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Being Captain Zero 2009
Transcript
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.
00:01:55Back 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.
00:02:07Yeah, 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.
00:02:20The violence of the emerging cocaine trade and the threat of the DEA force them to separate.
00:02:26If these people are looking at our pictures, and maybe, you know, we'll be picked up, and
00:02:33if we'll put pressure on us, we might even tell on each other. We know we love each other,
00:02:38so I should find a place where he didn't know I would go, and he'll pick a place, and don't
00:02:43ask, don't tell.
00:02:45Alan moved to Hollywood, and cashed in on his marijuana-running experiences by writing
00:02:50for Miami Vice.
00:02:51Patrick moved to Por Viejo, 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.
00:03:20Upon his arrival in Por Viejo, Alan was shocked to see what had become of his old friend.
00:03:32It 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,
00:03:39let's go some crack.
00:03:42But the problem for me was, he wasn't surfing.
00:03:46He had sold his board for crack, and that is as low as you can go.
00:03:54He wasn't as interested in me anymore as a friend.
00:04:08After a lifetime spent on the edge, can Patrick's downward spiral destroy their friendship?
00:04:35In 1948, New York City, Alan Weisbecker is my name.
00:04:40I grew up in the suburbs of Manhattan, had a strange father who was a weightlifter in the
00:04:50early 50s before when you had to buy weights from an oddball company.
00:04:56And he took me spearfishing off Long Island, Montauk Point, one time.
00:05:03I still remember my first ocean excursion, and it changed everything.
00:05:11From then on, I knew that the ocean would be a big part of my life.
00:05:17My birthday is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, unusual indeed, January 23, 1945.
00:05:26My mother was found on a doorstep in 1918, if you can believe that, in Brooklyn, New York.
00:05:32I was born in Copaig Hospital, Long Island, New York.
00:05:38Well, my arrival on the planet, 1945, January 23, it was an accident.
00:05:49My mother's husband with two children, with Bill Abrams, was in Europe for over a year.
00:05:58And my father had a wife and two children in Connecticut on his way home from Europe, and
00:06:04they had an affair.
00:06:06And here I am.
00:06:08Thank God for lust.
00:06:11And then love intervened.
00:06:15I 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.
00:06:24And I caused a lot of hardship for Mom, I'll tell you that, you know.
00:06:27She had a lot of explaining to you when Bill Sr. came back.
00:06:31Hello.
00:06:33Surprise.
00:06:35Actually, no.
00:06:36My mother, of course, later on in life did, you know.
00:06:38I never met her until I was, well, I met her off and on, you know, but they were trying
00:06:43to put me up for adoption, but I was an unadoptable, cantankerous child.
00:06:47And, um, so they, you know, they tried not to get us together too much so we wouldn't
00:06:55bond.
00:06:56Brookwood Hall is an orphanage in Islip, Long Island, East Islip, on the border, both
00:07:01townships, that I was raised in for a number of years.
00:07:05They gave me the foundation of my life.
00:07:07Probably the most emotional, wonderful feeling that I've ever had.
00:07:10And I was a privileged child to live with these people.
00:07:14An average day was like this.
00:07:17First of all, they had juniors, intermediates, and senior dormitories.
00:07:21And this is like a giant Vanderbilt's house that looked like the Vanderbilt's walked out,
00:07:26you know.
00:07:27I mean, huge, beautiful arcways, gargoyles carved around the building, and 52 acres, ball-filled
00:07:33lake.
00:07:33My experience in Brookwood Hall, I believe, was my organization of my whole moral principles.
00:07:43And I think the basis of this whole beautiful feeling, because we are the receivers when
00:07:50we do that, comes directly from the people that raised me in Brookwood Hall.
00:08:10And this is where I met Patrick, out in Montauk.
00:08:13And we became friends, quick friends there.
00:08:17This is 64, 65.
00:08:22And we'd camp out, spend the summers in tents near the surf break.
00:08:28Well, the first time I met Allen, it's hard to remember, but I remember him showing up
00:08:33in Montauk every summer when we were young, older teenagers.
00:08:37He was like the most likely to succeed, the class president.
00:08:43We were so opposite.
00:08:50I graduated 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.
00:09:02Never forget it.
00:09:03Jim Morrison was playing at the time.
00:09:06Drafts in September.
00:09:06I was in Vietnam by April.
00:09:09So, you know, it was pretty quick.
00:09:10And then by the following September, I was a hardened military guy.
00:09:21So I volunteered for Airborne Rangers.
00:09:25And then I went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
00:09:27And I did artillery training.
00:09:29I was a radioman.
00:09:30Lifespan is my kid.
00:09:32And then I did jump training in Fort Benning, Georgia.
00:09:38And then I did ranger school in Vietnam and all JT on the job training.
00:09:44I was a radioman, a photo observer for our children.
00:09:49Way out there, way up front, you know.
00:09:51And we had a company of men, usually understaffed.
00:09:59And we were always being harassed and mortared.
00:10:04And it didn't happen.
00:10:06If 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.
00:10:16And so it's hard to compare.
00:10:17But I've seen my share.
00:10:21Sleeping on the ground 24-7, 365, you know.
00:10:25I mean, you're way the fuck out there.
00:10:30Humping, 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 would be going home in body bags.
00:10:48Thank you very much.
