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

by David Rensin

For twenty years, Miki "Da Cat" Dora was the king of Malibu surfers—a dashing, enigmatic rebel who dominated the waves, ruled his peers' imaginations, and who still inspires the fantasies of wannabes to this day. And yet, Dora railed against surfing's sudden post-Gidget popularity and the overcrowding of his once empty waves, even after this avid sportsman, iconoclast, and scammer of wide repute ran afoul of the law and led the FBI on a remarkable seven-year chase around the globe in 1974. The New York Times named him "the most renegade spirit the sport has yet to produce" and Vanity Fair called him "a dark prince of the beach." To fully capture Dora's never-before-told story, David Rensin spent four years interviewing hundreds of Dora's friends, enemies, family members, lovers, and fellow surfers to uncover the untold truth about surfing's most outrageous practitioner, charismatic antihero, committed loner, and enduring mystery.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Sports

498 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2007

About the author

David Rensin has written and cowritten sixteen books, five of them New York Times bestsellers.

The latest is DON'T GIVE UP, DON'T GIVE IN: Lessons from an Extraordinary Life --coauthored with the late Louis Zamperini, hero of UNBROKEN (book and film). Published 11/18/2014

Previously I helped write HOPE CONQUERS ALL, stories from the CaringBridge website.

Before that, I coauthored with Dr. Brandy Engler, The Men on My Couch: True Stories of Sex, Love, and Psychotherapy.

Earlier collaborations include Promises I Made My Mother, with Sam Haskell.

Rensin's book, All For a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora, was published by HarperEntertainment on April 8, 2008. The softcover was published on March 24, 2009.

According to Rensin, "There will never be another surfer like Miki 'Da Cat' Dora. For twenty years the dashing and enigmatic dark prince of California surfing dominated the Malibu waves and his peers' imaginations, blazing a rebel trail that would inspire generations to come. But when the sport exploded into the mainstream and surfing changed for ever, Dora's paradise was lost.

"Outraged at gridlocked swells and a scene that had grown ever more commodified, Dora eventually fled Malibu, seeking empty waves - and anonymity - beyond America. He'd also run afoul of the law, and he led the authorities on a seven-year chase around the globe. After his arrest and imprisonment, he would return to America once in a while, but never again to live, and in the end only to die.

Dora would never give up searching for the spirit of the Malibu he'd lost. Wherever he made his home - New Zealand, South Africa, France - he personified the rebel heart of surfing and became a legend in his own time.

This oral/narrative biography is based on interviews with more than three hundred people who knew Dora. It uncovers more truth than thought possible about surfing's most seductive and complicated icon. It is the story of one man's insistence on personal freedom - and the rewards and the costs that brings. It is also a story of innocence lost, of the growth and commercialization of the California lifestyle. Loner. Rebel. Wanderer. Legend.

The life of Miki Dora is the greatest surf story never told.

Rensin's previous book, The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up (Ballantine 2003), an oral history of what it's like to start at the bottom in a talent agency mailroom while dreaming of the top, spent ten weeks on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. He lives in Los Angeles."

Reviews

[Garen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really neat book about this guy name Miki Dora who was a dickhead of absolutely epic proportions. I mean this guy stole, cheated, scammed, bitched and finagled his way through his entire life and he didn't change a bit until he was like 60. Then he started to mellow out a bit. If he wasn't a really, really good surfer he would have been an absolute shithead that no one gave a crap about. But he was. So he got away with it. I was lukewarm on Miki until the point when he died and it was revealed that he had hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets tucked away and was still living in his van and bumming meals off people. Then I thought 'well he was either super-paranoid, incredibly cheap, or had a great sense of humor and just loved getting over on people' and I suspect to one degree or another it was all three of those things; but I suspect mostly he just liked having a laugh at other people's expense. Which I agree is always fun. The story is told mainly through the recollections of the people who knew him and so it is a great little tour through surfing's history. Through reading this book we come to see that Johnny Fain is a little bitch, which Miki told him as often as he could, and that Greg Noll is pretty awesome. Miki's dad is a complex fellow and I think that relationship was at the bottom of a lot of Miki's problems. He also had a dog named Scooter Boy whom he adored and anyone who loves their dog a lot can't be all bad. Fun read but probably not hugely interesting if you aren't into surfing.

