Chasing Dora

SINOPSIS

Based on Miki Dora's article "The Aquatic Ape," filmmakers travel to Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa in order to bring to life the contest borne in Dora’s mind, while also incorporating a retrospective on "Da Cat."
Chasing Dora is the story of three California surfers who decided to bring to life an epic challenge thrown down by one of surfing's greatest stylists, the renowned maverick, Miki Dora, who died in 2002 at age 67. Dora was one of the sport's iconic figures. He railed against the commercialization of surfing, yet endorsed one of the best-selling surfboard models of the mid-'60s surf boom; he decried competitive surfing, yet still chose to enter some, and floated schemes to promote others; he shunned publicity, yet managed to use the surf media to create an almost mythic persona for himself. Chasing Dora takes on one of his radical ideas--that the ultimate test of a truly great surfer would be in a contest for the longest wave ridden, on a self-made wooden board, with no equipment or accessories that stemmed from the industrial age--no plastics, no neoprene suits, no surf leashes.
The challenge took the film's stars, Robert "Wingnut" Weaver, Marc Andreini, and Mickey Munoz, halfway around the world to Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, where they faced some of the largest swells of the year on their hand-made wood boards, wearing nothing but wool trunks and vests in frigid 50 degree water. But Chasing Dora is not just a film of retro whimsy. By a fortunate coincidence, the crew arrived at Jeffreys Bay just after a top-flight World Championship Tour event and many top pro surfers had stuck around to enjoy freesurfing in the fantastic conditions. Amazing contemporary action from World Champions Kelly Slater and Andy Irons stands in stark contrast to Dora's anachronistic challenge.
One of the film's makers, Wes Brown, is grandson of Bruce Brown, whose mid-'60s movie The Endless Summer remains the most successful surf film of all time. Wes Brown's father, Dana, is also an accomplished documentary surf filmmaker, best known for his 2003 hit, Step Into Liquid.