R.I.P. MIKE TABELING (1949-2014) After battling cancer for over a year, the East Coast's first internationally revered surfer passes away in high spirits. By Matt Pruett

Published: December 21, 2014

December 21, 2014 Views: 8,076







R.I.P. MIKE TABELING (1949-2014) After battling cancer for over a year, the East Coast's first internationally revered surfer passes away in high spirits..





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Related Mike Tabeling was considered the greatest East Coast competitor of his generation. Photo: Richard Graham

In 1989, Tabeling relocated to South Africa where he built a house facing Jeffreys Bay and lived for the next decade. Photo: Dan Merkel

Tabeling was an early and fervent advocate of the "Fish" -- he rode them with great style and ability throughout the mid to late '70s.

Mike and his longtime Floridian cohort, the late Bruce Valluzzi, helped discover Sebastian Inlet's rideable potential and were standouts there for over a decade. Photo: Larry Pope

Mike starred in the quintessential late-sixties surf flick "Pacific Vibrations" by John Severson, which featured stellar action by Tabeling and a young Angie Reno in Southern California. Photo: Art Brewer



Death is always sad. Dying doesn't have to be.

While Tabeling regularly testified that Gary Propper was always a better surfer, he was arguably considered the greatest East Coast competitor of his generation - finishing 2nd to David Nuuhiwa in the Men's division at the 1968 U.S. Surfing Championships -- although Tabeling secretly disliked competition. But the media loved him as much as his opponents feared him. The same year he scored a part in the definitive 1970 surf movie Pacific Vibrations, Tabeling enlightened the masses about the Sunshine State's ominous contribution to the sport in the Surfer story, "I Love Cocoa Beach: An Erotic East Coast Confession." The following year, Tabeling became the first East Coaster to grace the cover of Surfer Magazine before he and Valluzzi hit the road, journeying around the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and Australia in search of waves and adventure.





"For a brief period in the early 1970s, Mike was the best surfer in the world -- and I saw them all." -- Greg Loehr



Tabeling eventually returned home to Brevard County to open a surfboard factory, Creative Shaping, back home in Brevard County, which he owned for eight years before relocating to South Africa in 1989, where he built a house facing Jeffrey's Bay and lived for the next decade. Tabeling's daredevil spirit burned bright through his industry endeavors, paragliding exploits, salvaging missions and, of course, surfing escapades -- long after he got inducted into the East Coast Surfing Legends Hall of Fame's first class in 1996. Even after he moved back to the States. Even after he got cancer.



Though a nephrectomy back in December 2013 stopped some bleeding, the cancer continued to grow and on February 5th, 2014, a PET scan revealed that it had metastasized into Mike's chest and neck lymph nodes. At that point, there was nothing Mike could do but take his meds and try to enjoy the time he had left, which doctors approximated to be a year without drugs -- or two years or more with a relatively new drug that's only been on the market for five years, Sutent.



With that in mind, Mike and Nancy hit the road for one last grand hurrah -- exploring the Deep South, the Grand Canyon and Mike's favorite, Baja Mexico, en route to Southern California where the family would spend the remainder of his life. Mike received his last radiation treatment on October 10th. By November 14th, doctors drained fluid from his bloated stomach, two weeks after he'd made the decision to stop the chemotherapy for good.



"My oncologist had eight months to work miracles but was unable to stop or even slow my rare and aggressive form of Renal Cell Carcinoma/Papillary II," Mike explained on Facebook before he passed. "The chemo drugs they gave me were stealing any form of quality of life that I had left."



Right up until the end, the Tabeling family posted hilariously upbeat videos and photos on Facebook to update fans and friends on Mike's final days. "I'm on the right track to a happier ending to my story," Mike finished. "Sure, my expectancy will be shorter, but I'll have more pleasurable, happier days with my loving Nancy. I can't put a price tag on that... Let's stay out! I think I see one more set on the horizon!!!"



Feel free to post remembrances and condolences below. "For a brief period in the early 1970s," testified fellow Floridian star Greg Loehr in The Encyclopedia of Surfing, "Mike was the best surfer in the world -- and I saw them all."Tabeling eventually returned home to Brevard County to open a surfboard factory, Creative Shaping, back home in Brevard County, which he owned for eight years before relocating to South Africa in 1989, where he built a house facing Jeffrey's Bay and lived for the next decade. Tabeling's daredevil spirit burned bright through his industry endeavors, paragliding exploits, salvaging missions and, of course, surfing escapades -- long after he got inducted into the East Coast Surfing Legends Hall of Fame's first class in 1996. Even after he moved back to the States. Even after he got cancer.Though a nephrectomy back in December 2013 stopped some bleeding, the cancer continued to grow and on February 5th, 2014, a PET scan revealed that it had metastasized into Mike's chest and neck lymph nodes. At that point, there was nothing Mike could do but take his meds and try to enjoy the time he had left, which doctors approximated to be a year without drugs -- or two years or more with a relatively new drug that's only been on the market for five years, Sutent.With that in mind, Mike and Nancy hit the road for one last grand hurrah -- exploring the Deep South, the Grand Canyon and Mike's favorite, Baja Mexico, en route to Southern California where the family would spend the remainder of his life. Mike received his last radiation treatment on October 10th. By November 14th, doctors drained fluid from his bloated stomach, two weeks after he'd made the decision to stop the chemotherapy for good."My oncologist had eight months to work miracles but was unable to stop or even slow my rare and aggressive form of Renal Cell Carcinoma/Papillary II," Mike explained on Facebook before he passed. "The chemo drugs they gave me were stealing any form of quality of life that I had left."Right up until the end, the Tabeling family posted hilariously upbeat videos and photos on Facebook to update fans and friends on Mike's final days. "I'm on the right track to a happier ending to my story," Mike finished. "Sure, my expectancy will be shorter, but I'll have more pleasurable, happier days with my loving Nancy. I can't put a price tag on that... Let's stay out! I think I see one more set on the horizon!!!"Feel free to post remembrances and condolences below.

Last year, Cocoa Beach, FL, surfing legend Mike Tabeling was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of Renal Cell Carcinoma/Papillary II, a type of cancer that forms in the kidney's tubules. After fighting an incredibly brave and arduous battle, Mike passed away last night in California with his loving wife Nancy by his side. He was 65.The lanky, 6'4" regularfoot wasn't so tall when he first started surfing, in 1962. But he lived big as soon as he got on-board. He and his longtime Floridian cohort, the late Bruce Valluzzi, helped discover Sebastian Inlet's rideable potential before Mike made an immediate mark on the '60s contest circuit -- winning the Juniors division at the 1966 and 1967 East Coast Surfing Championships before becoming the first Eastsider to win a West Coast contest by topping the Juniors field at the 1967 Laguna Masters in Redondo Beach, CA.