Love, loss, failure and victory!
Maurice Cole has been one of my favorite surf personalities ever since I was ten years, lounging on my Coos Bay bed, gazing at his lines. Oh they were perfect. Sensual even and they fired a youthful lust that infects me to this day.
You know the poster.
And ooooooee, it still gives me shivers.
Maurice has rare charisma in this surf world. He’s not afraid to butt heads, to tell it like it is, to change the game and then change it again. He has been through multiple iterations and yet is still a visionary. It is why I was so desirous to hear his chat with David Lee Scales.
David Lee you know, of course, from the Surf Splendor Network and our biweekly chats. He has always been a wonderful host but has also developed into a crackling interviewer. He takes his craft seriously and is able to dig gold from his subjects.
Here, the two discuss tragedy and compromised integrity. Failure and stress and cancer and why publicly traded surf brands are destined for failure as soon as that IPO floats. It is a fantastic episode, well worth a listen between today’s madness.
It is the best show yet.
Finally listened to this. Very, very good, and heart-wrenching, interview.
May many wonderful things happen for you, MC!
Interesting guy and boards. i agree with a lot of what he says. some not so much.
The comment/share ratio is interesting,,,
MC, will you name the shapers who cooked you? I’d rather avoid ‘em should I ever have the money to spend
EDIT: I have found the answers elsewhere.
I wish you peace in your own head.
A fragile thing, I know this myself.
WTF , hilarious , where do you dig these up from?
Great interview MC, but there was one thing that confused me. Maybe I misunderstood you but I think you said that FireWires and Slater designs were basically garbage – but that the one board you’d love to try would be a Machado Go Fish, which is a FireWire.
Hi Jimmy, what I was saying that the Slater and Firewires are very cheaply made now , the LFT glassing is very weak and a lot broken / creased/chips out of tails and noses ….and the Firewires were once bullet proof and now they seem to fall apart and break a lot easier..
I spent a week with Rob in France in October and saw the difference in personal custom boards compared with the Thai made ones , chalk and cheese…boards are shaped well but very fragile …so I think Rob’s Fishes are insane , watched him surf all kinds of waves there from 2′ …6′ barrels, impressive!
Cheers for the reply
Mongrelfossil yes
Oh dear
Another depression story to cover years of being a dickhead.
Its getting beyond a joke these days
The old boys who went to war and saw their mates heads blow off and then came home and got on with it must think we are fucking useless!
Shit comment and which war are you talking about?
I wonder if you are talking about the USA , where now troops coming home from war have a higher suicide rate , than actual troops lost in battle , but its only PTSD and Depression…
Never has depression been talked about more.
And never has the suicide rate been higher.
Try not thinking about yselves for 5 minutes, maybe that would help
or never has there been so much depression , and so many suicides , sharing personal experiences is a start of the solution .
To admit there is a problem , and to be able to open a dialogue where people don’t feel they are alone or the only ones suffering from those negative voices in your head…………but I love your solution , ” try not thinking about yourselves for 5 minutes , maybe that would help?”………..is that a professional opinion, because wow that’s really deep…….?
I dunno what to think about those guys
If they’re suffering then I feel empathy
But they did sign up for it and seemed keen for it.
My old man had his house bombed then served in Palestine and saw his mates head shot off by Israelites
Then came home and was the sweetest guy.
seems he tucked it away at the back of his mind,but obviously were not all the same
you don’t have to think , the stats are there , they do suffer , do you understand that more US soldiers have died from suicide , after they have returned from Iraq and or Afghanistan …..than were killed in battle?
The PTSD suffered does not go away , so all the troops stationed in the Middle East , are like ticking time bombs……when does the next one go off?
To even think that because they signed up , they deserve what they get , as they are keen????
Enough already Bex!
I don’t mean disrespect.
But I’m not seeing results from current methods of dealing with the problem.
Bex , I know you don’t mean disrespect , but actually are you really looking to see results?
There has been a huge amount of progress made in diagnosing Depression/PTSD and how to treat the sickness .
The only reason I am still communicating with you is that hopefully you might learn about the reasons for getting a mental disease , and treatment….I think there is nothing malicious in what you say , as making fun of and denigrating people with mental ilness’s is pretty low……especially when they go public , as this is part of a healing process, but so fucken hard to put your public persona out there , especially when people are taking shots at you behind false ID’s….so …??
Fair nuff
Hey Bex..a lot of those guys who went to war in my time were surfers from middle class homes who couldn’t pull off the “bone spur ouchie”to get out of service to a completely bogus war.
Let alone the minorities shipped off as cannon fodder
Life’s like that.
Its never been fair and never will be. Those conscripts got a bad hand.
If you watch the news which is really just mental torture you will see story after story of death misadventure, murder. Disease, war it’s endless misery. These days more so cause of Antisocial media
but you don’t have to watch.
And you’d have missed nothing..
My point is that we in the west have never had it so good and look at us.
