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Summary: If I knew 'fabulous' in Spanish . . .
Review: A travelogue with little to no pretention, swimmingly beautiful prose, and an underlying tone of the importance of friendship, freedom, and self-understanding, this book touches all the important parts of the soul. But it's light, and funny, and introspective, and I cant say enough about it. i don't want to say too much about it. Read it, love it, and go be inspired. It's a perspective changer - nothing less.
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Summary: "A journey into the very soul of surfing itself..."
Review: All surfers sometimes have to just hit the road and head seawards whether there's waves waiting or not, but writer and veteran surfer Allan C Weisbecker did it big time. He left Long Island and headed South with his camper van, dog, and surfboards via Baja for Central America, in search of many things but in particular for his surfing buddy Christopher with whom he lost all contact in 1992. His book "In Search of Captain Zero" is not simply a travelogue of rutted coastal tracks and isolated Pacific breaks, but a journey into his past, his soul, and by definition into the very soul of surfing itself. Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" springs to mind - a brooding primal lawlessness pervades his travels on land and sea. It is a wild frontier that Weisbecker knows all too well, as he and Christopher subsidised their 1970's Endless Summer dream by smuggling Columbian marijuana into the USA. Shameful no doubt to some, but this double-edged tale of how they pursued their surfing obsession at almost any cost raises some interesting questions. Given the time, the place, the era, the dream, the substance and the opportunity, the moral boundaries became confused. How many times have surfers used drug cliches to describe the thrill of catching a clean wave? Did Weisbecker simply take that crossover mindset to a logical conclusion all of his own? With neither apology nor sermon he lays his chosen lifestyle bare in his writings so that others may judge, and perhaps learn.This book is rich with unique anecdotes and imagery that could only be related by a dedicated and consummate waterman. His shortboard pioneering days on the North Shore, the life changing '69 swell, Mike Stewart's Pacific-spanning pursuit of a wave, Jock Sutherland's North Shore night ride, his thoughts on longboarding versus shortboarding, and the the lethal paranoid farce of pot running on the high seas in sundry leaking rustbuckets all spring to mind. The core of this story however is Weisbecker's search through 6 countries for Christopher and the past he so clearly misses. It is a tale of true friendship and of his dedication to rekindling a flame that seemed in danger of flickering out. And what exactly does he find at the town at the end of the road? Did Christopher get to live the dream they risked so much for in their youth? To reveal any more would be to spoil the experience of reading this book, but I will say this - he finds a wave. In short, Captain Zero is superbly crafted and highly recommended reading - buy it now and you won't regret it. Allan Weisbecker is a by any definition a gifted writer and this story has the strength and depth to stand tall beyond the rarified confines of a surfer audience. His first novel Cosmic Banditos is already on its way to the big screen - I can only hope that Captain Zero will follow soon. ...
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Summary: Worth The Ride!
Review: Allan C. Weisbecker is a wonderful storyteller and from the beginning of his tale the reader is a happy companion on the trek "In Search of Captain Zero...". The journeys through past and present adventures he recounts are laugh out loud funny,insightful, meloncholy and sheer delights. If you are a surfer the descriptions are dead on and if you are not you will question keeping your day job and dream of going off on your own in search of the wave. This is also a book about friendship and growth and about accepting the change time brings while still holding onto the connection.
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Summary: Arrogance of the aging surfer boy
Review: Allan Weisbecker is a wordsmith, fer sure ... In Search of Captain Zero is worth a read for its verbal pyrotechnics. The cover photograph is, indeed, spectacular if, as the novel itself, overtly posed. Weisbecker is NOT, however, a "philosopher," much as he would like to think of himself as a "deep" and thoughtful time traveler. Neither is he anyone's friend, although he poses throughout as his former buddy Christopher's great pal and soulmate. On the contrary, Weisbecker's world is replete with real and potential enemies, jerks, and idiots, from all of the non-surfing population of his small world to all Germans, stereotypes every one. It is no surprise that Weisbecker's women friends do not stick around long. It's not a matter of sexism: the man is tediously in love with himself and not about to create a union outside of his monadic self. I wondered that his poor dog Shiner lasted as Weisbecker's "faithful companion" as long as he did, although I notice that at the end even Shiner stays in the surf with Christopher and the five mutts rather than stick around self-bemoaning Allan on shore. It is amusing to hear Weisbecker, time and again, reveal his extraordinarly immature behavior toward those he meets and, what is more interesting, his comical rationalization of their rejection of his arrogant, self-serving manner, on and off a "surf stick." In once scene, when Weisbecker is attemting to hustle marijuana onto shore in Long Island, he actually gets a friendly [if uninformed] hand from a couple of members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Weisbecker, always short on gratitude, opines that these "two fat guys wearing dumb hats" are members of an organization "largely composed of wannabe watermen, ... law-and-order types who join up for the para-military vibes, the testosterone-rich conviviality of meetings with other faux watermen, and the patches and hats they get to wear. True idiots, the vast majority have never been out of sight of land." Yes, Mr. Weisbecker is a genuine human being, a friend of humanity, if not of individual persons. Has Weisbecker considered that those many folks who seem initially to think of this chatty interloper as a jerk have it right the first time? A finely wrought case of "no one understands me." For those fans of Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," you will find ample tribute to Mitty's worldview in this book. When Weisbecker, as captain of his ship [if not of his fate] narrates his misadventures, instead of focusing on his comic ineptitude, thereby demonstrating some psychological distance in his view of himself, he seems convinced that we really should consider him a legiminate successor to the "Great Age of Piracy" and the "explorers who had opened up the northeast a millenium past." But he fails to deliver the punch line ... so I gather he does believe this nonsense. In the final analysis, one has here a failed, selfish man who has not matured, the classic aging hippy boy, a man who attacks his best friend, having already deserted his father, apparently a much more interesting figure than Allan Weisbecker the son, and a man to whom the son never measures up. The only redeeming aspect of Weisbecker's persona is his occasional descent into depression. I'd suggest this depression always follows the onset of a bit of self-knowledge. Unfortunately, he keeps rallying. Take a look at the cover photo, read the book for its facile manipulation of the language, but do not expect to learn the lessons of life from this aging child-man, unless, of course, one needs to be reminded that Socrates advice to "know thyself" can safely be ignored if one has sufficient chutzpah!
