Slow Baja8 Sep 2021

John Davis Hit Bottom And Made The Turn: Surfing, Addiction, Recovery, And Three Years In A Mexican Prison

John Davis started surfing at twelve and began winning local competitions soon after. He moved to Huntington Beach to attend High School and became the Captain of Huntington High School’s first surf team in 1967.

After graduating, Davis “took off to surf Hawaii, --with two pounds of marijuana under my airplane seat” he finished second in the 1969 Sea Spree, a contest that he said was rigged, but made ten times his investment on the marijuana. Turned off by the politics of competitive surfing, he rarely competed in the following years until he won the North Shore Trials of the Smirnoff Pro-Am at Sunset Beach. That qualified him for the US Surfing Championships in Malibu in 1973; Davis placed third after surfing his way through multiple heats. That performance “proved his point,” and he gave up competitive surfing.

Eventually, Davis’ “lifestyle choices” moved him to Mexico, and he began smuggling marijuana into the US. Through the 1980’s he had a few brushes with the law and “served time” after being caught with an airplane loaded with 800lbs of marijuana near Victorville, California. In 1995, while smuggling 50lbs of marijuana, he got caught in a roadblock in Mazatlan and spent three years in a Mexican prison.

He was repatriated to the US to finish his sentence, and a parole officer got him into a drug treatment program. John Davis has been sober since 1998. He was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach, California. He and his wife operate Las Olas Recovery, a comprehensive drug and alcohol detox and early drug rehab center in El Pescadero, Baja California Sur.

More information on Las Olas Recovery

Follow Las Olas Recovery on Facebook

Check out Surfers’ Hall of Fame

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(185)

4x Fred Williams Jeeps Vs Land Cruisers

For nearly 25 years, Fred Williams has chronicled the world of trucks—often by taking them to places they probably weren’t meant to go. He’s perhaps best known for driving a diesel Jeep called “Tubeso...

3 Okt 1h 2min

Johnny Johnson Revisited

Here’s one of my favorite Slow Baja conversations --Johnny Johnson from February 2023, recorded at the Chenowth Legacy Lodge. Sadly, Johnson passed a few months after we made this recording. Please wa...

17 Sep 1h 5min

Chuck Skewes Sailing The Baja Ha-Ha!

Chuck Skewes grew up on Vashon Island, spending his childhood surrounded by boats and learning to sail in El Toros—the tee-ball equivalent for sailors. He developed a passion for racing and was a high...

18 Aug 52min

Filmmaker Eric Ebner On Making "The Bull"

“A secret spot in Baja California, hundreds of miles from civilization. An old milk van converted into the perfect surfing mobile. A 67-year-old man, at the peak of his physical fitness and in line wi...

30 Jul 53min

Travel Talk: Dogs In Baja: What You Need To Know With Josiah Roe

Big thanks to Baja Bound Insurance for their support, which has allowed me to bring back Travel Talk, my occasional series on travel-related topics. Today’s show is all you need to know about bringing...

17 Jul 15min

Chris Collard Architect Of Adventure Part II

Chris Collard is an internationally published journalist and photographer whose career has deeply immersed him in the world of off-road adventure, overland travel, and sharing the lives of those who d...

10 Jul 59min

Chris Collard Architect Of Adventure

24 Jun 1h

Hank Morton Sponsor Spotlight: Baja Bound Insurance

Hank Morton joined Baja Bound shortly after he graduated from college in the mid-90s. Between jobs, his goal was to teach himself coding while taking his father's small brick-and-mortar Mexico Driving...

29 Mai 1h