00:10:54And there's one thing I can guarantee you, they're coming.
00:10:57Might be your first day, it might be your last.
00:11:00Doesn't matter if they come, as long as you're ready.
00:11:03Well, I've been ready all these years.
00:11:06You know, and I figured I was such a problem anyway that I better do something right.
00:11:11And 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 this
00:11:19prepared me for life.
00:11:28The thing I did leave out was I spent two years on the north shore of Oahu surfing at, you
00:11:35know, I lived between pipeline and Waimea in 68 and 69, which were the two most formidable, formative years and
00:11:44formidable 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, we could rule
00:12:05the world if we wanted.
00:12:06That would never occur to us.
00:12:07But, you know, we could just do whatever we wanted and nothing could go wrong.
00:12:12I was wrong, of course.
00:12:16Things always go wrong.
00:12:18But 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.
00:13:03The government made me an adrenaline junkie and I needed the rush.
00:13:07I needed the excitement.
00:13:09I needed the thrill, if you call it thrilling.
00:13:12Of course, I was getting paid a lot better than Nose had paid me.
00:13:16And it turned out to be quite an interesting guy.
00:13:19And, 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
00:13:42mental attitude-wise when I believed I could do anything.
00:13:47So I decided to go to Europe and buy a Volkswagen van and drive around looking for waves.
00:13:56And I quickly ended up in Morocco where I realized I could buy a kilo of hash for about $40.
00:14:04And that hash could be sold for about $1,000.
00:14:08Actually, it was $1,000 a pound, I think, in the States.
00:14:11I'm trying to remember now.
00:14:13But 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.
00:14:40You 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.
00:14:50And I wanted to buy a boat.
00:14:55And I knew I could put a lot more in a boat.
00:14:57You know, I could pack that sucker, you know, bring back a ton.
00:15:01And that led to Columbia and Learjets.
00:15:12I mean, the level I was on, I would do business with the CIA people.
00:15:18They were mostly Cuban exiles that were in the pot business as to raise money
00:15:30to do something to Castro, or to do various other nefarious CIA activities.
00:15:38CIA has been smuggling drugs forever.
00:15:40I mean, that's common knowledge now, but I know from personal experience.
00:15:47Sail out from Fort Lauderdale, bank around the Bahamas,
00:15:51and then we would sneak up behind Haiti and Dominican Republic,
00:15:56come in by the night grill, hopefully not get stopped by anybody
00:15:59where we have to show papers or get a stamp,
00:16:02and then load up and then bank down behind the Caymans.
00:16:06And if it got tricky, we would tuck in behind the islands off the coast of Mexico,
00:16:10between Mexico and the islands, and pop up out into the Gulf.
00:16:14And so you were far enough away where if you do get stopped by the patrols,
00:16:19you could say you're out on a day sail, which is a couple of days of sailing around the Gulf.
00:16:23And any probable cause, of course, you could go on a boat,
00:16:27and the only way you could find it was to tear the fucking walls out.
00:16:30Of course, whenever there's money involved, you have predators,
00:16:33so you have to watch out.
00:16:34We weren't involved with it. We didn't care about the police much.
00:16:36But there were robbers.
00:16:40In Colombia, both happened, shot at and arrested for a few minutes
00:16:47until they realized who my connection was,
00:16:50and then the cops were literally kissing my feet,
00:16:53sorry, sorry, kind of thing.
00:16:55And in Morocco, I had a real close call, a roadblock in the middle of the night.
00:17:07Look, it's interesting that they would call me Captain Zero because I was a captain.
00:17:12I never wanted the responsibility, but I could take over any minute,
00:17:16and there's no doubt about it.
00:17:19Sometimes I didn't have to.
00:17:20I could just say a couple of sharp little things and straighten them out,
00:17:24you know, give them the confidence.
00:17:26Say, no, it's okay, you know.
00:17:27I never had to push them out of the way and grab the fucking wheel.
00:17:30It's okay, though.
00:17:31I know he's a competent man.
00:17:33But sometimes, I think my experiences in the past, you know,
00:17:38don't panic.
00:17:40You know what I mean?
00:17:42Steady as she goes, damn the torpedoes.
00:17:44Just cut me off.
00:17:45All right.
00:17:46The thing about Patrick, which I still love,
00:17:49is 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
00:17:56how to get out of a horrendous situation.
00:17:59He's going, this is, 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.
00:18:08But he was fun that way, and he always was fun.
00:18:10And we 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.
00:18:28And things 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
00:18:43business and be respected.
00:18:45Do you know what I mean?
00:18:47And it was a choice.
00:18:49And it was...
00:18:51I found out who I am in a way.
00:18:54I wasn't fear.
00:18:55I 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.
00:19:01I just left.
00:19:02But I couldn't do both.
00:19:03I couldn't stay in the business and let this particular person live.
00:19:07So I just left.
00:19:08That's really a lot to do with it.
00:19:24We 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.
00:19:36And we ended up parting ways in the 80s.
00:19:45And of course, Allen 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.
00:19:54He was really hot.
00:19:56Because he was like, you know, he had accumulated material.
00:20:00And so they were conscious.
00:20:01You know, me, the fuck.
00:20:02You know, they could look at me.
00:20:03I didn't have shit, you know.
00:20:06Now, I had a great fucking time.