[TK · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a surfer (I have poor balance). I am not a beach bum (although I do have an affinity for the ocean). I am not especially hip, young, or even posessing of an interest in youth/rebel culture. No, I'm perhaps the least likely person to read this book & love it. Except when you consider that I am a sucker for an inscrutable, unknowable man. Once you realize that, you can see why the story of the ever-elusive (both physically & personally) Miki Dora.

Rensin collects thousands of anecdotes & testimony for people of all stripes who have known Dora over the years -- Dora, being perhaps the surfer with the biggest mythos attached to his name ("Dora Lives!"). I loved reading about his antics, his beauty, his love stories, his travels, his twirly back-talky philosophies. If I'd ever met him, I'd have probably been intimidated, but reading about his life, and the things a man like Miki struggled with, was fascinating, riveting stuff.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Rensin does a pretty good job of presenting the story of one of surfing's most notorious characters without bias. The book reads a little choppy as a result of Rensin's decision to let the people who knew Miki best tell his stories in their own words. But after a few chapters I fell into a rhythm and got lost in the enigmatic life of Miki Dora.

I imagine Miki Dora was one of those guys that no matter what crowd he stood in, everyone noticed him, and most everyone wanted to know him. However, probably as a result of his upbringing, Miki appears to have been lacking the ability to do the one thing that is required in all friendships/relationships. Trust. Thus, very few people ever got close enough to know him. Not even his closest family members seemed to have a grasp on what made Miki tick. I don't think anyone ever really understood him.

I've seen video of Miki surfing. I'm not going to make any exaggerated claims like "he was the greatest ever", but there is no mistaking his unique style and grace in the water. The guy definitely had a way about him that most guys could only dream of coming close to. He devoted his life to, and mastered the art of a good surf; A dream I continue to chase. For that alone, I admire the man.

But still more, I admire Miki for sticking to his guns his entire life. Nobody's perfect of course, and many of Miki's methods were questionable at best, but the guy had a belief about our American society and he stuck to that belief despite all the pressure in the world to become "just another Eichmann". In many ways he lived a better life for it, albeit, a much lonlier existence. We all have to make compromises. Mike decided his would be further down the priority list.

Here's to you Miki Dora. We could all learn a little from the way you surfed and the way you lived.

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing in this book was fine, but I was completely bored by the subject. His life wasn't all that "audacious," and by the end I had concluded he was a whiner, a bum, and probably a racist and anti-semite. Why did I keep reading a biography of someone who thought swastikas were an okay decorative element? I don't know.

[Evan Buechler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing style is very unique. Most of the book is written as anecdotes from people who knew Dora. Rensin weaves them together nicely to create a very clear image of Miki Dora and what he meant to the surfing world. Unfortunately, Dora was kind of a jerk.

[Tim Lockfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it's best not to find out too much about your heros. Miki Dora represented surfing rebellion dropping out of sight in the early 70's after pioneering the sport in Malibu in the late 30's. He was the surfing messiah blasting the commercial aspect of surfing and surf culture - "The clones are taking over" and warning of the evils of gaining monetarily from something so pure. The more he kept out of sight the more his legend grew and he used it as a ticket to a endless summer. His story is filled with paradoxes and ultimately he became a lapdog for the surf brand giant Quiksilver. As The Clash prophetically sang : " I believe in this and it's been tested by research: he who fucks nuns will later join the church ". Sadly Miki joined the church. The book in mostly a oral history of a bunch of people that have made a living off the sport but also include his father who can't fathom that his son is the Picasso of the waves. His death from cancer in 2001 and the picking of his bones is a large part of the book.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never surfed in my like and have only recently started having an interest in surfing as a subject. I knew very little about Miki Dora prior to reading this book. I found Dora to be a very interesting and complex subject. The author handled this complexity well by simply including all the seemingly contradictory aspects of Dora's life without taking sides. For virtually every label that can be placed on Dora the opposite can also be said. For much of the book I found Dora to be a pathetic excuse for a human being I also found him quite sympathetic at times as well.

If you are considering reading this I think the most important thing to know about this book is that so far all of the negative reviews I have seen base their negativity on the subject, not on the author or his research. In other words, they don't like who Miki was so they don't like the book. This is a biography, liking the subject isn't always possible.

[Stephanie Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, engrossing read. If you're interested in this time and place. Not sure it would matter to people outside of So. California or those who surfed in Biarritz. A family member was adjacent to both worlds, so it's interesting to me to read.

