In Search of Captain Zero; A.C Weisbecker

This is a book I read after not surfing for a long time. I was in need for some fresh surfing input and the videos and mags were not enough. After reading about this book in The Surfer’s Path and Surfer I hunted it down. Eventually I found it on Amazon.

The cover says: A book about a surfer’s road trip beyond the end of the road. And it does as it says on the tin.

A.C. Weisbecker has been a surfer, convicted drug smuggler, Miami Vice script writer, among others. His first book was Cosmic Banditos – very funny view on quantum physics, but not a surfing book – and this is his second delivery.

This is a journal of his travels in search of his long lost surfing buddy / drug smuggling partner in crime. He travels by road from the USA, through Mexico and Central America, into Costa Rica, following the trail set by his friend Christopher, Captain Zero.

He packed all he could in his pick-up camper (all terrain toy box), along with boards and his dog, and sold or dumped everything else. He sets off with two rules: never leave a wave while it’s breaking, and keep on going south to the end of the road.

Along the way he visits famous and not so famous breaks, finding all sorts of interesting people - surfers, fishermen, bums and lost souls – which are brought to life by his vivid descriptions. He mixes this with pictures from the past, memoirs of his adventures surfing the north shore, successful and unsuccessful cannabis smuggling into the US, and other events along his life.

This book was great, especially having been to some of the places he visited and reliving those waves and journeys through his anecdotes.

His descriptions of surfing, waves and people are excellent. You feel the urge to dump all and head off on a surfing trip and discover new waves – just what I did.

If you want to learn some more about this book or see a cool photo tour of his journey then visit: http://www.aweisbecker.com/zero/ />