00:20:08And I've been all over.
00:20:08And it cost money.
00:20:09I was going, you know, first class.
00:20:11And there was no tomorrow after Vietnam.
00:20:14You know, you 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.
00:20:47It 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 did I pick that?
00:21:01I can't explain.
00:21:03I have something in me that wanted to be a writer for a long time.
00:21:07And I decided to get out of the business.
00:21:11I thought, well, why don't I just write that story that I had in my head?
00:21:15And I'll write it as a movie.
00:21:17And that's what I did.
00:21:19I spent a month in limbo in a hotel in New York City.
00:21:23Bought a book on screenwriting and how it looked and everything.
00:21:26And wrote it and went out to the West Coast.
00:21:30And 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 and 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 for me.
00:21:54Optioned 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.
00:22:08Michael Mann hired me.
00:22:10He had optioned the screenplay I wrote a few years before him when he started the show.
00:22:15He called me about it and eventually I agreed to write for the show.
00:22:22I had never, of course, it was the first season.
00:22:25I hadn't heard of it and it hadn't been on.
00:22:26The pilot hadn't shown yet.
00:22:29And I didn't think it would have sounded like a really dumb idea.
00:22:32But he persuaded me to go down to Miami and rewrite this thing that was being shot.
00:22:37And it was an emergency, you know, the script's no good and we need blah, blah, blah.
00:22:40So I went down and it was a script about marijuana smugglers, you 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, but I became a Hollywood asshole for a
00:22:59few years.
00:23:01And, you know, I don't look back on those Porsche days very fondly, you know.
00:23:08I 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
00:23:25business.
00:23:44I quit my job and I stopped doing that.
00:23:48I saw my house, bought a truck with a camper on it.
00:23:54And in the meantime, Patrick had disappeared.
00:23:57He up and went south.
00:24:00And then sort of, to make a long story short, all we knew, we knew he was down somewhere in
00:24:07Central 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.
00:24:24And the irony is I couldn't go any further south is where I found him.
00:24:30It was at the end of the road, the bottom of Central America in Puerto Viejo, Salsa Brava.
00:24:38I came to Puerto Viejo and a friend of mine recommended this area and I had heard of this thing
00:24:44about the Salsa Brava.
00:24:46And I came for 90 days and I've never set foot on American soil. End of story.
00:24:52Where's your name?
00:24:54Manuel Leon Salazar.
00:24:57From 50 to 60, 53, the oil company from Caracas, from United States, the name Loveland Brother Company, come to
00:25:07Costa Rica and find oil.
00:25:10And 88, we have power in Puerto Viejo.
00:25:15That is the best news.
00:25:16Well, everybody have light because first time we used to have generator.
00:25:20That's how we have a plant generator.
00:25:22Everybody have that from 4 o'clock till 8 o'clock in the night.
00:25:26No more than that.
00:25:27Everything finished in the night.
00:25:29And from 1990 to 2000, from 1992, we have phone.
00:25:37Everybody have phone.
00:25:40Holly 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
00:25:52to Costa Rica.
00:25:54It's changed a lot.
00:25:55I've known them for many years, I guess since the 70s.
00:25:58It's Montauk, New York, which is at the end of Long Island.
00:26:02And it's a surfing town, I guess, fishing town.
00:26:07And 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.
00:26:17And then he showed up in Costa Rica one day.
00:26:22You know, it was something about the people here.
00:26:26Can you imagine us going to another culture?
00:26:29A little culture village like this and being accepted and inquisitive to let us stay.
00:26:40Encouraging, it's okay to have children and marry this other galaxy person.
00:26:47And then of course my behavior hasn't been exemplary over the years.
00:26:53And forgiveness of that.
00:27:14Yeah.
00:27:15Dangerous?
00:27:15Uh, well, I equate it to a pitching machine, you know, where you see the thing coming out.
00:27:22It fucking flies, buddy.
00:27:25Yeah.
00:27:25And once you're a master, which you never really do, but once you kind of get the fear of God
00:27:30and you're taking off on fucking Solta Brava.
00:27:32If you want to pretend you're a big wave hero, this is a good place to come.
00:27:39I'm Kurt Van Dyke, born in Santa Cruz County, March 25th, 59.
00:27:47My main life when I grew up, the main thing to life was Pipeline and Sunset Beach in those days.
00:27:54That's where I lived in the winters and that's what I rode.
00:27:56By the time I came down here to settle down here,
00:28:00it was about the time all these other waves started getting discovered,
00:28:04but I was already tied into this and surfing, you know, six weeks swells that were empty,
00:28:12six weeks, eight to ten, twelve feet surf, just right-hand stand-up barrels all day long.
00:28:18I had no reason to go anywhere. Still don't.
00:28:25Yeah, my uncle Fred's an old famous surfer from, a legend from one of the first five that rode YMA,
00:28:33and my dad surfed all his life, my uncle too, my mother surfed, great-grandfather surfed.
00:28:39You know, it was great, it was sunny, it was beautiful, turquoise green, beautiful tubes.
00:28:45I couldn't believe how hollow the place was. It was mind-boggling.
00:28:49The first bowl out here is every bit as fast as taken off at Backdoor or anywhere else in the
00:28:55world.
00:28:55It sucks out so fast. It's incredible.
