In Search of Captain Zero: A Surfer's Road Trip Beyond the End of the Road

Weisbecker's book, a sort of gonzo detective story blended with travelogue and peppered with hang-10 jargon, does many things, all of them very well indeed. It offers up a vision of innocent times brought to ruin by war and drugs; it recounts his search for his lost friend, whose life had gone from bad to worse far away from home; and it affords a look inside the strange culture of surfing, whose masters "understood, in a visceral and soulful and inexpressible way, the machinations of the sea, and, by subtle inference, the universe at large."

Full of regret and exhilaration, Weisbecker's memoir is a fine chronicle of a dream gone sour and a friendship redeemed. --Gregory McNamee

Product Description
In 1996, Allan Weisbecker sold his home and his possessions, loaded his dog and surfboards into his truck, and set off in search of his long-time surfing companion, Patrick, who had vanished into the depths of Central America. In this rollicking memoir of his quest from Mexico to Costa Rica to unravel the circumstances of Patrick's disappearance, Weisbecker intimately describes the people he befriended, the bandits he evaded, the waves he caught and lost en route to finding his friend.

In Search of Captain Zero is, according to Outside magazine, "A subtly affecting tale of friendship and duty. [It] deserves a spot on the microbus dashboard as a hell of a cautionary tale about finding paradise and smoking it away."

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!


More than the sum of its parts   July 4, 2004
Theo Logos (Pittsburgh, PA)
23 out of 25 found this review helpful

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 recollections of his outrageous adventures in his youthful bandito smuggling days made me cry from laughing.(Even if these tales are exaggerated, as well they may be, only someone who knows what he is talking about could exaggerate 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, invigorating, 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.

Theo Logos


Fantastic book even (especially) for non-surfers   June 23, 2001
David T Wootten (Chile)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

I bought this book on an impulse after reading some of the reviews on this site and it thoroughly surpassed my expectations. Weisbecker strikes the perfect note between the description of his adventure, reflections on his life and some absolutely hilarious and jaw dropping stories about his past endeavours in drug trafficking. I found myself getting lulled into his reflections in a very peaceful way then suddenly breaking out in laughter at his past adventures. At one point, I shook my head at how much this guy has actually lived. I've never surfed in my life and wouldn't be inclined to buy a "surfing" book however I found this part of his story to be really entertaining and completely in line with the rest of the story. In fact, it makes you want to get out a surfboard and give it a try.

If you're looking for both a hilarious and thoughtful read I highly recommend this book.

Also, as someone who currently lives in Mexico and who has lived in Latin America for 6 years I found his take on the people/country to be thankfully devoid of the typical generalizations and stereotypes associated with the area.


Would you buy a condo from this man?   November 13, 2004
Bada (San Clemente, CA United States)
6 out of 11 found this review helpful

This book is a lot of fun and a great read. You get to hear about the author's wild adventures traveling, surfing and smuggling. Some of the adventures strain credibility but, even if fiction, they are amusing. What is more amusing, however, is after 328 pages of regaling you with how he smuggled dope, couldn't develop a mature relationship with his girlfriend, abandoned his elderly parents, and was to too lazy to help his cokehead "best friend", the author directs you to his web site where he tries to sell you beach front property in Costa Rica. You can trust him, he points out, because Sean Penn will be playing him in the movie.

This guy is funny alright, but his best jokes are not in the book.


A Thumping Good Read!   April 2, 2001
Diane J. Williams (Port Angeles.WA)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

To borrow a phrase from "The Common Reader," Allan Weisbeckers' book, "In Search of Captain Zero," is a thumping good read! I laughed, I cried, I worried, I was ultimately very satisfied. Weisbecker is one of a rare breed who can tilt at windmills and win. And even rarer, Weisbecker is a boy whose crazy journey makes him a man. I loved this book!

For some extra fun check out this guys web site at ............................ . He is a prize winning photojournalist whose fantastic pictures taken during his two years in Mexico and Central America greatly enrich the spirt of the book. If you haven't read the book (shame on you), the web site provides a stunning virtual vacation!