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Summary: Not just for surfers...
Review: Being a huge fan of A.C. Weisbecker's first book, 'COSMIC BANDITOS' I was thrilled to hear that he had written a second book, and it doesn't disappoint. 'IN SEARCH OF CAPTAIN ZERO' manages to be an adventure (the search for his lost friend Christopher), a memoir (Weisbecker reflects back on his life as a marijuana smuggler) and a surfer's travelogue (as he describes the rush of a perfect wave and why he has forsaken a 'normal' life to live with the sea [which just may be the same thing]). The fact that Weisbecker is able to juggle all of these elements in one book speaks to his ability as a writer. He literally crafts his tales. As I read the book I would marvel at his choice of words. Choices that would take regular sentences and make them so much more. More funny, or more sad, or more clever... Just more interesting really. In the end it's about a man's search for meaning in his life, a man who questions the choices he has made and reflects upon why he made them. These are the same questions I ask myself every day. Read 'IN SEARCH OF CAPTAIN ZERO' you may find that you are on a similar journey.
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Summary: More than the sum of its parts
Review: First let me say that I have never surfed, and other than watching Point Break, am ignorant of surfing culture. Likewise, I have never journeyed south of the border, and I certainly never was an international drug smuggler (though I have been known to inhale). That said, Mr. Weisbecker's writing put me right there, and made me feel that I was participating in these adventures. He vividly and viscerally described surfing to the point that I felt the rush, and almost tasted salt water. His recreation of a sense of place when describing Mexico and Central America reminded me of Mark Twain's best travel writing. And his recolections of his outrageous adventures in his youthful bandito smuggling days made me cry from laughing.(Even if these tales are exagerated, as well they may be, only someone who knows what he is talking about could exagerate so effectively.)
Beyond all the surfing, adventuring on the edge, and bandito hilarity, this book has a strong undercurrent of melancholy, a deep sadness that adds depth and realism to this rollicking adventure. Someone has complained that this book is just about a self indulgent mid-life crisis. The author himself has admitted as much in his book. Yet the emotions and circumstances that bring a man to what we have chosen to call "mid-life crisis" are real, and nearly universal. Weibecker's genius is in the brutal honesty in which he communicates his own ambiguous emotional turmoil. Past a certain age, we all must find a way to live with the choices that we have made, and the bridges that we have burned, and that, at its core, is the heart of this book.
In Search of Captain Zero is engrossing, envigerating, hilarious, and sad. It is a swift read, and I was sorry when it was over. All in all, it is more than the sum of its parts, and I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Kerouac goes for a surf
Review: First off, you don't have to be a surfer to enjoy this book. It's a well written account of a man looking for answers to life, a friend, some adventure, and some good secluded surf spots. The story will bring you out to the line up where you will experience first hand how beautiful and moving something as simple as being propelled by a wave on a surfboard is. It is more than just a surf book however, it is a document of a life lived on the road and on the sea, for better and sometimes for worse. A definite must read for anyone that loves travel, adventure and a good sea story or two.
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Summary: In Search of Captain Zero
Review: Great book, for the most part... Weisbecker writes wonderfully - chronicling his trip South in this 'On the Road' meets 'Endless Summer' novel. I'm not a surfer and I still enjoyed reading this book, until the end. Like Vonnegut, Weisbecker's story fades towards the end leaving the reader unsatisfied. Perhaps this is what the author was striving for. But, I for one was left with a bad taste in my mouth. Fortunately, this taste is little more than a bother given the amount I enjoyed the rest of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: In Search of Captain Zero: A Surfer's Road Trip
Review: Highly recommend for the traveling surfer. Quick summer read. I found it very interesting, like a surfer's version of the movie Blow. The descriptions about actually surfing were right on. I would have enjoyed more description about the places visited. Drug running escapades were entertaining and believable. I was caught off guard by the ending and look forward to the sequel.
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Summary: Great book of a killer surf trip...READ THIS BOOK
Review: I am speaking as a fellow surfer and I have read a ton of surf novels and stories. This one is very good and is a documentation of a true Surfer's journey to South America. I have 2 buddies that I have surfed with since I was a kid and we still surf together (17 years later) and I understand what Allen is talking about. If you surf you will relate to this book like no other and if you don't, you will get an idea of why surfers do what they do whether its in ice cold sharky water or warm tropical dangerous reef water, and you may just pick up the lifestyle...It is based on an actual surf trip so the story is real and is a great adventure as well. Be respectful in the water or get pounded! C-ya
Cenzo
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