00:29:00Yeah, I've seen some bad Y-pots. I've seen some guys come in with their faces so cut that their
00:29:07skin curled up like meat, you know, like dreads on their face and shit.
00:29:13And I've taken some bad blows myself. Just yesterday I took a bad, took off on one and got in
00:29:18this huge tube,
00:29:19and it compressed me down, threw my arm up over my shoulder or something, kind of partially dislocated it, you
00:29:25know what I mean?
00:29:25I went numb for about 30 seconds on me.
00:29:29So you're constantly, it's a challenging way, not only the fact that it's a challenging way,
00:29:40but it's challenging to stay in one piece, you know.
00:29:45You want to, that's the main part there.
00:29:47Yeah.
00:29:48You know.
00:29:49I know of someone who broke their neck there.
00:29:52I don't know of anyone who was killed there, and I'm surprised about that.
00:29:57I'll give you an example.
00:29:59The first time I paddled out, I remember there were 11 guys out and 8 were wearing helmets.
00:30:04And I had never seen that anywhere, you know.
00:30:08And it became obvious why after my first wave.
00:30:12My name is Federico Pilurzu, I was born 7-7, 1983, and I am 25 years old.
00:30:21And yeah, yeah, the guys always tell me, God broke his board, came out all scratched up, all his back,
00:30:27this and that.
00:30:27Yeah, everybody gets hurt in that place for sure.
00:30:31Well, first, you know, as soon as you take off, you can, you definitely tell that it goes into knee
00:30:37-deep water.
00:30:38And, you know, there's a bunch of sea oceans and reef, like, you know, a live reef.
00:30:43So, you know, that, you know, if you fall, you're going to hit the reef.
00:30:47Or even if you duck dive, you're going to, you know, smash on it, like.
00:30:53Yeah, it definitely gets some big, yes, big barrels for sure.
00:31:01Well, Salsa Brava was, started surfing in a 60, 65, 66.
00:31:12It was good.
00:31:13I mean, it was huge.
00:31:14You can put an 18 wheelers in that, in that tubes.
00:31:17And you feel that board going, when the board, you start in that tube, and you start making, you know,
00:31:25moves.
00:31:26And the board is going, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo.
00:31:30And it starts, I call it mash one, mash two, mash three.
00:31:33The board starts vibrating, and vibrating, and you feel like it's turning into jelly.
00:31:39The whole board is turning into jelly.
00:31:41And you just go, this is going to, this is going to blow up, this is going to blow up.
00:31:45And whoom, and you come out of the tubes.
00:31:48So it was intense.
00:31:49It was, the 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.
00:31:59Come out of huge tubes, and then you get spit out 15 feet up in the air.
00:32:10When 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
00:32:21pay some bills.
00:32:21But as I started, because of Patrick, and because of where I was going, and the environment, I started thinking
00:32:32about my past.
00:32:33And I just started weaving my backstory into the front story, the trip.
00:32:43And it just evolved into a memoir, you know.
00:32:47I don't remember when I realized I was writing a book, but at some point I realized this is not
00:32:53an article anymore.
00:32:55And it became, it became, not an obsession, but I wrote about everything.
00:33:05The book was four times longer 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
00:33:17than prose writing.
00:33:19And I didn't know if I could write prose.
00:33:21I had no idea.
00:33:23And I slowly evolved a voice, that, you know, a style or whatever, that seemed to work for me.
00:33:33The backstory and, and Captain Zero has to do with, invariably, my relationship with Patrick.
00:33:42My, you know, my looking for Patrick, I believe, in retrospect, was 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 to get back to my roots of surfing.
00:33:59You know, I just had a lot of experiences that I, you know, I'd always thought that a memoir of
00:34:04writers, there must be something wrong with them,
00:34:07that they think their, their life is worth somebody else spending hours reading about.
00:34:13And maybe that's still correct, I don't know, but it seemed, I realized that I had done some things that
00:34:20were,
00:34:21I 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.
00:34:29You know, but when I started to describe them, I got a kick out of it.
00:34:56You know, that this guy, Patrick Abrams, wrote to his friend,
00:35:03Alan Weisbecker, our postcard, and signed it, you know, Never Coming Home,
00:35:13this 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,
00:35:20and then it turned into the book, and holy shit, and here I am.
00:35:24And it's just a fantastic thing, you know, and it's helped me realize is who the hell I am.
00:35:33You know, I laugh, apparently he's doing well as Captain Zero.
00:35:39And, you know, I get emails all the time about people that, you know, they got off the bus,
00:35:44and I'm Captain Zero, and I'm your guide, and he is fun to be with.
00:35:50And, you know, he apparently, from the impressions I've gotten from people that I don't know that write to me,
00:35:57because of my books, I know who he is and all, well, some of them are negative,
00:36:03but most of them, they write to reassure me that he's fine, and they really like them.
00:36:11I'm Melba Malden, 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
00:36:26and hats,
00:36:27you 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,
00:36:36since I'm Captain Zero.
00:36:39Yeah, he enjoys it.
00:36:40He loves it.
00:36:42Oh, he loves it. Yeah, 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,
00:36:53and he plays up to it, sure.
00:36:55He loves it. It's good for him.
00:36:58Actually, being Captain Zero and having become Captain Zero has been a great experience for me.
00:37:05I finally got a job, you know.
