Joel Tudor and The Flying Takayama - 1990

It was early Summer in 1990 when I called Joel Tudor from the surf shop. I was working in Pacific Beach and told him the pier was looking really fun and he should come down for a surf. He was only 15 and didn't have a ride and asked if I could pick him up from his house in University City. No worries. I got a shop grom to cover the store and I was out the door. I was on my way when I realized I only had one soft rack for my shitty 1979 Celica sedan. As I got to his house we organized or gear and I started to put his almost new Takayama nose rider onto the one old rack atop the car. I get it strapped in and I tell him to hop in. He looks at me and asks where the other rack is? I told him not to be a pussy and his board was going to be "safe and sound". As we were blasting down the I-52 west bound, his board began to move a bit. By "move a bit" I mean it was bouncing around and starting to levitate on occasion. Just then I hear a "Hey dude, I think we should slow down, it looks sketchy." I looked at him with disdain and pushed the pedal a bit harder.  Just I was saying how he should chill, I heard "THERE IT GOES!!"

Joel Tudor Photo:Tom Keck

I had a sweet rusted out sunroof on the shitty Celica and through a hole in the seal, I could see it go from dark to light. In the rear-view I see his prized hand shaped board heading skyward from the roof-rack. I automatically hit the breaks and began to skid going 65mph. We ended up doing a full 180 on the freeway and were now facing traffic! A few "Oh shits" were muttered and I hastily pulled the car onto the shoulder. We looked at each other and began to laugh hysterically. Not because it was funny but because we were happy to be alive. Once we calmed down we looked for his board, we saw that it was lying in the number two lane of the 52. I dashed out between passing cars and grabbed the board returning it to the safety of the freeway Ice plant. I assured Joel that the board looked fine! There was just a little rail shatter...oh, and maybe the fin looks a little cracked too. Is that a buckle? Oh shit...

With the rack busted and gone, I stuff the board into my car and we start heading for Crystal Pier once again. I didnt care that three feet of surfboard were sticking out my passenger side window,we were still going surfing. We get to the pier and surf for a few hours. I cant remember if it was fun, I can only remember his board flying in the air. We finish up, bullshit for a bit in the shop and then load up to take him home. I wanted to grab some racks from the shop but we were sold out and only had hard racks. Fuck. On the drive back to his house I was thinking of how pissed his dad was going to be. I was hoping his mom was going to be there. She was always the coolest but his dad big Joe was a bit intimidating to say the least. I was sure to catch a beat down.

Phil Edwards, Greg Noll, Takayama, Joel and Miki Dora

Just as I was contemplating my fate, I hear the sound of a siren. To make my day that much shittier, I'm  getting pulled over for having that extra three feet of board sticking out of my car. Apparently, if you don't have a red warning flag attached its quite frowned upon. I plead my case and explained how we almost died and I spun out and how I'm a good kid... the cop wasn't buying it. My failure was complete.

I sign the ticket and finish the drive of shame to Joels house. I almost contemplated dropping him off down the block so I could escape without injury.  Anyway, we get there and Joel got out and explained the situation to his mom and she spoke to a visibly upset Joe. I'm sure he would have killed me if not for Denise.  Since I almost killed Joel, ruined his board and was a terrible driver who received a moving violation, I figured I shouldn't pick up Joel anymore. Even if I wanted to, Im pretty sure Joe would have forbid Joel from riding in my whip ever again. After that day I would only see Joel when he came down with someone else or if I was road tripping up to Cardiff.

Joel now is a father of two, a world champion surfer and Jui jitsu world champ as well.