It’s getting a little late in the season for truly epic Pipeline swells, but recently it was big enough for second reef. And as you’d expect, Jamie O’Brien was there to squeeze the last of the juice from that over-ripe fruit.
O’Brien, who recently hit a million subscribers on Youtube, has carved out a path for himself outside of the contest circuit. He — partially, at least — paved the way for many of today’s surf-focused vloggers, and his unique brand of content has proven to be wildly compelling, even to the non-surfing public.
It’s not just that he’s one of the best to ever surf Pipeline, but he’s also constantly psyched and, at least on camera, always ready for anything fun that presents itself on any given day. If nothing does happen to present itself, Jamie will figure out a way to make his day better. It’s infectious.
In his most recent vlog, Jamie and the crew paddled out to Pipeline on a surprisingly big day, given the time of year. Second reef was pumping, and Jamie showed once again that his knowledge of one of the most dangerous and famous waves in the world is unparalleled.
When he first paddled out, he did so on his trusty pink soft top. “This is the lazy surf session,” he said. “Right now it’s like three-to-four feet. There are some fun ones, but if I ride this board, I can just track down every single wave.”
He had a goal in mind: 20 barrels. Which, for a normal person, is a stretch in any session. And, as you’ll see, he wasn’t quite successful.
“It didn’t work out,” he said afterwards. “It wasn’t the reality of the situation… but you can’t complain when you’re scoring epic waves like that.”
And he’s right. When you expect a lazy surf and it turns out to be firing, well, you’ve got to take advantage.
“I wish I was on my Tokoro on one of those, maybe two of those,” he said. “But still, I wasn’t even thinking about going out. I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to go for a lazy surf.’ Then I realized it was absolutely pumping. I took full advantage of all of that.”