00:37:07I needed a job, and I got one.
00:37:09I had leisure consulting, but Captain Zero also has given me an identity,
00:37:17and I kind of knew I was Captain Zero before I was Captain Zero,
00:37:22but I didn't know if anybody else noticed, you see.
00:37:25But I can handle a part, and I'm quite capable of being the captain.
00:37:30Get that straight.
00:37:32What 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.
00:37:42A 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?
00:37:53You know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know,
00:38:13you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know,
00:38:13you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know,
00:38:13you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know,
00:38:13you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know,
00:38:13you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know,
00:38:13you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know,
00:38:13you know, you know, you know, you know
00:38:24We hadn't seen each other for a long time.
00:38:27We were good friends, but, you know, you go your separate ways.
00:38:31And I hadn't seen him in eight years, well, five years.
00:38:35And the years before that, we really had drifted apart, you know.
00:38:40I mean, it was like he went his way, I went mine.
00:38:44And we'd go for years without speaking or having any reason to.
00:38:48So it was tough in the beginning.
00:38:52You know, like I said, the first thing he suggested was let's buy some crack.
00:38:58And, you know, and we used to party in the old days.
00:39:00But, you know, when I said I didn't want to, it was like a light went off in his head.
00:39:07Oh, yeah, tremendous amount of people doing crack.
00:39:09It's pretty much devastated the community.
00:39:14In a lot of ways.
00:39:16I think, you know, drugs really have come here and hurt the community in many ways because it's so small.
00:39:24She, you know, got involved with crack and stuff like that.
00:39:27I guess at that point in time, nobody really probably wanted to deal with him because no one usually wants
00:39:32to deal with anybody that's on that kind of drug.
00:39:35And, you know, I think a lot of people really like Patrick.
00:39:39A lot of people don't.
00:39:42Because he makes his living going in town and buying drugs for the foreigners.
00:39:48So he said, oh, $50 and he spent $20 and he went $30.
00:39:53So he always got some money coming from that.
00:39:56You know, it's a lot of people looking for drugs in town, tourists.
00:39:59So he goes and talks and this and that.
00:40:02And he comes out with the line, the Capiton Zero, Ayan, here's the book.
00:40:06So people go, wow, yeah, far out and this and that.
00:40:10So actually he used that as a bait, you know, to get money from you or anything.
00:40:16So actually, I don't dislike the old man, you know, because that's his way of living, but he's not a
00:40:27person to trust.
00:40:30Bill Mauldin in 11, 1952.
00:40:35The very first time, I guess you'd call it street hustling, and he came up and offered the contraband,
00:40:45I suppose, and I gave him some money, and we came back six months later and actually got the contraband.
00:40:55So I didn't see him again in that visit, so, you know, but it was, we did get what we
00:41:04asked for,
00:41:05so I guess everything's cool.
00:41:09Actually, we ran into him on the beach, you know, just.
00:41:13I was hustling.
00:41:14Yeah, he was actually seeing if we needed anything of any contraband, actually, and that's how we met him, you
00:41:26know.
00:41:27Okay.
00:41:28But he was a real friendly guy, so, you know.
00:41:31Well.
00:41:32I feel like I want to drive.
00:41:33Well, he's made some other people, man.
00:41:37I know that.
00:41:38He, personally, we hadn't had too many bad experiences with him.
00:41:42You 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,
00:41:57but if you live long enough, he'll finally get even with you.
00:42:03Yeah, crack cocaine is a formidable adversary.
00:42:07Now, I recommend it for the young, particularly,
00:42:10because the emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental states are shifting as variable,
00:42:18and, of course, it has the ability to make you think you want more,
00:42:27and therefore you lose sleep, and then you become a bit disoriented,
00:42:33and sometimes you can go for days.
00:42:35Not that you're not enjoying it,
00:42:37but it can be confusing over consumption more than any other drug.
00:42:41I was in a crack cocaine every day for years,
00:42:46and don't try that at home, either.
00:42:48Yeah, I'm a veteran.
00:42:49I'm an experienced guy, so I can get away with shit like that.
00:42:52I think to pass on is rock bottom.
00:42:57Where there's life, there's hope.
00:42:59And, no, I've never felt that I was in any danger.
00:43:01Yeah, I was probably 50 pounds underweight.
00:43:07Smoking coke, let me think about that.
00:43:09I may have started, I mean, I might have smoked my first coke,
00:43:17probably, I would suspect when I got here.
00:43:21You know, I mean, that might have been one or two times.
00:43:23They didn't call it, they call it a free base.
00:43:26But I believe it's the same stuff, you know,
00:43:28but I mean, never really where I felt I was like overindulging and enjoying it.
00:43:34One would never think that you would overindulge and enjoy us.
00:43:37Of course, I look back on it now and I say,
00:43:39what the hell was that all about?
00:43:42What, were you crazy?
00:43:43Yeah, it probably was.
00:43:45And I'm sure he had his moments during that period of time.
00:43:51But, you know, luckily he got out of that
00:43:53and he had the strength to get out of it on his own,
00:43:58which I think is pretty commendable.
00:44:01To be honest with you,
00:44:03there were times when I thought that maybe I should cut back on it,
00:44:09but I didn't know how I was going to do it.
00:44:11Something happened, subliminally, I think.
