, this is going to blow up, this is going to blow up, this is going to blow up, and whoom, and you come out of the tubes.
00:31:48So, it was intense.
00:31:49It was,
00:31:50the adrenaline rush was nothing like that.
00:31:54And, I don't think I experienced any other, any other rush in my life, like that one, come out of huge tubes, and then you get spit out 15 feet up in the air.
00:32:10When I, when I set out on the trip, I didn't have any idea that I would write a book about it.
00:32:15I thought I would take some pictures and write some articles that were travel, or surf, or whatever, just to pay some bills.
00:32:21But, as I started, because of Patrick, and because of where I was going, and the environment, I started thinking about my past.
00:32:33And, and I, I just started weaving my backstory into, into the front story, the, the trip, and it just evolved into a memoir.
00:32:46You know, I, I, I, I don't remember when I realized, I was writing a book, but at some point I realized this is not an article anymore.
00:32:54Um, and it, it became, um, it became, uh, um, it became, uh, not an obsession, but, um, I wrote about everything.
00:33:05I, the book was four times longer than, than it was going to be.
00:33:09You know, I just wrote, whatever, I wrote every day.
00:33:12And I, that's when I really, you know, I'd written screenplays, a lot of screenplays, but screenplay writing is different, um, than prose writing.
00:33:19And I didn't know if I could write prose.
00:33:22I had no idea.
00:33:23And I, slowly evolved a voice, um, that, you know, a style or whatever, that, um, seemed to work for me.
00:33:33The backstory and, and Captain Zero has to do with, uh, invariably, my relationship with Patrick, with Patrick.
00:33:41Um, my, my, you know, my, my looking for Patrick, I, I believe, in retrospect, was a, uh, um, a rationalization for making the trip.
00:33:52I mean, the trip was really about me.
00:33:54I needed to escape, and I needed, uh, to get back to my roots of surfing.
00:33:59Um, you know, I just had a lot of experiences that I, you know, I, I'd always thought that a memoir of writers, there must be something wrong with them,
00:34:07that they think, um, their, their life is worth somebody else spending hours reading about, um, and maybe that's still correct.
00:34:15I don't know, but it seemed, I, I realized that I had done some things that were, I, I never thought of my life as being that interesting.
00:34:24You know, the smuggling and all that just seemed like things that I did that are done now, you know.
00:34:30But when I started to describe them, I got a kick out of it.
00:34:37That, uh, this guy, uh, Patrick, uh, Abrams, uh, wrote to his friend, uh, Alan Weisbecker, uh, a postcard.
00:35:06Uh, and, uh, and signed it, uh, you know, Never Coming Home, This is Your Buddy in the Jungle, Captain Zero.
00:35:16And he picked up on it and made the article for the Men's Journal, and then it turned into the book, and holy shit, and here I am.
00:35:24And, uh, it's just a fantastic thing, you know.
00:35:27And it's helped me, uh, realize, is who the hell I am.
00:35:31And, you know, I laugh, uh, I, apparently he, he's doing well as Captain Zero.
00:35:38And, you know, I get emails all the time about people that, you know, they got off the bus, and I'm Captain Zero, and I'm your guide, and he is fun to be with.
00:35:50And, you know, he, he apparently, uh, from the impressions I've gotten from people that I don't know that write to me because of my books, I know who he is and all, well, they're, some of them are negative.
00:36:03But most of them, um, they write to, to reassure me that he's, that he's fine, and they, they really liked him.
00:36:11I'm Melba Mauldin, and I am 65 years old.
00:36:17Do you think he enjoys his celebrity?
00:36:20Certainly, man.
00:36:21I mean, you know, it's like, I mean, it's like, we wouldn't want him to get him, like, T-shirts and hats, you know, so he can identify himself as Captain Zero all of the time.
00:36:31Not just, you know, by word, a mouth, you know, so he can actually wear a badge, you know, since I'm Captain Zero.
00:36:37Well, gee, yeah, he enjoys it.
00:36:40He loves it.
