Pat O’Connell is the commissioner of the World Surf League now, or officially, “Senior VP of Tours & Head of Competition.” This means pretty much any surfer under 20 will probably only ever think of him as the guy everybody gripes at when a CT comp runs in mediocre conditions or the wrong guy gets an injury wildcard.
To the rest of us, he’s forever ingrained in our memories as the happiest guy in surfing. It seemed like we’d only ever see him with a giant smile on his face…or he was laughing…or he was pulling off some kind of prank. If he wasn’t actually in the water, he had a surfboard under his arm and was running toward it. With gusto. And the thing about Pat O’s surfing was it always kind of mimicked and matched that same energy. So here’s a timely and appropriate throwback clip of the man himself in the midst of his surfing prime.