00:44:15But it kind of like just faded, you know.
00:44:18And it's like going through a storm,
00:44:19you know, all of a sudden there's storms of size, I think.
00:44:22Don't think that I didn't have some periods where I go,
00:44:28you know, leave this thing.
00:44:31And, but I knew I would and I didn't know where
00:44:35and I was very surprised at how I kind of slid out of it
00:44:40and I, you know, I just one day never even cared.
00:44:55I always admired Alan, you know.
00:44:59Leading an interesting life.
00:45:01First of all, his intellect and his, of course,
00:45:03his ability to see intellect in me,
00:45:06which, you know, we were from different worlds.
00:45:08Kind of like more structured education than mine.
00:45:12But I always felt flattered that Alan would be,
00:45:16would interact with me
00:45:18and he would find our philosophical discussions fruitful.
00:45:23Because I sure did his, you know.
00:45:25He was a part of everything in my life, I'm very sure.
00:45:29Yeah, sure.
00:45:30Yeah.
00:45:31Yeah, I hope I do.
00:45:34I'm not going to go back to Costa Rica, I don't think.
00:45:37And he's apparently not going anywhere.
00:45:41So it seems unlikely, but we'll see.
00:45:46Yeah, I'd love to see him.
00:46:06My name is Ama MacDonald, and I was born in 1972.
00:46:09I'm the guy making this film.
00:46:11I had originally planned to end the film there,
00:46:13but after watching that ending,
00:46:15realized I would have to reunite these guys.
00:46:18The last two times they had met up,
00:46:19they only argued,
00:46:20and worse yet,
00:46:21they had not surfed together in almost 30 years.
00:46:25Alan had left Costa Rica three years ago
00:46:27under life-threatening circumstance
00:46:28and could not go back.
00:46:29He was currently living in Mexico.
00:46:32Patrick would have to make the trip
00:46:33to visit his old friend,
00:46:35despite not having been on a plane in 20 years.
00:46:38It would be a huge challenge
00:46:39to get Patrick to make the trip.
00:46:40I was excited and nervous
00:46:42to see what would happen
00:46:43if I could get them to reunite.
00:46:46A couple of minutes just to do what I'm going to do.
00:46:49Okay.
00:46:50In fact, walk away.
00:47:02First time in 20 years
00:47:04I've flown in an airplane
00:47:06and this guy that sent me a ticket
00:47:07never told me it'd have to be on three airlines,
00:47:10three different planes.
00:47:11I feel like I'm in another galaxy
00:47:14in a long time.
00:47:16Well, I got a call from Alma
00:47:18who said,
00:47:19drop what I'm doing
00:47:20and I'm on my way to my first house in 20 years.
00:47:24I've been camping for seven years.
00:47:25I mean, sorry, seven years.
00:47:29I have electricity
00:47:30and I have running water
00:47:34and I have an outside toilet
00:47:35but it's a real toilet
00:47:36and I have outside cooking
00:47:37but it's a nice shelter
00:47:38which I like anyway
00:47:39because I like to be out.
00:47:41I am an animal.
00:47:43I am not a man.
00:47:45I happen to pass by
00:47:46a place where I get messages
00:47:48and I have a plane ticket waiting
00:47:51like the next morning
00:47:53which means I have to get up
00:47:54at four o'clock in the morning
00:47:55and it's like already
00:47:5611 o'clock in the afternoon
00:47:58and I have to catch a bus
00:48:00for a four-hour bus ride
00:48:02and I was up
00:48:05partying the night before
00:48:06celebrating my new house
00:48:07and anyway, somehow
00:48:10the powers got me here, you know.
00:48:12I walked up there
00:48:13and I was freaked out.
00:48:15I mean, here you are.
00:48:15Here he is.
00:48:16Then I found out
00:48:17you both just walked
00:48:18into the freaking building
00:48:19a few minutes before me
00:48:20like it was meant to be
00:48:21and Alan looks pretty damn good,
00:48:23you know.
00:48:27This is the old owl I know
00:48:29right here, look.
00:48:30Now we couldn't look at each other
00:48:31and not get a good fucking laugh.
00:48:35Yeah.
00:48:36I was in Mexico.
00:48:40Even now, we're, you know,
00:48:42we're just settling it down,
00:48:44you know.
00:48:44I haven't seen him
00:48:45in seven years either.
00:48:48The last time I saw him,
00:48:53I guess it was 2004.
00:48:56It's in my book.
00:48:57It's funny that I don't remember
00:48:58the year or 2005.
00:49:07I came here
00:49:08and as soon as I saw the point
00:49:09and the setup
00:49:12in terms of the little cabinas
00:49:14and restaurants on the sand
00:49:17and nothing over two stories high,
00:49:19no elevators,
00:49:21no traffic lights
00:49:22within many miles,
00:49:24I decided I liked it
00:49:26so I came back last year,
00:49:28drove here from New York
00:49:31with my camper
00:49:32and spent five months,
00:49:35most of it,
00:49:36I'd rented a place
00:49:37and then decided
00:49:40that I wanted to be here
00:49:42semi-permanently.
00:49:44So when this year,
00:49:48for financial reasons
00:49:49and because of the way
00:49:50I like to live,
00:49:51I had planned on camping
00:49:53and making a really slick campsite
00:49:55that's really comfortable
00:49:57it's very consistent.