00:36:43Oh, he loves it.
00:36:44Yeah, he loves it.
00:36:45It's very, uh, it's very exciting to him to be looked at in a different way or in that way, and, and, uh, he plays up to it, sure.
00:36:55He loves it.
00:36:57It's good for him.
00:36:58Actually, uh, being Captain Zero and having become Captain Zero has been a great experience for me.
00:37:04Uh, I finally got a job, you know.
00:37:07I needed a job, and I got one.
00:37:09I had leisure consulting, but, uh, Captain Zero also has given me an identity, and, uh, and, and, and I, I kind of knew I was Captain Zero before I was Captain Zero, but I didn't know if anybody else noticed, you see.
00:37:25But, uh, I can handle a part, and I'm quite capable of being the Captain.
00:37:30Okay.
00:37:30Get that straight.
00:37:31Do I, what did he call it?
00:37:34He calls it Captain Zero Adventure Tours, or, uh, no, it's better than that.
00:37:39It was leisure something, a leisure consultant.
00:37:44Perfect name, you know, title for him, a leisure consultant.
00:37:48And so, you know, by God, if you can make a living as a leisure consultant, God bless you, huh?
00:37:53I pray for him.
00:37:54Ha, ha, ha!
00:37:54Ha, ha, ha, ha!
00:38:00Oh!
00:38:00Ha, ha, ha!
00:38:13Ha, ha, ha!
00:38:15Ha, ha!
00:38:15Ha, ha!
00:38:17we hadn't seen each other for a long time we were good we were good friends but you know you go your
00:38:30separate ways and i hadn't seen him in eight years well five years and and the years before that
00:38:36we really had drifted apart you know i mean it was like he went his way i went mine and we'd go
00:38:44for years without speaking or having any reason to so it was tough uh in the beginning um you know
00:38:53like i said the first thing he uh suggested was let's buy some crack and you know and we used to
00:38:59party in the old days but you know when i said i didn't want to it was like a light went off in his
00:39:05head oh yeah tremendous amount of people doing crack it's pretty much devastated the the community
00:39:13in a lot of ways i think you know drugs really have come here and and hurt the community in many
00:39:22ways because it's so small she you know got involved with crack and stuff like that i guess
00:39:27at that point in time nobody really probably wanted to deal with them because no one usually wants to
00:39:33deal with anybody that's on that kind of drug and you know i think a lot of people really like patrick
00:39:39a lot of people don't because uh what he's leaving he make his living uh going in town and buying drugs
00:39:47for the foreigners so he said oh fifty dollars and he spent twenty and he went thirty so he always got
00:39:54some money coming from that you know it's a lot of people looking for drugs in town tourists so he goes
00:40:00and talk and this and that and he comes out with the line that capital zero i am here's the book so
00:40:06people go wow yeah far out and this and that so actually he used that as a bait you know to to to
00:40:14get money from you or anything so actually i'm i i don't i don't dislike the the old man you know
00:40:23he got his that's his way of living but uh he's not a person to trust
00:40:28uh bill malden and uh 11 1952 the very first time i guess you'd call it street hustling
00:40:40and uh yeah came up and offered the the contraband i suppose and and uh i gave him some money and uh
00:40:49uh we came back six months later and actually got the contraband so it didn't see him again in that
00:40:58visit so uh you know but it was not we did get what we asked for so i guess everything's cool
00:41:07yeah actually we ran into him on the beach you know just yeah he was actually seeing if we needed
00:41:18anything of any contraband sexually and uh that's how we met him you know okay but he was a real friendly
00:41:29guy so you know well well he's made some other people man i know that he personally we hadn't
00:41:39had too many bad experiences with him you know he normally corrects whatever mistakes he makes with us
00:41:46now whether or not he corrects those with the other people i don't know but he normally takes care of
00:41:53it might not be in the time or the fashion that you wanted it in but if you live long enough he'll
00:42:00finally get even with you yeah crack cocaine is a formidable adversary now i recommend it for the young
00:42:09particularly because the emotional or physical spiritual and mental states are shifting variable and
00:42:19of course uh it's it has a uh the ability to uh to make you think you want more and therefore you
