Tuesday, March 15, 2005:
A gold board.
The chopper.
And page one.
On paper, Doz’s life is as close to luxury as any man can have. So, why not ride a gold board and get shot for a Stab cover? $US1100 bought us the chopper for an hour. We lost eight minutes travelling to and from Denpasar airport, lost a few minutes for Hump to land but we got 40 minutes of Doz doing his thing just down the beach from where Andy and Bruce had their magic tow session last year. Session nailed, we flew back to Jakarta and posted up at a bar and drank on-tap Heineken. Doz rang his girl and told her he’d be home (relatively) soon. At the bar, he talked money, careers, patriotism and his favourite type of girls.
“I can’t do white chicks,” he said.
This intrigued me, a confirmed lover of white flesh despite the occasional, though nearly always disastrous, foray into other races.
I posed this question to Doz. Assuming you’re single, you’re sitting in the Chateau Marmont in LA, dressed in your Ralph Lauren purple label suit, Pradas on your hooves and Kirsten Dunst walked in. What would you do, white hater?
“Man, I wouldn’t look twice at her. Are you kidding me?” he said.
What about Halle Berry?
“Now you’re talking. This is better,” he said.
Define luxury, I said, attempting a tenuous connection between our luxury shoot and whatever words I would attach to the photos.
“There are different things that make your heart beat,” he said. “But when someone’s spent all that money on a chopper and you’re out there, heart beating through your chest, with that small window and it’s whole purpose is to shoot you, that’s pretty fricken luxurious.”
The 10 Luxuries of Shane Dorian
My Very Existence: I have absolute freedom in my life. I make every last decision. I don’t have to be anywhere at any time. If I’m checking the net and I see a swell, I can make a call and go. My goal is to leave myself open to opportunity. If I’m in Fiji or Samoa and see a swell hitting Tahiti, then I’m gonna bolt.Quitting The Tour: It was the strangest thing, the moment I’d quit. I’m oblivious to who’s on the tour. I wouldn’t know whether, say, Mick Campbell is in or not. When you’re on it you think it’s so important but it’s such a luxury and a relief to not have that monotony. The tour is what it is and every last contest on the earth is the same. It never was my bread and butter and it was just a little part of my whole deal. I’ve never regretted for one second my move.
The Billy’s Plane: If I was on the tour right now with the Billabong plane set up I’d be pulling the remains of my hair out. I’m slated as one of the main men with the plane. Can you imagine driving a World War Two plane around the ocean looking for monster waves, launching jetskis from the wings and sliding the zodiac from the tailgate? The plane as the exact theory as my life. To ride the biggest waves ever ridden. Fuel up and fly out. I can’t wait.
My Wardrobe: I love buying expensive classic pieces. Some guys are into cars and spending money on other things but nothing’s better than taking a girl on the town spiffed up in a tailored suit. I’ve got three Ralph Lauren Purple Label suits. These babies are rare. Every inch of my body was measured up in New York then the measurements are sent to Britain and I selected the materials. It’s not something you need, but when I put on my Prada shoes it feels like an investment.
Boost Phone: A free worldwide cell phone is fantastic. I don’t even use the home phone anymore. It’s my connection to the world. Andy, Bruce, Kelly and I are all sponsored. Each time one of us gets waves we’re all over the phones. Last year, Andy and Kelly both called (separately) and told me they were towing into six-to-eight-foot Kirra and getting standups. I was in Morocco freaking about my waves. My voice was hoarse from screaming my head off. Lately, Kelly calls when he has a session he knows I’d be jealous of. He especially enjoyed calling me the other day, telling me about six-to-eight-foot Barbados he scored because he’d invited me and I turned it down.
Buying Light Surfboards: When I arrived on the Gold Coast I paid $1100 for three boards from a high-profile shaper. They were light, real light, man. But that was the problem. After three surfs, they were all broken. One creased in four places doing a cutback on a mushy two-foot wave. Three boards and collectively I wouldn’t have caught more than 20 waves.
Good Grinds: My wife and I eat like royalty. When we got out we have amazing dinners. I don’t mind spending a bunch of dough on treating myself right. We have an amazing kitchen with a million cookbooks. In the mornings we pick a cookbook, open a random page, buy the ingredients and cook that dish. When I was a kid, my mum and dad had a fine food restaurant and I think that’s what inspired me. If I was super rich, the first thing I’d get would be a chef.
Making Decisions With Conviction: With age comes experience and intelligence. Now I see things more rationally rather than making decisions strictly on emotions. It’s better to make decisions out of love than fear. If I didn’t totally dig a girl I was with, I broke it off. I once broke up with a girl because I knew we had to be apart to be together. Three years later, we got back together. Eleven months after that, she was my wife.
Speaking Of Which, there’s too many good things about my wife to call her a luxury. She has my best interests in mind. I’ll see her for a day after a month away and a swell will come up and even though she’ll miss me, she’ll encourage me to go because it’s my job. Not many people truly love what they’re doing and she sees it in me. I don’t know a single woman in the world that would be like that.
Waiting For Bombs: I’m sure it stems from surfing contests and constraints and having to catch waves, but I’ll sit all day to a Bomb. I’ll go without food or sunscreen to the wave of the day. It’s about quality not quantity. One crazy wave is better than 25 good ones. Those are the ones we remember.
by Sam McIntosh
Posts: 2
Reply #2 on : Wed November 26, 2008, 17:22:12