00:49:59Last year in six months
00:50:00there was not one day
00:50:02that was unsurfable
00:50:03and most days
00:50:04it was chest high or bigger.
00:50:07I mean, I'm talking 90%
00:50:08of the time last year.
00:50:09This year has been
00:50:10a little less spectacular
00:50:12but still, like today,
00:50:14you know,
00:50:15these are good waves.
00:50:16And it tickles me
00:50:17to see him living in a tent.
00:50:19The power of influence
00:50:22and you know something,
00:50:23he's a happier man for it
00:50:24so I really feel this way.
00:50:25that, you know,
00:50:27it's like we're an old couple
00:50:30that's arguing
00:50:31and you da-da-da-da
00:50:33and you da-da-da
00:50:34and after all these years
00:50:35it's immediately back
00:50:36to the same way it was
00:50:40when you were buddies.
00:50:43And so I'm yelling at him
00:50:45and he cops an attitude
00:50:47and walks away
00:50:48for the things like
00:50:49what he just did,
00:50:50smoking a joint
00:50:52right in public
00:50:54where I live
00:50:54with kids having
00:50:56and their families
00:50:58eating in a restaurant
00:50:59right there,
00:51:00feet away,
00:51:01and he lights up a joint,
00:51:02smoke everywhere,
00:51:03and he thinks that's okay.
00:51:07Is he smoking a joint?
00:51:08Yeah.
00:51:09Oh man.
00:51:10He's always smoking a joint.
00:51:11Yeah, well it's not cool.
00:51:12Oh, it's not cool?
00:51:13No, fuck no.
00:51:14All right.
00:51:15But it's strange with Patrick
00:51:17when you, you know,
00:51:19it's like I haven't seen him
00:51:21for two years
00:51:22or four years
00:51:23or whatever
00:51:24and it's like,
00:51:25you know,
00:51:26the odd couple from hell
00:51:27kind of thing,
00:51:29the two of us.
00:51:30You know,
00:51:31that's about all I can say
00:51:32about poor Patrick.
00:51:39Anyway,
00:51:39we'll probably see him again
00:51:41later today,
00:51:42don't you think?
00:51:42No, of course,
00:51:43I was happy to see him.
00:51:46Our last few meetings
00:51:47have been like,
00:51:52like separated husband and wife,
00:51:54you know,
00:51:54like kind of like
00:51:58suing for the estate.
00:52:01Well, I was bothered
00:52:02because I thought
00:52:03I should get a piece of the pot.
00:52:05Yeah, but you know,
00:52:05look,
00:52:06I don't want a hair set up.
00:52:08If it's coming,
00:52:08it's coming.
00:52:09If it's not,
00:52:09it's not.
00:52:10It's irrelevant at this time.
00:52:12And, you know,
00:52:13look,
00:52:14I always had a policy
00:52:15where I would never let money
00:52:18interfere with my friendships.
00:52:20And the one thing about it
00:52:21is that I've been right on the money
00:52:23all that time.
00:52:24Now, of course,
00:52:25when I don't have any money
00:52:26and I think,
00:52:27God damn it,
00:52:28you know,
00:52:28no, but that's not the point here,
00:52:30you know.
00:52:31He has his persona now.
00:52:33I mean,
00:52:33as he said to you,
00:52:34he's Captain Zero.
00:52:35It makes him money
00:52:36and it makes him feel good.
00:52:38How he could be angry at me
00:52:40and at the same time
00:52:41use the book,
00:52:43you know,
00:52:45for part of who he is
00:52:46and to make money on
00:52:49is,
00:52:50I mean,
00:52:50you can't do that.
00:52:51You can't be angry
00:52:52at the person
00:52:53and plus then take advantage
00:52:54of what that person did
00:52:55that you're angry about.
00:52:57It doesn't work that way.
00:52:58My smoke and the crack,
00:53:00you know,
00:53:00and my preoccupation
00:53:02and Alan's trying
00:53:02to communicate with me
00:53:03and it was hard
00:53:04to really get through.
00:53:05Hello, Patrick,
00:53:07is anybody home?
00:53:09Yeah.
00:53:11That if you're friends
00:53:12with someone,
00:53:14you know,
00:53:14and you've been through
00:53:15a lot together,
00:53:15you try to put it aside.
00:53:20You know,
00:53:21things have changed
00:53:22so much since the old days
00:53:24when we were flush
00:53:26and big shots
00:53:27and the underground empire
00:53:28and running around
00:53:30and jets and...
00:53:31I'm always excited
00:53:32to see Alan.
00:53:33I'm sure that's why
00:53:33he comes,
00:53:34because he's excited
00:53:35to see me too.
00:53:36But, you know,
00:53:38it's been a long time
00:53:39since we've been
00:53:40maybe on this even plane.
00:53:42So look at me.
00:53:43I mean,
00:53:43I was my own worst enemy
00:53:44back in 2005 and 96.
00:53:48So there you go.
00:53:49There you have it.
00:53:51But anyway, look,
00:53:52Alan,
00:53:52I'm just glad to see him
00:53:55and let it happen,
00:53:57whatever's going to happen.
00:53:58And, you know,
00:53:59things,
00:54:00I feel the energy.