00:42:29lose less you lose sleep and then you become a bit disoriented and sometimes you can go for days
00:42:35not that you're not enjoying it but it can be confusing over consumption more than any other drug
00:42:40every day for years uh and don't try that at home either yeah i'm a veteran i'm an experienced guy so
00:42:50i can get away with you like that yeah i think uh to to pass on is rock bottom where there's life there's
00:42:58hope uh and no i've never felt that i was in any danger yeah i was probably uh 50 pounds underweight
00:43:05uh smoking coke let me think about that i may have started i mean i might have smoked my first coke
00:43:17probably i mean i i would suspect when i got here uh you know i mean there might have been one or two
00:43:22times they didn't call they call it a free base you know but i i believe it's the same stuff you know
00:43:28what i mean never really uh where i felt i was like uh over indulging and enjoying it no one would
00:43:35never think that you would over indulge and enjoy us of course i look back on it now and i say what
00:43:39the hell was that all about what were you crazy yeah it probably was and i'm sure he had his moments
00:43:47during that period of time but you know luckily he got out of that and he he had the strength to get
00:43:56out of it on its own which i think is pretty commendable to be honest with you uh there were
00:44:04times when i uh when i thought that maybe i should cut back on it but i didn't know how i was going to
00:44:10do it something happens subliminally i think but it kind of like just faded you know and it's like going
00:44:18through a storm you know all of a sudden there's some size in it don't uh don't think that i didn't
00:44:24have some uh periods where i go you know leave this thing and uh but i knew i would and i didn't know
00:44:34where and i was uh very surprised at how i kind of slid out of it and i you know i just one day never even
00:44:43can i always admired alan you know leading an interesting life but first of all his intellect
00:45:02and his uh of course his uh his ability to see it's like to me which you know we were from different
00:45:07world if we did kind of like more uh structured education than mine uh but uh i always felt uh
00:45:14flattered that alan would be uh would interact with me and that he would find uh our philosophical
00:45:21discussions uh fruitful because i sure did his you know he was a part of everything i very sure yeah
00:45:29sure yeah yeah yeah i i hope i do i'm not going to go back to costa rica i don't think um and he's
00:45:38apparently not coming going anywhere so it seems unlikely but but we'll see well yeah i'd love to see him
00:45:59my name is alma mcdonald and i was born in 1972 i'm the guy making this film i had originally planned
00:46:12to end the film there but after watching that ending realized i would have to reunite these guys
00:46:18the last two times they had met up they only argued and worse yet they had not surfed together
00:46:22in almost 30 years alan had left costa rica three years ago under life-threatening circumstance
00:46:28and could not go back he was currently living in mexico patrick would have to make the trip to
00:46:34visit his old friend despite not having been on a plane in 20 years it would be a huge challenge to
00:46:39get patrick to make the trip i was excited and nervous to see what would happen if i could get them to
00:46:44reunite first time in 20 years i've flown in an airplane and and this guy that sent me the ticket never
00:47:08told me it'd have to be on three airlines three different planes i feel like i'm in another galaxy
00:47:14in a long time well i got a call from alma who said drop what i'm doing and i'm on my way to my first
00:47:22house in 20 years i've been camping for seven i mean sorry seven years i have electricity and i have
00:47:30uh uh running water and i have an outside toilet but it's a real toilet you know i have outside
00:47:37cooking but it's nice shelter which i like anyway because i like to be out i am an animal i am not
00:47:43a man and i happen to pass by a place where i get messages and i have a plane ticket waiting like the
00:47:51next morning which means i have to get up at four o'clock in the morning and it's like already
00:47:5611 o'clock in the afternoon and i have to catch a bus for a four hour bus ride and i was up
00:48:04partying the night before celebrating my new house and anyway somehow the powers got me here
00:48:11you know i walked up there and i was freaked out i mean here you are here he is then i found out