[Margaret B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this bio - read it in about 3 days. Is especially good if you're into Southern California surf culture, but is still worthwhile even if you're not because this guy really had a strange life.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having a really tough time getting through this. Starting to feel speculative folklore about a guy I'm pretty sure I'd hate.

[Eamon Daly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legend, layabout or somewhere in between; Rensin makes it clear that the story of Miki Dora is open to interpretation. Any attempt to definitively separate fact from fiction is out of the question, as is often the case with a legend in the truest sense of the word.

It feels as though the only way to go about retelling Dora's tale was to gather the unedited reflections of those who knew him best and lay the facts out bare. Rensin presents a profusion of character references with a hands-off approach that I imagine Dora would have publicly challenged but privately appreciated. The superbly titled "All for Few Perfect Waves" can feel a bit long-winded and repetitive at times, but clearly there are a lot of people with a lot to say about Miki Dora.

Arguably a real-life anti-hero, Dora predicted the corporate saturation of the Californian surf scene and spent his life in pursuit of a holy grail alternative, all while evading the FBI, conventional responsibility and any temptation to "sell out". For a man who believed that his story deserved a fictionalised retelling, the reality of both his character and the various chapters of his life are often spellbinding.

Similar to the well-documented Rockstar trope, Dora engineered a lifestyle which sought to recreate his emotional experience in the midst of a great wave. Whether a conscious or unconscious decision, he was prepared to offer everything he owned - and often a great deal belonging to those around him - in exchange for a few perfect waves.

Miki Dora is fundamentally a bollox and the biggest Doralite can hardly escape that fact. But a bollox does not necessarily equate to a bad person, and any attempt to shoehorn him into the role of either hero or outlaw feels reductive of an enigmatic personality. Dora is a counter-cultural nomad whose behaviour, means, ways and ideologies were often hypocritical, all in search of one core ideology; to live as free from restraint as possible.

A man for whom possession, status, money, companionship and love were as ephemeral as the waves for which they were sacrificed.

"Life is passing time as gracefully as possible" - Da Cat

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it is, in the end, a sort-of redemption tale, this book was too much of a bad thing (that bad thing being its main character and "protagonist", Miki Dora). At 200 pages, this book might have been a cautionary look at the artifice of a real-life anti-hero, but at 400+ pages, it was an absolute slog and might better have been titled "Rensin's Big Book of Assholes" with Dora being the main culprit. There's hardly a likable character in the whole book (and that's saying something for a non-fiction oral history--the only person I truly liked was Dora's long-suffering father), and to have spent this much time with Dora who was a serial liar, cheat, thief, con-man, criminal, backstabber, racist, and proto-fascist almost felt like a punishment. For anyone who has ever been tempted to mythologize surf culture (and I think that to some degree, we all have, as a culture), I say read this book; it will disabuse you of that notion quickly.

Yet for all of that, I found myself both happy that I'd made my way through the whole thing, but also unaccountably sympathetic toward Miki in his last years. Perhaps it was the empathy that results from having spent one's time with someone who, at the end of his life, realized that maybe he needn't have been such a dick to everyone he ever knew for the past 50 years. It was a cathartic and, therefore, tragic, end to a delusional narcissist who only realized when it was too late that maybe he'd made a mistake.

[Keith Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surf industry giant Billabong has this corporate slogan, “Only a Surfer Knows the Feeling”, which is spot-on. Same goes for a biography on a figure like Dora. To say he was a complicated figure would be a gross understatement. While the average human who knows nothing of surfing and has never heard of the legendary Miki Dora, would likely recoil in disgust halfway through this biography, as a life long surfer addicted to the culture and all it includes, I could not put this book down. Nobody said legends are perfect. Dora sure as hell was not. But author David Rensen has crafted a solid account of this man’s life with the help of countless other famous surf culture figures. If you too are immersed in the surf culture, this book is a must read.

[Russell Voigt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly just read the first 100pgs and didn’t find 300 more worth my time.
Took 50 pages to get some good stories flowing.
It’s mostly a very unusual writing style with interview-like transcripts from bunches of people who knew Miki. Gets a bit tiring but really interesting at times. I’d prefer more paraphrased storytelling.
Personally, I don’t find Miki Dora that admirable either like this book seems to. He sounds like an ungrateful, selfish crook who had exceptional surfing talent…makes for an interesting study but I grew tired of people putting him on the pedestal…Wouldn’t fly in today’s world, so I had trouble relating.
Some cool history in there, but would rather read it in a different book than this one.

