'Dora lives' Miki 'Da Cat' Dora

Dora lives the authorized story of Miki Dora
C. R. Stecyk III and Drew Kampion
Hardcover 135 pages
For me a great book transports the reader to another time/place, and portrays the feel and atmosphere of the place the author is writing from, Stecyk and Kampion, two great surf writers achieve this goal easily despite the complex subject which covers many facets of ‘Da Cat’s’ life/travels and apparent crimes from a first hand view point without letting the cult of legend distorting reality.
The great thing about Dora is his depth and paradox way he lived life. This book fed my interest but I’m left still wanting more information on the mystery that is Dora. What I really love is I know I’ll never figure the man out.
Few characters in the history of surfing could be harder to define than the enigmatic ‘Mikilos Caplin Dora’ a true innovator in style and the undisputed king of cool during the adolescence of the California surf scene as one of the crew at the undiscovered Malibu point.

He lived a simple life surfing with fellow legends ‘tubesteak’ and Kathy Kohner spending their days sliding and gliding in relative solitude living surfing and when the sun went down and the stars came out the freakishly stylish Miki would crash Hollywood parties, to all it seemed life was good… That was until Kathy’s dad penned the book Gidget and the whole world wanted to party and shoot the curl at the ‘Bu'.
Ironically and shockingly Dora featured in the film Gidget effectively sealing the loss of his utopia.
Dora suffered greatly from the ‘outing’ of his beach and reacted accordingly to the scores of surfers encroaching on his turf by flicking his board at surfers who dared share his waves and it was the most likely his actions that hastened the development of surf etiquette.
‘The angry young man of surfing’ left the ‘Bu for a life globe trotting the world including a stint at Mahia peninsular as a Mormon, and later in life he enjoyed Jeffrey’s bay where he lived with his best friend ‘scooter boy’ a cocker spaniel.
What really came to me from this book is Dora was always himself he never ever deviated from his path a true being he didn’t sell-out and he didn’t compromise. A true character in a lifestyle becoming increasingly P C and homogenized as its industries sell out by marketing to the masses rather than listening to its market. Dora is the surfers Che. VIVA Dora
Dora lives