By the time I met Thai Stick, he had already been retired from pot smuggling for over 40 years — but he was still sharp. His heyday was in the late '60s into the '70s, before the cocaine frenzy really took off, organizing loads of pot from Venezuela and Colombia to supply the never-ending demand in the US. We actually lived together over two winters on the North Shore. Yep, Thai Stick was a lifelong surfer, with his fair share of stories of scoring empty waves in between missions, alongside all the craziness that came with stuffing boats full of plants in exchange for suitcases of cash. He doesn't glamorize those days, but he's got stories. Some that will make you laugh, others that will make you cry. His wisdom doesn't just come from his days staying one step ahead of the law. It comes from his years of living as a curious man and a father, and the vast number of books he read (somewhere around 25 to 50 a year for 50-plus years).…