[James Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't your normal biography, but that should be expected from the biography of Miki Dora. Mostly done as an oral history, there are a number of voices that both appear for short times and throughout most of the book.

Pretty easy read, the flow is smooth, although certain points are a bit repetitive. Worth the read.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is possibly the best surf biography out there. Loved it. Miki Dora was more or less the original surfing anti-hero. A cad, shyster and scammer extraordinaire but also one of the first californian surfing celebrities. A likeable rogue, though probably not someone to get involved with on a personal level. I really enjoyed this book and i'm a bit surprised it isn't rated higher.

[Yukio Nagato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Da Cat. Always loved his anti-authoritarian stance (and action) but I've always detested him thieving from friends and other innocents. He was a crook and a weasel while at the same time a cool as hell surfing icon spanning a very special time in surf history. What a great con but what a great surfer.

[John Maldo · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing tale of a larger than life surfer who wanted to buck the system. One part Catch Me if You Can and another part The Endless Summer, this "biography" will leave you with more questions than answers!

[Dan Bollard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A legendary figure in surfing shrouded in mystery, but mostly known for his exploits around scams and certain uniforms.

He's such an interesting character and a pretty complex person, truly one of a kind. I kind of came to begrudgingly respect him. I didn't think I would.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories and quotes of a surfer who lived to surf. Not the greatest life but a unique one. Kind of a guide on how to avoid society.

[Rob Miech · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent read on a legendary enigma.

[Livy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't love it, but I couldn't stop reading it... take it as you will.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Black Knight of surfing.....if you dont know then you dont know. But read this book and find out

[Rebecca Russavage · Rating 2 out of 5]

Miki Dora seemed to be a terrible person, and David Rensin is so blinded by misplaced adulation that he is unable to interrogate any reality of his subject.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miki Dora was not your typical anti-hero. He was much more complicated and contradictory than the "Surfing's Black Knight" character he is remembered as. His legendary elusiveness and unwillingness to sell-out are revealed in this book as part of a more complex, consciously manipulated reputation. A true man of leisure who was uncomfortable being known (only) as a surfing legend, he was also a charismatic joker, a petty thief and scam artist and chronic liar, a world traveling ex-pat sometimes on the run from the law and other times self-exiled, a highly intelligent and well-read conversationalist, a paranoid conspiracy theorist, a shrewd stock market investor yet an eternal free-loader, a self-centered and overly sensitive immature man-child, a free spirit, an environmentalist, a pack-rat, a faithful believer of the mythical "rogue wave" decades before scientists could even confirm its existence - a really fascinating man appropriately known as "Da Cat". Four interesting facts that helped summarize his character for me: he was part of the Malibu generation that helped invent surfer localism, he was baptized by Mormon missionaries in New Zealand, he and Charles Manson were both incarcerated in the same Vacaville jail in 1982, and his favorite book was James Clavell's "King Rat."

The subject of this book gets 5 stars from me, but I gave this book 3 stars because of my personal wariness of most oral histories. This type of writing is supposed to feel balanced and fair because of the many points of view it collects. My problem with this book is that it is hard to distinguish the gossip from the facts, especially when it's not always clear how the person interviewed is related to Miki Dora. There is an Anonymous interviewee and also people only referred to by their initials. It also seems clear that some people in Miki's life were not part of this book. This seems due to loyalness to Miki's perceived wishes or just bad luck on the author's part - but a reference to their existence would have been better than some apparent holes in the story. Also, the text and interviews collected from existing older articles and the new interviews that occurred specifically for this book are never distinguished. I think it's important to know when an anecdote has been recorded (20 years ago) as events are fresh in someone's mind or recently when people are reminiscing.

But I would still highly recommend this book. Reading about the embellished and impossible-to-believe stories he told about himself, it seems like a huge accomplishment to just gather and confirm the basic biographical facts of Miki Dora's life. You may feel guilty for strongly disliking Miki at times or when you read about things he clearly didn't want people to know about while he was alive. But like all the people interviewed in this book, you'll still feel drawn to such an interesting figure and more forgiving of his faults than you normally would in people you know.