00:54:00See,
00:54:01I'm on a real,
00:54:01real,
00:54:02just like a long time ago.
00:54:05My intuition,
00:54:06my instincts,
00:54:07and of course,
00:54:08my faith,
00:54:08that's why I'm here.
00:54:10We'd have fun.
00:54:11He'd come up with
00:54:12some bizarre theory,
00:54:14you know,
00:54:15that is not actually
00:54:16logical or whatever,
00:54:17and I'd pick it apart
00:54:18and make fun of him
00:54:19and he'd make fun of me
00:54:21and we'd get a laugh
00:54:23out of it.
00:54:24Anyway,
00:54:25I love Alan.
00:54:26Don't you ever
00:54:26fucking forget it,
00:54:27you know what I mean?
00:54:28And he's a funny guy,
00:54:30you know,
00:54:31and I'm usually
00:54:32a funny guy.
00:54:33You know,
00:54:33I can be,
00:54:34put it that way.
00:54:35So,
00:54:35you know,
00:54:36we have had
00:54:37horrendous laughs together
00:54:39and when you've,
00:54:41you know,
00:54:41been through a lot
00:54:42with someone,
00:54:44you know,
00:54:45you can communicate
00:54:46without explaining everything.
00:54:49You know,
00:54:50you just know
00:54:50what's going on
00:54:52and that's,
00:54:53that's unusual.
00:54:59That's great.
00:55:00Do they answer the question
00:55:02or do they go off?
00:55:55The glimpses of the future
00:56:00Follow past familiar
00:56:05Success becoming failure
00:56:10Meaning everything you say
00:56:13Living like today's the day
00:56:18The hopelessness will fade away
00:56:23You're on your own
00:56:29Death from a broken romance
00:56:34Held you back
00:56:39Taking on your own control
00:56:44Finding out what you don't know
00:56:48Thinking what took,
00:56:51it's told
00:56:52Meaning everything you say
00:56:56Meaning everything you say
00:56:57Living like today's the day
00:57:03Hopelessness will fade away
00:57:06You're on your own
00:57:13Death from a broken romance
00:57:17Death from a broken romance
00:57:18Death from a broken romance
00:57:19Death from a broken romance
00:57:19Death from a broken romance
00:57:20Death from a broken romance
00:57:21Death from a broken romance
00:57:24Death from a broken romance
00:57:24Death from a broken romance
00:57:25Death from a broken romance
00:57:25Death from a broken romance
00:57:26Death from a broken romance
00:57:27Death from a broken romance
00:57:29Death from a broken romance
00:57:30Death from a broken romance
00:57:32Death from a broken romance
00:57:34Death from a broken romance
00:57:42I 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
00:58:07I will die or become stronger
00:58:12I will die or become stronger
00:58:37with a kid named Kiko here
00:58:38he always used to look after basically
00:58:42I think he had a difficult home life
00:58:44and Patrick was always very conscientious about
00:58:47seeing after him and talked to him a lot
00:58:50and he's 21 now and I heard he's expecting twins
00:58:55and he's quite young for that I guess
00:58:57but he still looks at Patrick for advice
00:59:01and he's a good kid
00:59:03and I think Patrick helped in that
00:59:06I met Werner
00:59:09he was Kiko when I met him
00:59:10but as he grew older he became more sophisticated
00:59:13don't call me Kiko Werner
00:59:15and so Werner was going
00:59:18he was hustling his pig home that he was sent out
00:59:21because none of the other children wanted to do it
00:59:25so Kiko was four years old
00:59:26and he had this big twitch
00:59:27and he had this 800 pound hog
00:59:29the visual of this was outstanding
00:59:33and this hog knew Kiko all his life
00:59:38and he was a buddy of his basically
00:59:40and I noticed that Kiko was snorting and grunting
00:59:45like they were talking to each other
00:59:47it was too much
00:59:48so then he was grabbing the ear like this
00:59:50and I knew right away what he wanted to do
00:59:52he wanted to go and jump on that hog's neck
00:59:54this was a first for him to end the hog
00:59:57I'm born in the 87
00:59:59and my name is Werner
01:00:01I was four years old
01:00:04going for five years
01:00:06and I met him while I was riding my piggy
01:00:10from school back home
01:00:12my piggy went to look for me at school
01:00:14I used to have a piggy
01:00:16she knew what time I was coming from school
01:00:20that was like a dog
01:00:21you know a really nice pet
01:00:23I ride that much the pig
01:00:25she used to ride me
01:00:26like a bike
01:00:30she used to go around with me
01:00:31and like nice
01:00:32yeah he helped me out a lot
01:00:34he was like wow amazing
01:00:36and always I talk about this
01:00:38about Patrick
01:00:40he came up to be like one of my
01:00:43part of my family
01:00:44you know like a second dad
01:00:47I liked him a lot
01:00:49he bought me a bike
01:00:50and we used to go around town
01:00:53riding bike
01:00:54and that was my first bike
01:00:56I ever got a good present
01:00:57for my birthday
01:00:58he used to teach me a little bit
01:01:00about the map
01:01:01he had a huge map
01:01:02he used to teach me a little bit
01:01:04about this
01:01:05and you know
01:01:08a little reading in English
01:01:09and stuff like that
01:01:10helped me out a little bit
01:01:12with my homework
01:01:13English homework
01:01:14yeah
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