Jamie O’Brien

I just let my surfing tell the story.

Jamie O'Brien has made for himself in the world of professional surfing because he's doing things that nobody else is doing. He's a freesurfer, meaning he’s not chasing contest wins or world titles. He's out traveling the world and filming stunning video footage of surfing in epic locales.

O'Brien grew up near one of the most notorious waves on the planet, with a home in front of Pipeline, on the surf mecca of Oahu's North Shore. His dad was a lifeguard who had moved to Hawaii to surf, and who introduced his son to the sport at the young age of three.

He started competing in local surf contests when he was about six-years-old and as a teen and into his twenties, he had major success, with top results at Pipeline Masters, one of the most prestigious events on the World Tour. But somewhere along the way, the contests lost their appeal.

In 2004, O'Brien had a huge season: He got a wildcard entry into Pipeline Masters and won, becoming one of the event's youngest champions at age 21. He also produced his first surf movie, called Freak Show. 

The team of Jamie O'Brien is composed by: Poopies, Scotty Vibes, Damo and Kalani Chapman.

Jamie O'Brien and fire.

Jamie: We woke up early that morning before dark, to do the fire. We were staying right on the water, I was thinking, okay its a big day. Then sure enough we were out there. I didn’t want to say anything, but then everyone was like okay, it’s time to go. And I thought: it’s happening. 

The previous day we got like a two and half foot barrel which I thought was pretty cool. But I knew it was more than a two and half foot wave that we came here for. Sure enough I’m on the Jetski with Raimona. My buddies Chad and Keith were on the back, they’re the coordinators. They were painting this gel on me. I got the whole wetsuit on, and like 20 extra pounds of shirts and gels.

The gel would get on my board. It would be so slippery. So they’d be like okay 30 seconds.

I stepped off clean, set my line and grabbed rail. Then the fire wrapped around me, so I knew it was a good flame. While I was drawing my line, I was like oh my god I’m too deep. I had the bad  factor in my brain. 

The barrel started to compress, and the flame wrapped around my face and burn off some of my eyebrow. Then it peeled back off my face and back over my head again. I just flew out with the spit. I felt like I won a contest or something, I got a standing ovation from the boats. It was pretty cool.