Rivalry: Axel Irons v Koby Irons!

More revealing images from the North Shore reportage of NYC's Justin Jay… 

Don’t you just love a moment you know is going to be examined in ten, twenty years, every element peeled apart as if it’s going to reveal the secrets that’ll only form over the course of years, of events?

Justin Jay, the NYC shooter whose work on the North Shore we’re drip-feeding over the next few days, made this photograph at the sixth birthday of Axel Irons. Little Ax was born on December 8, 2010, the opening day of the Pipe Masters, a couple of months after Andy died.

Axel’s birthday has become something of a celebration of both Axel and Andy, who would’ve turned thirty-nine this year.

Bruce’s son reached over and began aggressively revving the engine at full throttle for five seconds at a time. Watching him hamming for the crowd and attempting to hijack the focus.

“For Axel’s birthday, Uncle Bruce and Lyndie gave him a motorcycle,” says Justin. There was a huge luau at the Billabong house with a massive buffet, a snow cone truck, face-painting, games and virtually anything that the 50 or so kids present could ever want. When it was time to sing happy birthday, the family stood on the porch and covered Axel’s eyes. The bike was wheeled onto the lawn and the big reveal went down in front of the entire party. When Axel saw the bike, he stood motionless while his jaw dropped in awe for a comically long time.

“Eventually, all the kids gathered around in a supervised circle so the bike could be started. Axel, nervous at first, eventually began to revel in the roar of the motor and gave the bike several brief and cautious revs. Immediately sensing the attention that was at stake, Bruce’s son reached over and began aggressively revving the engine at full throttle for five seconds at a time. Watching him hamming for the crowd and attempting to hijack the focus, I was certainly not the only person to make the uncanny comparison of the fiercely-competitive behaviour between the two cousins and their respective dads.”

As for Lyndie, Andy’s gorgeous wife.

Lyndie Irons is the the Jackie Onassis of the surf world,” says Justin. “She gorgeous, graceful and will always be inextricably linked to a larger-than-life deceased hero. I’m always thrilled to be welcomed into her orbit to shoot her.”