Jamie O’Brien wasn’t all too happy with Vans after he wasn’t an official invite, but he donned the jersey anyway. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Jamie O’Brien is synonymous with Pipeline. He’s one of the best to ever do it out there. He’s in the ranks with Gerry, Kelly, Andy, John John, and a few others. So when it came out that he was an alternate for the Pipe Masters, people were a little miffed. The powers that be, however, realized the error of their ways and extended an olive branch. And with the starting gun having fired, O’Brien has just posted his first heat, which he commented on in his recent vlog, below.
Jamie, of course, has quite the history at Pipe. He grew up there, earned his spot in the lineup — even during his earlier years, when things were more regulated — won a Pipe Masters, and is, simply put, a staple of the world’s most famous wave.
O’Brien claimed that a representative from Vans, the Pipe Masters sponsor, told him he was “too old” for the event, which was not a sentiment that Jamie agreed with. And it wasn’t just him. A slew of pros went to bat for Jamie, including Josh Moniz, whose well-shared Instagram post skewered organizers for leaving Jamie out.
Even after he was officially invited, Jamie wasn’t exactly happy.
“My two cents is that, slowly but surely, Vans is ruining the prestigiousness of the event that surfers before our time paved the way to make great,” he told The Inertia. ”I think they shouldn’t own the name Pipeline Masters, because they’re destroying it. I think they should give it back to the WSL, because obviously they did a great job with it over the years.”
He went on to say that Vans’ higher-ups are out of touch with the realities of Pipe.
So a win for Jamie would not only be nice because it’s a win, but as he said with a smirk, “it would be the perfect subliminal message to Vans.”
