Photo: Jamie O’Brien//YouTube
At the top of his latest video, Jamie O’Brien exudes his trademark enthusiasm. “Pipe’s firing. It’s 10-12 feet,” he crows to camera. “It’s real deal, second reef, long interval, just spitting really hard. So we’re kind of getting psyched on this one right now.”
However, the story he told upon returning had a totally different tone. “Got one amazing wave and also got so pounded. Literally, probably the most pounded I got in the last couple of years.” He went on to describe going for a duck dive, then getting sucked into a thrashing maelstrom that makes Pipe as terrifying as it is famous. O’Brien held on to his board for dear life and eventually reemerged in front of the Volcom house, with a brand new near-death experience to call his own.
“I was underwater for 150 yards and I thought I was going to drown,” he said. “That’s right when I realized I had a float suit.” After that, he pulled the cord and and got smoked one more time for good measure. It was at that point that he called it a day – understandably so.
Check out the full video below.
