All for a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora

By the time author David Rensin contacted me regarding the book he was writing about Miki Dora I'd already spoken to or exchanged emails with several people who were writing books or articles about Miki and his life.

From the story I'd written before Miki's death and the tribute I'd written after he'd died (on surfwriter.net), it was assumed I knew Miki somewhat. "Somewhat" being the operative word.

What impressed me from the beginning was David's integrity and absolute commitment to somehow capturing Miki and the story of his remarkably convoluted and sometimes Byzantine life in a book. He wanted it to be a fair, balanced and comprehensive account that reflected the dynamic vitality, complexity and mystery of this enigmatic individual.

In my opinion he not only succeeded in that ambitious quest, but produced a real page turner in the process.

As I said to David at the beginning, "Miki's and my paths crossed several times over the years - both in and out of the water - and each encounter was unforgettable."

In the water, Miki was the most skilled, accomplished and naturally gifted surfer I've ever had the pleasure of seeing on a wave ... and for that he will always have my deepest respect.

Out of the water, he could be forceful, intelligent, clever, funny, generous, charismatic, charming and challenging one minute, and confrontational, difficult, disagreeable, selfish, unpleasant and paranoid the next.

In other words, he was fascinating, totally unknowable, and the most puzzling, unpredictable individual I've ever met.

So, naturally, I was looking forward to seeing what David could make out of Miki's labyrinth of a life based his own conversations with Miki and after talking with literally hundreds of Miki's friends, family, acquaintances and enemies.

What he has done is weave all that information - and all those memories, anecdotes, comments, reminiscences, revelations, facts and fiction - into a seamless account that brings Miki and pivotal events in his life back to life.

As an extra bonus, the book contains dozens of revealing photos from Miki's childhood onwards, many of which have never been published before - or I've never seen before - including the last portraits of Miki taken for a Vogue Hommes International article by Prosper Keating before Miki's death.

To say I couldn't put the book down would be an understatement. I'm usually a slow reader, but I raced through the book because I couldn't wait to find out where it would take me next.

The funny thing is, my wife - who never met Miki and whose only interest in surfing is through me and the kids - couldn't stop reading it either. When she finally put the book down all she could say is, "Whew! That was an amazing read ... whether or not you're a surfer or know anything about Miki Dora or even care. Amazing! A genuine tour de force."

Personally, I think I was expecting to simply read a book when I started. But it ended up as a deeply moving experience that often left me laughing and sometimes led to tears.

The book is rich in information and background I only became aware of when I read the book. I was constantly surprised - both by the subject's pathos and the author's ability to express it so poignantly.

That depth of feeling and understanding could only have been achieved by the author getting to know Miki through their personal encounters as well as by reading his letters, faxes and other writings - combined with countless hours of interviews and conversations with the people who knew him best.

The research is impeccable.

Congratulations, David. You've really met the challenge you set for yourself and produced the definitive biography of the man I will always think of as the "Wavemaster."

It is a truly fascinating book about a fascinating life and legend.

David Rensin's 'All for a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora' (2008) is a long, protracted, and boring failure, largely because the biography never comes close to convincing the reader why the late surfer deserves to be the subject of a 475-page book to begin with. Rensin may or may not have been present at Malibu during Dora's heyday, but seems to have forgotten that most of the world was not.

Dora's life and legacy may very well deserve such a detailed examination, but you would never realize it from Rensin's book, which, in proportion to the total amount of text, smoothly glosses over the period of Dora's late 1950s-early 1960s fame as the preeminent wave rider of Southern California.

To convince readers that Dora once embodied greatness, or at least exceptional notoriety of some kind, a much greater portion of the book should have been devoted to what qualities, if any, set Dora above (or at least on equal standing with) Greg Noll, Phil Edwards, Joey Cabell, Ricky Grigg, Paul Strauch, and other notable athletes of the same period.

Instead, and apparently by default, 'All for a Few Perfect Waves' focuses on the other well-known aspect of Dora's life: that he was a typically arrogant and bullying garden-variety sociopath who had contempt for almost everyone and everything except himself.

Dora was a narcissist, a compulsive liar, a social bounder, a fabricator of multiple false identities, a grifter from whom no friend or acquaintance's wallet or personal belongings were safe, and the operator of a credit card fraud so extensive that it eventually made him an international fugitive from both the FBI and Interpol for well over a decade.

Dora was no anti-hero, and not even, as the title claims, a "rebel." He was a somewhat physically attractive, secretive young man with a considerable measure of athletic skill and a flair for attracting the eyes of the world; he was also a tacky and ignoble lowlife, hypocrite, moocher, manipulator, and scam artist made increasingly desperate by the numerous bridges he had left burnt behind him.

Not particularly clever, Dora neither fooled all of the people some of the time nor some of the people all of it. A limbo between those two extremes was to become Dora's own private circle in hell.

Anyone who idolizes Dora, or thinks him or his life "audacious," should, for example, keep in mind some of his pettiest scams, such as falsifying documents to obtain food stamps he didn't need, or the fact that at one later point in his sordid life he ended up surviving through an Alpine winter in "a camper van....that was like an igloo..covered with snow and ice. Eggs were frozen. Wine bottles popped."

