Mr. Pipeline, Jamie O, competes in International Bodyboarding Association's Turbo Pipeline Pro.
February 18, 2009, 3:24 PM
By: Daniel Ikaiko Ito
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Rusty Preisendrofer winced when he saw this.
Jamie O'Brien just lost his heat at the Turbo Pipeline Pro, but he's smiling. The current "Mr. Pipeline" has just caught the boogie bug, again.
"I was a kind of a little bit nervous. Had I made those couple of waves, I would have felt a lot better, but at least I made the drops," said a visibly stoked O'Brien. "With surfing, for me, I'm used to the drops and the late takeoffs. That's what I like. Bodyboarding is just as late, if not later, but you're hugging the wave more and it's pretty cool. It's a different way to ride a barrel and I like to challenge myself in all kinds of barrels and waves."
So, how did the 2008 Backdoor Shootout champ, 2004 Pipeline Master and two-time Pipeline Pro victor gain access to the International Boydboaring Association's first "Grand Slam" event of the year?
That's right 9-time world bodyboard champion and 11-time Pipeline Pro bodyboard champ: Mike Stewart.
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J.O.B. only competes in two contests a year because he hates leaving his beloved Pipeline. He just found a way to compete in a third.
"After hearing from Jamie in the line up that he was sincerely interested in entering, I ran it past the IBA, Hawai'i board and local riders who were all for supporting him for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the possibility of chipping away at the silly wall between surfing and bodyboarding," said Stewart, who competed in the eighth round on the second day of competition.
Stewart has been a fixture out at Pipeline before Jamie O'Brien moved passed sand sliding the beach to the peak at 'Ehukai. So, he's literally watched JOB's approach to Pipe evolve from boogie to mini-gun.
"I used to boogie a lot when I was younger," says O'Brien, "I always had fun and I used to stand-up bodyboard a lot and then I think I go too big so I started surfing a lot more."
So, after the nod from Stewart and the next thing you know the current "Mr. Pipeline" is paddling out in Round 4 in solid, 6-foot Pipeline on a boog.
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Wildcard in every sense of the word.
Jamie's bodyboard performance wasn't impromptu, actually the 25-year-old North Shore native rode his "boog" five or six different sessions before the event, he even scored a Teahupo'o pit on his boogie board a few weeks ago.
After getting clipped in two deep tubes, an interference call, and almost losing a fin in the barrel, O'Brien finished in third place. Aussie spongers Damien King and Josh King advanced. Ironically, the fourth place finisher who got into a paddle battle with JOB, Leroy Kaiwi, stood up on a wave during the heat.
Despite failing to advance out of his heat, O'Brien was still psyching on his first foray into pro bodyboarding. He made sure that ESPN.com knew he was "stoked" on the Turbo Pipeline Pro and flattered by the boogie boarding community.
"I was definitely stoked they gave me the wildcard. I felt kind of honored because I'm not even a boogie boarder," beamed O'Brien. "We're all riding waves and I was stoked that they respected that. Who knows? Next year I want to make the finals. That's my goal."
—"Cuz On The Scene," Daniel Ito Ikaiko
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Contributors
Jon Coen
Jon is from New Jersey and continues to reside there with his wife and dog—which means occasional empty barrels and the occasional session in the snow.The state isn't as dirty as people might think, but he'll let them keep believing that.
Jake Howard
Jake lives, writes and surfs in San Clemente, Calif. He spent his formative gremlin years surfing points north of San Francisco, and for the past 10 years has been contently surviving behind the Orange Curtain.
Kimball Taylor
Author of "Return by Water," as well as books on Jeffreys Bay and Pipeline, Kimball drives a red-hot Camero, and back in the '70s, he used to party with your dad.
Daniel Ikaika Ito
Daniel surfs like a hippie, but dresses like a homie. The Native Hawaiian originally hails from Hilo, but now resides in Honolulu. He enjoys twin-fins, new sneakers and being ESPN's "Cuz On The Scene" in the 50th State.
Jason Kenworthy
About as majestic as a turkey vulture, when he's not schlepping his lens around the world or looking for roadkill, Jason can be found at home in Dana Point, Calif., tending to his growing brood.