[Abram · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author (although perhaps compiler would be a better word), stylistically and structurally succeeds in conveying to the naive the legend of Miki Dora. The book is well done in this regard, which is a good thing because if it were not there would be no call for it to exist, since it would simply be one about a genuinely and perhaps even irredeemably reprehensible individual. Miki Dora is the type of guy whose resume is convincingly used to advocate for the tightening of society that eventually results in totalitarianism: Despite this, after 500 or so pages about the man, you have to feel something not just about him but for him as well. In my case I landed on a sort of detached pity for a guy who seemed to be chasing the rarified airs of 19th century European aristocratic living and who ultimately failed in that attempt. My real life reaction to him would certainly be different, but that’s the magic of the written word, I guess.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The name “Miki dora” has come across my eyes many a time but I never knew anything except that he was a great surfer. I found this book and decided to see what this great surfer was all about.
He was self centered and used people for his own gain. He was rude and quite honestly I felt like his lawless exploits were applauded just because he was a great surfer. Do I appreciate what he brought toy favorite sport? Yes. Do I like the man? Not really. Not someone I would want to meet. If I were to meet any surfers then I’d prefer to meet Bethany Hamilton, Hannah Bennet, Jamie Mitchell, Coco Ho, Kirra Busch, Brianna Cope, Rochelle Ballard, Joel Parkinson, Moana Jones Wong. Alana Blanchard and of course Kelly Slater.

Book rating 3/5 🦭
- Per the back of the book
For twenty years, Miki "Da Cat" Dora was the king of Malibu surfers—a dashing, enigmatic rebel who dominated the waves, ruled his peers' imaginations, and who still inspires the fantasies of wannabes to this day. And yet, Dora railed against surfing's sudden post-Gidget popularity and the overcrowding of his once empty waves, even after this avid sportsman, iconoclast, and scammer of wide repute ran afoul of the law and led the FBI on a remarkable seven-year chase around the globe in 1974. The New York Times named him "the most renegade spirit the sport has yet to produce" and Vanity Fair called him "a dark prince of the beach." To fully capture Dora's never-before-told story, David Rensin spent four years interviewing hundreds of Dora's friends, enemies, family members, lovers, and fellow surfers to uncover the untold truth about surfing's most outrageous practitioner, charismatic antihero, committed loner, and enduring mystery.

[Ian Phelps · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book I read was All For a Few Perfect Waves by David Rensin. This book is a biography on Miki Dora. It wasn’t an autobiography but it was a collection of other peoples’ stories with him. Lots of quotes from other surfers were interviewed and their speeches were used throughout the whole book. Most people interviewed were Miki Dora’s friends, family, and other old surfing legends.
I rate this book five stars. I thought it was interesting to hear what people had to say about Miki because he is a very interesting surfing legend that people didn’t really know about. There were also some significant events in surfing history that were discussed. Even the surfers that surfed with him around his days didn’t get him. The only person that knew him really well was big wave legend Greg Noll.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves the sport of surfing. There is lots of surfing history in this book and throughout the book the evolution of surfing is discussed. I also recommend this to anyone who is a fan of older generation surfers. I really didn’t know much about Miki before I read this but now I realize how much he influenced the surfing culture. Miki Dora was surfing history.

[furious · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is wonderful. it's an oral history, so it is a little like reading a transcript of an amazing documentary. and that is really my only issue so far; i wish it WERE that documentary. while hearing the tales & exploits & whatnot, i feel like i need to be watching Dora surf. i feel like i should be looking at those old amateur home movies from Malibu in 1960, or seeing Miki tackle the big pipe at Waimea. there are some great plates - photos & documents unearthed from amongst Miki's widely scattered effects, real original OG shit - but it's not the same. i guess i just have to stick to youtube video & my ongoing search for "In Search of da Cat." anyways, the book does an amazing job of painting a picture of the notorious man of mystery. i walked away feeling like i had something of an understanding of him, something you can maybe only get by looking at a person from the many angles of all the lives he touched. or maybe not. maybe in the end it was all bullshit. we can never know, and that is quintessential Miki Dora.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

"By adopting my particular type of self-imposed exile I can outdistance these scougers of mankind: those who believe in consciousness without existence and those who believe in existence without consciousness -- these caricatures who go to ludicrous lenghts to assert their own importance, their own grotesque, overblown ambition.
The preconceived, hypocritical values of these scourges are their calling cards to temples of mediocrity and cultural improverishment. These schizos are forever in motion, spinning out of control, unable to slow down for fear someone might get a glimpse of their hollowness, their vulnerability and lack of moral courage...."

- Miki Dora