Despite recent controversy regarding the environmental fallout from standing river waves, it’s undeniable they look fun as hell. Recently, Jamie O’Brien took the difficulty level up a notch by surfing one at night.
“It smells so bad, it’s mind blowing,” said O’Brien’s fiancee Tina Cohen, perhaps lending some credence to Laguna Beach environmental associations that claimed man-made standing waves – and the release of Aliso Creek into the ocean – unnecessarily introduce bacterial pollution and toxins. Jamie, for his part, was undeterred, saying that he scored a couple of sick lefts off of the raw sewage-scented wave.
Next up was a trip to Jamie’s favored stomping ground: Pipeline. The waves weren’t as good as he hoped for, but it turned out that there was an enormous backwash that opened up the possibility for some shenanigans. True to form, Jamie took the opportunity to grab a soft-top and ride it, in the wrong direction, towards the world’s most dangerous wave. Go figure.