And all of this because he felt he was too superior to deal with the increasing crowds of surfers appearing on beaches everywhere, take a job, or assume a career like the rest of mankind. Dora felt he was above simply having to earn his own keep, even at the same time that other surfer friends like Greg Noll, Joey Cabell, Henry Ford, Ricky Grigg, and Del Cannon stepped out of the ocean long enough to become lifeguards, board manufacturers, restauranteurs, and oceanographers.

Dora was noted for speaking out publicly, and with barbed tongue, against the crass commercialization of surfing in the wake of the 1959 release of 'Gidget,' though he didn't despise Hollywood's lighthearted beach blanket surf movies so much that he was above acting as an extra in seven or eight, and doing stunt work in many more.

Simultaneously, Dora also railed against the 'takeover' of Malibu by hodads and surf wannabes. In doing so, he no doubt gave badly needed voice to the deeply-rooted feeling of resentment increasingly felt by many in the close-knit surfing fraternity on the California/Hawaii axis.

As reflected in Rensin's book, this seems to be Dora's only genuine achievement, and it is not an achievement which many would agree justifies a lengthy biography, if a biography at all. And due to his active and willing participation in the very films he felt crudely popularized his sport and ruined his surf spots, it remains a questionable achievement altogether.

As long as responsible full-length biographies of Duke Kahanamoku, George Downing, Greg Noll, Phil Edwards, Ricky Grigg, Bruce Brown, Joey Cabell, Nat Young, and other surfing notables have yet to be written, there's probably little room for a biography of Miki Dora, especially 'All for a Few Good Waves,' since Rensin clearly doesn't know how to identify what, if any, qualities in Dora's character may have made his life and personality tragic, or even just dramatic.

In many ways, Rensin acts as a subtle apologist for Dora, as when he writes that Dora "found himself trapped in a black hole of celebrity between the soul-sucking consequences of his iconic talent, charm, and mystique, and his hermetic instinct to reject the spotlight because he believed that nothing in life was more valuable than total personal freedom--no matter what the cost to himself, and often others." Forget that the "black hole" in question may have been "black" because of the amoral, self-destructive nature of many of Dora's actions and much of his behavior.

Also included is an embarrassingly pretentious, patronizing foreword by Harry Hodge, which features unintentional howlers like "we would play our weekly game of tennis at the Chateau de Brindos in Biarritz, followed by a sumptuous lunch. As often as not, the subject would get around to his [Dora's] biography..."

With anecdotal contributions by Ricky Grigg, Phil Edwards, Greg Noll, Kemp Aaberg, Henry Ford, Drew Kampion, Mike Doyle, Dale Velzy, Skip Engblom, Johnny Fain, Stacy Peralta, Paul Strauch, Nat Young, and others, all of which should have made this a far more interesting and comprehensive book.

Great read but found myself disappointed with the person of Mickey Dora and his amoral and utilitarian use of friends and acquaintances. His cons and blatant stealing all under the guise of poverty and living for the perfect wave was only possible by living on the charity of others; and it was so ironic given the wealth of over $500k he banked away in various save deposit boxes which was revealed only after he passed away from cancer. He truly was an artist on the waves but an extremely flawed individual. The writer did a brilliant job of providing a fair and objective perspective of the tortured enigma of Dora.

Whether or not you like the way Miki Dora lived his life is your problem. The book is a great read. In some sections I laughed, in others I shook my head in disbelief. The way his bio is told, by interviews with the people involved who many times gave conflicting stories, gave an interesting perspective to this enigmatic figure.

It amazes me that someone could market his entire life, taking advantage of other people (and sometimes the same ones twice!), off a few years of surfing at Malibu.

Some of the quotes are very insightful like: "I was a little smarter and a little quicker than everyone else so I've been able to live the way I've wanted to live. But I wouldn't recommend it."

The book lets the reader reach his own conclusions about Miki Dora. Nice touch.

This book really hit home for me. I grew up in Southern Cal and have surfed most of my life. Although much younger than Miki I was was still able to find that uncharted territory and many breaks still ridden by few. Traveled to Mexico at the age of 17 and surfed the tip of Baja when only a select few even knew about it. As I travel there as recent as a year ago I can’t help but look back on those empty days as did Miki look at Malibu back in his days. I surfed places like the “Ranch” with only a hand full of guys out. Those were the days . The end of the book really hit close to home as I myself am from Santa Barbara and my father died of the same cancer as Miki. A tragic and terrible way to ends one life. Great read whether a surfer or not.

Greatest book on Miki Dora.

Interesting even for non surfer readers. A look of the pop culture throught the adventures or misadventures om Miklos Szandor Dora III.

The book was entertaining. However, it was very redundant. We get it, Dora was mysterious and eccentric. This doesn't need to be repeated hundreds of times by different interviewees. The book should have been about half as long. It was also somewhat unorganized.

David Rensin brought back to life, "Da Cat" and his travels in and out of countries surfing the best waves and his way of blending in with the upper crowd. Well written, great surf history.

All for a Few Perfect Waves gives a close look at Miki Dora and an era of surfing. Through his interviews and research, Rensin makes it possible to gain insight into the life of Miki Dora. The book is interesting, full-bodied and well worth reading.

Thoroughly enjoyed the book. Nice insights into a surfing icon.