Now look at the people really doing it tough and see how they still manage a smile.
You get one go at life and there’s no prizes at the end. The cemetery is testimonie to this.
I agree this whole I choose to be surf hero drug fuck up who would not give the average person in the street a sniff of his thongs to now I’m a broke surf hero drug fuck up that wants everyone’s support and understanding thing ie tom carroll occy kong etc is so weak as piss , i wonder what some of these folks think when they lay at night wondering how many young proper lives they fucked up with their ever so public support over decades for substance abuse.
Disgusting.
Yeah look I’m just not gonna fawn over a guy that was a leading board maker but by his own admission a bit of a prick.
Seems like he had it all and fucked it up,
It wasnt really that interesting.
Right on
haha love that trolling..: “I choose to be a surf hero drug fuck up and would not give the average person a sniff of his thongs , to now I’m a broke surf hero drug fuck that want’s everyones support and understanding ie tom carroll , Occy Kong etc is so weak as piss..”
Is that what you really got out of listening to the podcast…do you even remotely understand how many people see it different to you ( It;s obvious that you dont drink alcohol , well take drugs !) and see a journey of life of trialing and erroring …..do you even understand the amount of people who get helped by going public , how many people are helped?
If you cant be part of the solution , you are the problem!
Very good and heavy interview. Best wishes for you, Maurice.
Awesome photo: https://www.instagram.com/p…
Maurice isn’t young. Check this turn: https://www.instagram.com/p…
Occy on a MC board: https://www.instagram.com/p…
MC knows the Man: https://www.instagram.com/p…
Young & handsome: https://www.instagram.com/p…
Occy looking like a Greek god and Maurice looking like his mate Australian Jesus Wayne Lynch . Fuck Maurice and Wayne , a fucking dream team . Thanks Nick .
The guy is a legend and has so many fascinating things to say but when he says that “it’s part of god’s plan that my wife and I are apart”, all I’m hearing is a guy who doesn’t want to deal with self-reflection or take responsibility for his own actions. Why not take his obvious analytical abilities and apply them to his relationships?
Religious cop-out.
good to hear your expert opinion , I take full responsibility that my actions have created a lot of harm , angst and PTSD for my wife, it’s what I am doing about it that really counts , and that means ownership of the current situation , and rebuilding a better life……so no religious cop out , no blame , a bit of anger at myself , next please!!
That was wonderful Maurice . I followed in your footsteps and spent 20 years in the Medoc . After Sydney , and an existential breakdown at 26 and a broken elbow which finished my competitive career , I just wanted a break from crowds so Hossegor was out of the question , and up the road found something special with uncrowded waves , people , food , wine and another way to be , in another language , to see the world through a different non Anglo perspective, while having a shitload of fun and going to uni and having a continuous thirst for knowledge and new experiences . Thanks for being an inspiration for a 53 year old short boarder looking forward to standing tall, while riding short , and getting old and still causing Happy havoc .Ps loved the miklos story but please don’t tell em how good is Armagnac !Maintain the Rage for life but don’t forget to embrace the beautiful life ……fuck now I am sobbing tears as we get to the end , wonderful .
Now I feel bad, I once gave Maurice a bottle of wine that cost about 30 bucks and thought I was killing it.
Mate as an Australian who lived in France but not in the corn growing region like where Maurice was but in the Medoc ( the North Shore of wine growing in France ) ,he is still Australian and the hardest of hardcore , and 750 ml of $30 wine at 13.5 % will get you just as happily pissed as the €1000 bottle .
I ran the Medoc Marathon once. Lovely place. All the wine tasted the same though, but that happens when you run 42 Km in the sun and your brain isn’t working properly. Oh and my BAC was probably 0.25%
Cool photo,here: https://www.instagram.com/p…
And big credit for the rawness, honesty portrayed Maurice – so good!! More guys need to open up that’s for sure. Best of luck around the family and wife!!
Fuck!!! How good was that.
Hit the nail on the head re WSL spruiking the environment yet pros riding 100 boards a year!!! Classic – love Maurice’s insight. Be great to hear more of him
Fantastic! Maurice is a great story teller.
Wow awesome. Such a great imterview and great honesty. Refreshing. All the best to you Maurice
Awesome surfer shaper
This was fantastic. Props to DLS for not shying away from tough subjects too.
Right, Sold. I’m gonna visit Maurice next year and pick up a custom.
Loved the honesty and talking about the struggles we all can identify with.
When surf podcasts veer away from actual surfing my ears really perk up.
He’s a pleasure to order from. You’ll get 70% what you specified, and 30% what he thinks will be better (length, fin system etc included).
You see a lot of really clean surf down your way, so a Protow should serve you well.
Great interview Maurice. You too David. Can’t wait for DLS + Chas + Maurice podcast. I bet Maurice’s warm vocal tone will bring a soothing quality to the moment he grabs Chas by the neck.