00:48:17you both just walked into the freaking building a few minutes before me like it was meant to be
00:48:22and alan looks pretty damn good you know i can't this is the old owl i know right here look yeah we
00:48:30couldn't look at each other and not get a good fucking laugh yeah i was in mexico
00:48:40even now we're you know we're just settling it down you know seven i haven't seen him in seven years
00:48:46either my last the last time i saw him i guess it was 2004 it's in my book it's funny that i don't
00:48:58remember the year um or 2005
00:49:00came here as soon as i saw the point and the setup um in terms of the little cabinas and uh and
00:49:16restaurants on the sand and no nothing over two stories high no elevators no traffic lights within
00:49:22many miles um i decided i liked it so i came back last year um drove here from new york with my camper and
00:49:32spent five months um most of it i'd rented a place and then decided that i wanted to be here semi-permanently
00:49:44so when uh this year um for financial reasons and because of the way i like to live i i had planned
00:49:52on camping and making a really slick campsite that's really comfortable um it's very consistent
00:49:58last year in six months there was not one day that was unsurfable and most days it was chest high or
00:50:06bigger i mean i'm talking 90 of the time last year this year has been a little less spectacular but
00:50:12still like today you know these are good ways and it tickles me to see him living in the tent
00:50:19the power of influence and uh you know something he's a happier man for it so i really feel this way
00:50:26you know it's like we're an old couple you know that's arguing and you know when you did that and
00:50:34after all these years it's you know it's immediately back to the same you know the same way it was when you
00:50:40laugh you know when you were buddies and um so i'm yelling at him and uh and he cops an attitude and
00:50:47walks away for the things like what he just did smoking a joint right in in public where i live with
00:50:55kids having in their families eating in a restaurant right there feet away and he lights up a joint smoke
00:51:03everywhere and he thinks that's okay is he smoking a joint yeah oh man he's always smoking a joint yeah
00:51:11well it's not cool oh it's not cool all right um but it's it's strange with patrick when you you know
00:51:19you've it's like you haven't seen him for all for two years or four years or whatever and it's like
00:51:25you know the odd couple from hell kind of thing the two of us you know that about all i can say about
00:51:33about poor uh poor patrick anyway we'll probably see him again later today don't you think oh no
00:51:42i was of course always happy to see him uh uh uh our last few meetings have been like
00:51:48uh like separated husband and wife you know like uh kind of like suing for the estate
00:52:01well i was bothered because i thought i should get a piece of the pot yeah but you know look
00:52:06i don't want to hash it up if it's coming it's coming if it's not it's not it's irrelevant at this
00:52:11time and and uh you know look uh uh i always had a policy where i would never let money interfere
00:52:18with my friendships and the one thing about it is that i've been right on the money all that time
00:52:24now of course when i don't have any money and i think god damn it no no but that's not the point
00:52:30here you know he has his persona now i mean as he said to you uh he's captain zero it makes him money
00:52:37and it makes him feel good um how he could be angry at me and at the same time use
00:52:42the book you know for for part of who he is and and and and to make money on is i mean you can't do
00:52:51that you can't be angry at the person and plus then take advantage of what that person did that you're
00:52:56angry about it doesn't work that way my uh smoking the crack you know and my preoccupation and alan's
00:53:02trying to communicate with me it was hard to really get through hello patrick
00:53:06is anybody home yeah that if you're friends with someone you know and you've been through a lot
00:53:15together you you try to put it aside you know things have changed so much since the old days when we
00:53:25were flush and big shots in the underground empire and running around and jets and uh i'm always excited
00:53:32to see alan i'm sure that's why he comes because he's excited to see me too but uh you know like
00:53:39it's been a long time since we've been maybe on this even plane so look at me i mean i was my own
