This didnt seem like a highly publicized event. Came across it in the "Hometown News" the other day. He spoke at Holy Trinity on Wickham Rd. by Pineda Causway. He spoke about all aspects of his life from surfing, to family, to business, to environmentalism, etc. He had a lot of cool photos and videos that were up on the big screen and gave the story behind them. He talked about how his "surfer code" could be applied to life. Glad i met him. purchsed his book and had him sign it. Short read (125 pgs) read half of it last night. I pretty much mirrored what he spoke about.



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"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each" - Henry David Thoreau

VERY cool!

I know several people who are not cool with Tomson.

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So if you are a surfer I wish you the prosperity that allows you more time to pursue the salt water dream, and the true happiness that comes from warm water, clean waves and the companionship of your fellow surfers. If you are an internet troll just spewing bs then f off.

^ why not?

yea, bored, unintellctual minds need to know!!

 

dont you be teasing us.....

I was one of the many father and son duos that were in attendance.

 

It was a great presentation. Well put together and informative.

 

You can not please everyone so I am sure everyone in the world has someone who is not cool with them. As for Shaun, on several occassions back in the day, he sat me down and tried to get me going in a positive direction. This was on a contest day. So to do that for a grom he barely knew was pretty impressive. So he gets an A from me for being able to do more than what serves himself.

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My parents went to Cocoa Beach and all I got was this lousy surfboard!

From the nature of the presentation, obviously Tomson is not sending the same message today as he was back in the day.

Back in the day......according to my very hard core old school buds, he very arrogant, agro, self agrandising. Basically monetising his surf ability, with percieved detriment to others. A mear mention of his name draws words that start and end with f. If you are really interested , I'll mention Tomson to one of my friends in an email. I am sure to evoke a responce......

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So if you are a surfer I wish you the prosperity that allows you more time to pursue the salt water dream, and the true happiness that comes from warm water, clean waves and the companionship of your fellow surfers. If you are an internet troll just spewing bs then f off.

He did mention that back in the 70s when he was trying to break through on the North Shore that he (and many others) recieved death threats but according to him, it was his dream to become one of the best surfers. I guess when you set goals and are focused, you may be percieved as arrogant. Most succusful people are percieved that way. Sometimes jealousy will cloud peoples perception. That was a major topic of his speaking engagement last night. How you percieve things affects your attitude and how two people can have completely differnt perspectives on the same thing. Listening to him speak, i feel i got a sense of who he is. He has accomplished alot personnally and professionally and also has been through some tragic things in his life.

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"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each" - Henry David Thoreau

On another note...Who was the photographer that was there? He was taking pictures of everyone at the table and of the event. I recognized his face but his name eludes me.

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My parents went to Cocoa Beach and all I got was this lousy surfboard!

Cool, wish I had known and could have gone!

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Life is a garden*Dig it!

he looked familiar but dont know who he was either.

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"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each" - Henry David Thoreau

I sent a friend of mine this:

"Shaun Tomson was in town last night looking for you."

His responce:

"Give him my address. F*#king kook, I'll bust his door down for him. I think he is still f*#king Rabbit."




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So if you are a surfer I wish you the prosperity that allows you more time to pursue the salt water dream, and the true happiness that comes from warm water, clean waves and the companionship of your fellow surfers. If you are an internet troll just spewing bs then f off.

Thanks for the response jdbman. I had to ask as I met him at the O'neill event @ the Lane in Santa Cruz early 70's, and found him at that time pretty much what Tomkat, and Steve refer as being, quite motivated to bringing 'pro' to the limelight, which as I remember at the time, was a fantasy in our minds of what it would develop into being and look like. I recall feeling; ok, if this is what it's going to morph to, (Confidence) the new modern competitive mind, and structured vision'll be groundbreaking in terms of how possibly ALL sports' will see a new psychology for a 'winning' end result , and it DID. He was not only inspirational at the time about it, but led the theory we saw achieved. Plus for me, I thought his style was a couple levels ahead of the world, and pleasing to watch. It was and is still to this day a VERY cool recollection of something my immature early days in the world saw happen, putting on this new show with credability and get a serious response!

end of floating on a cloud,


yeew!

Good one, jdbman, still laughing!

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Life is a garden*Dig it!

I ran into Shaun at the Inlet in the late 70's and he seemed to be full of himself. But - hey....that was more than 30 years ago. I'm sure he's grown up. He's also had some very humbling experiences.

Hey I'm not making this stuff up...I will post some more correspondance latter. My 'friend" is most likely known by any of you long time Cocoa Beachers. I'm not revealing my sources, but more to follow.....

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So if you are a surfer I wish you the prosperity that allows you more time to pursue the salt water dream, and the true happiness that comes from warm water, clean waves and the companionship of your fellow surfers. If you are an internet troll just spewing bs then f off.

Supposedly a notorious wave hog and drop-in artist in Rincon and Santa Barbara areas even until today. But those are just stories that get passed around, I can't pass judgement until you experience first hand

yup, no doubt those stories are all true, but it was a different time. everybody cut everybody off, that's some of the difference from today, LOTTsa fights, not hardly any of dat anymore. rincon is and was the hardest place to get a solo wave I've ever surfed. not excus'n his in the water antics, just was lead'n a new age. things mIGht be a bit diff today had he not been such a punkhog and all. he was definatly aussyfied 'roun bustin down doors tiempo!

can not even phathom 1 iota his pain of the loss of his beautiful boy eh-

.

Met him at a Surfrider event several years ago at the Carefree Theatre in West Palm. Showed a movie, talked a bit... Really pleasant, cool guy supporting a good cause.

I bought his book a few years ago... Decent read. 

 

People have the capacity to make positive change but few have the courage to do it.

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