00:53:44worst enemy back in 2005 and 96 and so there you go there you have it but anyway look alan i'm just glad to
00:53:53see him uh uh and let it let it happen whatever's going to happen and uh you know things i feel the energy
00:54:00you see i'm on a real real uh just like a long time ago uh my intuition my instincts and of course my
00:54:08faith that's why i'm here we have fun uh he come up with some bizarre theory you know that is not
00:54:16actually logical or whatever and i'd pick it apart and make fun of him and he'd make fun of me and um
00:54:22and we get a laugh out of it okay anyway hey baby i love that don't you ever forget it probably you
00:54:27know what i mean and he's a funny guy you know and i'm usually a funny guy you know i can be put it that
00:54:34way so you know we we have had horrendous laughs together and when you've you know been through a lot
00:54:42with someone um you know you can communicate without uh explaining everything you know you just know what
00:54:51what's going on and that that's um that's unusual that's great okay did they answer the question or
00:55:02they go up
00:55:32the glimpses of the future
00:55:58follow past familiar
00:56:03success becoming failure
00:56:08meaning everything you say
00:56:14living like today's the day
00:56:18the hopelessness will fade away
00:56:23you're on your own
00:56:29i mean
00:56:34Held you back
00:56:37Taking on your own control
00:56:42Finding out what you don't know
00:56:48Beginning what took, it's told
00:56:52Meaning everything you say
00:56:57Living like today's the day
00:57:01Hopelessness won't fade away
00:57:06You're on your own
00:57:10Death from a broken romance
00:57:17Held you back
00:57:20Held you back
00:57:25I will die or become stronger
00:57:32I can't take this any longer
00:57:34I will die or become stronger
00:57:43I can't take this any longer
00:57:47I will die or become stronger
00:57:52I can't take this any longer
00:57:57I will die or become stronger
00:58:02I can't take this any longer
00:58:06I will die or become stronger
00:58:11He had a relationship with a kid named Kiko here
00:58:33He had a relationship with a kid named Kiko here, he always used to look after basically.
00:58:42I think he had a difficult home life and Patrick was always very conscientious about seeing
00:58:48after him and talked to him a lot.
00:58:51He's 21 now and I heard he's expecting twins, and he's quite young for that I guess, but
00:58:58he still looks at Patrick for advice, and he's a good kid, and I think Patrick helped
00:59:05in that.
00:59:06I met Werner, he was Kiko when I met him, but as he grew older he became more sophisticated.
00:59:12He said, don't call me Kiko Werner.
00:59:16And so Werner was hustling his pig home that he was sent out because none of the other
00:59:22children wanted to do it, so Kiko was four years old and he had this big twitch and he
00:59:28had this 800 pound hog.
00:59:31The visual of this was outstanding and this hog knew Kiko all his life and he was a buddy
00:59:40of his basically and I noticed that Kiko was snorting and grunting like they were talking
00:59:46to each other.
00:59:47It was too much.
00:59:48So then he was grabbing the ear like this and I knew right away what he wanted to do.
00:59:52He wanted to go and jump on that hog's neck.
00:59:55This was a first for him and the hog.
00:59:57I'm born in the 87 and my name is Werner.
01:00:02I was four years old, going for five years, and I met him while I was riding my piggy from
01:00:11school back home.
01:00:12My piggy went to look for me at school.
01:00:15I used to have a piggy and she knew what time I was coming from school.
01:00:20That was like a dog, you know, a really nice pet.
01:00:24I ride that much the pig.
01:00:25She used to ride me, comb, go, like a bike.
01:00:30She used to go around with me and like, nice.
01:00:33Yeah, he helped me out a lot.
01:00:34He was like, wow, amazing.
01:00:37And always I talk about this, about Patrick.
01:00:40He came up to be like one of my, part of my family, you know, like a second dad.
01:00:47And I liked him a lot.
01:00:49He bought me a bike and we used to go around town riding bike and that was my first bike
01:00:55I ever got a good present for my birthday.
01:00:59He used to teach me a little bit about the map.
01:01:01He had a huge map.
01:01:03He used to teach me a little bit about this and, you know, a little reading in English and
01:01:09stuff like that helped me out a little bit with my homework, English homework, yeah.
01:01:14This will help me out a little bit.
01:01:33Thanks, thank you, Jack.
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